Journalist Patrick Martin told Canadian college students that a firm grasp of Mideast history is essential for reporters covering the region:
“It’s the biggest single asset that you could possibly have to understanding this (region),” the former Middle East bureau chief of the Globe and Mail, now the paper’s comment editor, told about 75 people in an afternoon address.
“This is all a continuation of what’s happened in the past,” Martin said, in recounting how he saw the conflict-riddled region after more than three decades spent visiting and working in areas from Morocco to Iraq.
“And until you grasp the sources of it,” he added, “you won’t be a good journalist and you won’t understand the forces at work.”
Unfortunately, the media trend is to close foreign bureaus and turn to parachute journalism and free-lancers in a pinch.
(Hat tip: Headlines & Deadlines)
