Seeds of Peace

International Youth Conference: Breaking News, Making Headlines

The Role of Media in Conflict

October 10-16, 2003 | New York

The Seeds of Peace “Breaking News, Making Headlines” Conference is helping future leaders—Israelis and Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis, as well as teenagers from Afghanistan, Balkans, divided Cyprus, and the US—develop the independent thinking skills necessary to decipher media and utilize it to make their voices heard.

Each morning, plenary sessions brought 125 “Seeds” (youth, ages 15-19) into contact with leading journalists, editors, academics, and corporate executives representing a range of media outlets around the world. Topics focussed on the role of media in conflict, specifically addressing media responsibility and ethics; freedom of the press; covering conflict; defining news; the line between news and propaganda; and the use of media as a part of diplomacy.

In the afternoons, conference delegates were involved in one of ten workshop groups with professional facilitators and experts in the field. Each team was assigned the task of designing and creating a specific media product. A media specialist and several technicians worked with each working group in order to contribute the knowledge and technical support needed to help the youth meet the objectives of the conference.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

Welcome Aaron Miller & Janet Wallach (Seeds of Peace)

Introduction to the Role of Media in Conflict Areas Danny Schechter (MediaChannel.org)

Media Ethics and Responsibility Marvin Kalb (Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy), Charles Lewis (Hearst Newspaper), Arshad Mohammed (Reuters), Charlie Wolfson (CBS News)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

Media as a Tool for Activism and Education Danny Labin (Sesame Workshop), Shamil Idriss (Search for Common Ground), Shira Golding (MediaRights.org)

Technology and the Media Kenneth Cukier (National Center for Digital Government), Catherine Davis (Yahoo! Education), Michael Leeds (CMP Media), Paul Shore (gnn.tv/Guerilla News Network), Sreenath Sreenivasan (Columbia University School of Journalism)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13

Freedom of the Press  Ralph Begleiter (University of Delaware), David Makovsky (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy), Shibley Telhami (University of Maryland), Mohammed Wahby (Al-Mussawar Magazine, Egypt)

What is News? Andrea Koppel (CNN), Ron Brownstein (The Los Angeles Times), Verena Dobnik (Associated Press) Hisham Melhem (As-Safir, Lebanon and Al-Qabas, Kuwait), Judith Miller (The New York Times), Michael Wolff (New York Magazine)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14

Q&A with Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Chief International Correspondent (live via satellite from London)

The Media in Conflict Regions Ray Suarez (The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer), Yoram Deckel (Channel One, Israel), Abderrrahim Foukara, (Al Jazeera), Scott Simon (host of Weekend Edition, National Public Radio), Fasih Ahmed (Friday Times and Daily Times of Pakistan), K.P. Nayar (The Telegraph, India)

The Power of the Image: War Photography Thomas Keenan (Bard College), Pedro Gasiglia-Linger (contributor to The New York Times and La Nación), Ron Haviv (Newsweek), Fred Ritchin (Pixel Press), Moises Saman (Newsday)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15

Government and the News: Truth or Propaganda Bernard Kalb (former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs), Raghida Dergham (Al-Hayat), Nathan Guttman (Ha’aretz), Mike McCurry (Public Strategies Washington, Inc.)

Where Politics Meets the News: Public Diplomacy James Clad (Georgetown University), Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Talal Al Haj (Abu Dhabi Television), John Zogby (Zogby International)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16

Final Workshop Presentations by Seeds of Peace Graduates Remarks by David Westin, (president of ABC News), Presentation of Products to Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

Click here for more information on the workshops.