For the first time, this year’s instalment of the Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondent’s Lecture hosted by Carleton University’s journalism program will take the form of a two-part lecture series to recognize the gravity of the role of journalists covering the Israel-Gaza war.
The lecture series – titled Dying to Tell the Story – will feature Palestinian journalist Shrouq Al Aila, who will deliver a Stursberg lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. about her own brutal experience covering the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that took the life of her husband.
Then on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 13, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, a controversial columnist with Haaretz newspaper, will deliver his talk beginning at 1 p.m. and will reflect on how Israeli media have shaped the narrative of their country at war.
Recognizing the near impossibility of travel because of the chaotic situation in the region, both lectures will be held virtually. Register here to obtain the links to view one or both of the lectures. Registration is encouraged so that we can keep you up to date on any last-minute changes.
Both lectures will be moderated by former foreign correspondent Nahlah Ayed, now host of the daily CBC Radio program Ideas and a long-time partner with Carleton in airing the Stursberg lectures.
CBC Ideas host Nahlah Ayed will moderate this year’s Stursberg Lecture Series.
Since its launch in 2017, the annual Peter Stursberg lecture, named in honour of the legendary Second World War correspondent, has explored the work of foreign correspondents and their coverage of conflict.
In a departure, last year’s lecture by Ukrainian journalist Veronika Melkozerova, marked the first time that a correspondent was invited to talk about their experience covering a conflict at home.
This year’s two-part Stursberg lecture series will continue in that vein, with two journalists who have been living and breathing the conflict – one in Gaza, the other in Israel – sharing their first-hand experiences and reflecting on the role of journalists in telling this story.
Palestinian Journalist Shrouq Al Aila working in Gaza.
Shrouq Al Aila is a Palestinian journalist, producer, and researcher reporting from the Gaza Strip. She has recently been recognized by the Committee to Protect Journalists with one of its International Press Freedom Awards for 2024. Al Aila took charge of Ain Media, an independent production company specializing in professional media services, after her husband Roshdi Sarraj – a co-founder of the company – was killed in the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. She continues to cover the war and its devastating impact on Gaza’s residents despite having been displaced several times in an effort to evade Israeli attacks.
On the morning of October 22, 2023, as the family was about to have breakfast at home, shrapnel from an Israeli missile attack on a nearby house mortally wounded Sarraj and injured Al Aila and their infant daughter.
“We are still here, still alive, and committed to continuing our work to document the situation in Gaza and support local journalists, which is more important than ever,” Al Aila has said.
Gideon Levy’s newest book, The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe, was published earlier this month.
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Levy has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories and has been harshly critical of how Israeli media have for the most part adopted the government and military narrative for the Gaza war.
His new book The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe is perhaps the harshest condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza from any Israeli.
“We are in a genocidal reality; the blood of tens of thousands of people has flowed,” Levy wrote recently in one column. “The media tries to sell us that this is a necessity. Through campaigns that demonize and dehumanize the Palestinians, a unified and monstrous chorus of commentators is successfully selling us the idea that we can live for eternity on blood.”
Peter Stursberg reporting for the CBC during the Second World War.
The annual Stursberg lecture, now in its eighth year, was created in honour of legendary Canadian war correspondent Peter Stursberg, who pioneered radio coverage of the Second World War for the CBC. Notably, Stursberg and other war correspondents of that era, spoke of the societal pressures they faced and a sense that they were expected to support the war effort through their reporting.
Stursberg passed away at the age of 101 in 2014, and his children Judith Lawrie and Richard Stursberg endowed the annual talk in his honour. The Stursberg lecture is one of two initiatives created by the family within Carleton’s journalism program to honour their father. The other is the Peter Stursberg Award in Conflict Journalism and Media Studies. This award was intended to help a student in Carleton’s Master of Journalism program complete a thesis or journalism project on a subject related to human conflict, the media and conflict studies, or conflict resolution, reconciliation or reconstruction.
Over the years, the Stursberg lecture has featured some incredible correspondents: Lyse Doucet (BBC), Janine de Giovanni, Adrienne Arsenault (CBC), Larry Madowo (then at BBC), Nima Elbagir (CNN), Giancarlo Fiorella (senior researcher, Bellingcat), and most recently Veronika Melkozerova (Politico).
The Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondent’s Lecture is one of the journalism program’s most important annual events and it seemed only appropriate to dedicate two full lectures to the role of journalists and their coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 in General, Journalism News, News
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