Dr. Stephen Ceccoli, professor of international studies at Rhodes, and two local journalists— Dima Amro of The Daily Memphian and Brooke Muckerman of The Commercial Appeal—were panelists for a discussion on objective journalism during times of conflict.
The event, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on campus Sept. 30, also focused on the risks journalists face when reporting on ongoing events in Gaza, Palestine.
Dania Aljafari, SJP president and a junior psychology major, helped to organize the event and said that Amro and Muckerman “provided insight into the generation of headlines in the newsroom, pointing to why headlines can sometimes be contentious or misleading, especially when it comes to specific wording such as conflict, genocide, or war. They also discussed the role journalists play in times of conflict, emphasizing the rights of journalists amid ongoing attempts to threaten or intimidate those reporting from conflict zones.”
Ceccoli spoke about the changing nature of news and information sources as well as the importance of how the media frames a given news story. “He explained that mass publics, often with limited interest in and knowledge of politics, are typically susceptible to media framing, often depending on such framing to develop individual viewpoints on faraway conflicts,” said Aljafari. “He contended that international journalists in Gaza are needed to provide variety frames of the current conflict.”
In addition, Amro and Muckerman shared their educational training in journalism and discussed the significance of media literacy.