(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: As the world grapples with polarisation and misinformation, award-winning journalist and Al Jazeera English producer Laila Al Arian said fearless, independent journalism is the exact tonic the world needs to meet the existential challenges of the era, at a Northwestern Qatar community event.
The event, hosted by the Journalism and Strategic Communication and the Liberal Arts Programs, featured Al Arian in a conversation moderated by Northwestern Qatar Professor Zeina Awad.
Speaking to students, faculty, and staff from Northwestern Qatar and the wider Qatar Foundation community, Al Arian discussed her film on the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the future of journalism amid the threats the industry is facing.
The conversation began with Al Arian explaining how she was young when her political awareness developed during the first Palestinian intifada and the 2003 Iraq war.
“I was in the third grade at the time, so I just couldn't understand in my mind the disconnect between the images I was seeing and what I was hearing from my parents and from my community to how the media [in the US] was reporting on these images. These two events were really formative in shaping my understanding of the media and the power of narrative, and for that reason, I decided to become a journalist.”
She went on to recount how growing up with the US as her direct context to global issues and events exposed her to the issue of a single narrative, stressing:“the media was adopting the perspective and the viewpoint of the US military.” Despite this, the journalist said she still developed a passion for the profession's core purpose.“I very much believe in the mission of journalism, which is to hold power to account, to expose injustices, to tell of people who don't have the platform or the ability to tell the story themselves.”
As a journalist for Al Jazeera, Al Arian explained how her passion for telling stories translated into making an award-winning series investigating current affairs in the U.S., which led her to win an Emmy in 2018, a Peabody in 2013, and other major awards throughout her career.
Despite her success, she noted being a journalist has become increasingly difficult in the last few years.“It's a time of tremendous change, much of it is negative.”
Amid the rise of populism and the changing news business model, she highlighted some of the main challenges facing journalism as an industry.“So you have a crisis in audiences' faith in news media and journalism; [...] You see media polarisation and alternative facts being promoted; [...] In the US, there is also a big news fatigue after Trump; [...] You also see on the horizon artificial intelligence potentially threatening the industry.”
But for Al Arian, the biggest threat facing the industry today is journalists' safety and their ability to do their jobs.“We are operating in a landscape in which people and journalists are being killed, threatened, and in many countries, imprisoned for doing their jobs,” said Al Arian, who went on to highlight such trends' impact on independent journalism and coverage of global issues, like in Palestine.“In the case of Palestine, after Shireen Abu Aklah's killing, you hear that people are not going out in the field as much, which means Israeli aggression, invasions, airstrikes, operations, and killing of people are not being covered at all.”
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