MUSCATINE, Iowa – During the summer of 1854, one of the world’s most famous American writers, Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain, worked as a newspaper correspondent for the Muscatine Journal. This week, 10 international journalists visited here to share their perspectives on the challenges faced in journalism around the world. The group, who are the […]
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MUSCATINE, Iowa – During the summer of 1854, one of the world's most famous American writers, Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain, worked as a newspaper correspondent for the Muscatine Journal. This week, 10 international journalists visited here to share their perspectives on the challenges faced in journalism around the world.
The group, who are the 2023 journalism fellows of the World Press Institute (WPI), were on hand for the World Press Perspectives forum Tuesday, March 21. Four of the journalists participated in a panel discussion.
“I come from a country that’s supposed to be an agricultural country, but imports a lot of your soybeans from Iowa,” Saqib Tanveer, WPI Fellow and social media editor for the Independent Urdu newspaper in Islamabad, said as he introduced himself.
“I come from a country where our ex prime minister, instead of getting arrested, asked the people to come out and protest for him. I come from a country where our sitting prime minister can be involved in his son’s business concerns. I also come from a country that was once your ally in the war on terror against Russia,” said Mr. Tanveer of Pakistan.
The Muscatine-based Stanley Center for Peace & Security hosted the WPI’s 58th Annual journalism fellows as part of their nationwide tour. The group toured the new Stanley Center headquarters, which will be the first Living Building Challenge project in Iowa; spent the afternoon with students at Muscatine High School; and the evening at the community forum. The event was moderated by Iowa Public Radio’s Zachary Oren Smith, who also formerly wrote for the newspaper in Muscatine.
“They came to Muscatine; they came to Iowa. It’s a nice moment for them to see what things look like outside of the big cities,” Mr. Smith told the crowd of about 70 gathered at The Merrill Hotel in downtown.
The fellows will spend four weeks in the Midwest during the program’s nine-week U.S. tour that includes stops in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Miami; Austin, Texas; Chicago; San Francisco; and Los Angeles. The major element to the WPI Fellowship program is a tour of the United States where fellows gain access to its premier media outlets, think tanks, advocacy organizations, policymakers and everyday people.
“Most of these fellows have been to the U.S. before, but have not spent extensive amounts of time in the middle of the country,” said Zach Mullinax, WPI program director. “This is really important to us. It gives them a chance to really understand the life, the culture, the politics, the government, and the people here in America.”
Mr. Tanveer told the QCBJ how precious it is for him to get the varied perspectives of the people in the Midwest. He related a conversation he had with a farmer about Cargill and then the next day he spoke to company representatives of Cargill. “I never get access like this,” he said. “To get the different perspectives, two versions and two sides of a story, from people is really important.”
When asked by an audience member what are the biggest challenges they face doing their work, the four WPI panelists’ answers seem to demonstrate society’s universal response to journalism and media. Credibility, polarization, mistrust, and competing with local news were offered as the great challenges.
“Credibility, people don’t trust journalism in Pakistan,” Mr. Tanveer told the audience. “The problem is we are an organization that is big on facts but very low on emotional elements to a story. People are emotional beings, they are not robots and you have to contextualize your facts.”
Julieta Nassau, digital editor of the foreign desk for La Nación newspaper in Buenos Aires, Argentina, suggested ‘polarization’ as the one word she used to describe her great challenge.
“Polarization in Argentina that’s going all around the society, politics, media of course,” she said. “My work is to give you unbiased information, but there are groups of people who can’t separate the reporter from the media outlets especially in this polarized and divided society.”
Mistrust was offered as a significant obstacle for Fauziyya Tukur, senior journalist, disinformation, for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Abuja, Nigeria.
“You see people commenting, ‘Oh you’re agents of the West, the British government is using you as an agent to push this agenda,’ so that is one of the biggest challenges I face,” said Ms. Tukur.
The crowd chuckled when Tarek Kai, senior reporter for France 24 News TV, also answered, “I would say credibility, polarization, and mistrust.”
“That applies completely to France 24. We’re based in Paris but broadcast all over the world in four different languages. The challenge for us is being a French TV channel getting subsidies from the French government is not always seen in a positive way in many countries,” Mr. Kai added.
“The other challenge would be to compete with the local outlets. When speaking about what’s going on in the world, sometimes people tend to watch them more when relating to their own countries,” he said.
The 2023 WPI Fellows include:
- Ms. Julieta Nassau, digital editor of the foreign desk for La Nación newspaper in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Ms. Bridget Rollason, Victoria political reporter for the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) in Melbourne, Australia.
- Mr. Danilo Alves Silva, international news editor for GloboNews in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Ms. Milena Kirova, reporter for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) in Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Mr. Alexander Uggla, investigative reporter for the Finnish Public Broadcasting Company (Yle) in Helsinki, Finland.
- Mr. Tarek Kai, senior reporter for France 24 News TV in Paris, France
- Ms. Fauziyya Tukur, senior journalist, disinformation, for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Abuja, Nigeria.
- Mr. Muhammad Saqib Tanveer, social media editor for the Independent Urdu newspaper in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Ms. Piyumi Fonseka, deputy editor of investigations for the Daily Mirror newspaper in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- Ms. Feyza Gumusluoglu, foreign news coordinator for EkoTurk TV in Istanbul, Turkey.
