Thursday, 12 March 2015
What is the media’s role in reporting on armed conflict?
How can knowledge of international humanitarian law aid journalists in their reporting?
Speakers
Anne Bennett, Executive Director, Hirondelle USA
Roy Gutman, Middle East Bureau Chief, McClatchy Newspapers
Charles M. Sennott, Executive Director, The GroundTruth Project and Co-founder, GlobalPost
Moderator: Frank Elbers, Executive Director, HREA
This roundtable discussion brought together distinguished journalists and other media professionals with years of experience in reporting on armed conflict around the world. The event also introduced HREA’s new self-paced e-learning course Reporting conflict: International humanitarian law for media professionals.
About the panelists
Anne Bennett is Executive Director, Hirondelle USA and an international development expert with extensive experience in creating and managing complex radio and journalism projects and communications strategies in challenging post-war and development contexts: Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Algeria, and North East India. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Prior to founding HUSA, Bennett managed operations for Fondation Hirondelle in Sierra Leone, Sudan and South Sudan. She is recognized for successfully engaging effective multi-year support from international donors as well as partner organizations. She has a BA from University of California at Berkeley and an MA from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva.
Roy Gutman is the Middle East Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, based in Istanbul. He previously served as McClatchy’s Europe Bureau Chief, Baghdad Bureau Chief and foreign editor. He was diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek and director of American University’s Crimes of War Project. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 1993 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he provided the first documented reports of concentration camps. Gutman’s honors include the George Polk Award for foreign reporting, the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting, and a special Human Rights in Media Award from the International League for Human Rights. He holds an M.A. in international relations from the London School of Economics. He is the co-editor, with David Rieff, of Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, the first accessible guide to international humanitarian law. Crimes of War has been published in 14 languages and is in its second edition.
Charles M. Sennott is the Founder and Executive Director of The GroundTruth Project. He is an award-winning foreign correspondent, author and editor with 30 years of experience in journalism. Sennott has reported on the front lines of wars and insurgencies in at least 15 countries, including the 2011 revolution in Cairo and the Arab Spring. Sennott’s deep experience reporting internationally led him to launch The GroundTruth Project and to dedicate himself to training the next generation of international journalists for the digital age. Sennott is also the co-founder of GlobalPost, an acclaimed international news website. Previously, Sennott served as the Boston Globe’s Middle East Bureau Chief based in Jerusalem from 1997 to 2001 and as Europe Bureau Chief based in London from 2001 to 2005.
What are the technical requirements to listen to the recording?
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