From Roadmap to Headlines
Reading the Middle East  

Felice & Michael Friedson
The Media Line

Special report: Eyewitness Gaza
Join us for an up to the minute report on events in Gaza, with video clips taken just before flying to the U.S. and interviews with leaders from both sides of the conflict.

Is it possible to get coverage of events in the Middle East that is fair, timely, and in context? Just as biased reporting can reinforce hostilities, could more accurate and balanced reporting help build bridges between the people of the Middle East?

The Media Line is a non-profit news organization established to enhance and balance media coverage in the Middle East, to promote independent reporting in the region, and break down barriers to understanding in the Arab and Israeli journalism communities. The Media Line reports appear in diverse publications around the world including in Houston's Jewish Herald Tribune, CNN, and the New York Times.

Felice Friedson holds a degree in broadcast communications along with extensive credits in radio and television production. She is the co-host of TML's syndicated radio programs and frequently appears as a guest commentator on American and European radio and television. In 2005, Ms. Friedson created the concept for what became The Mideast Press Club, an initiative of TML that has achieved great success in bringing Israeli and Palestinian journalists together.

Michael Friedson has two decades of on-air broadcast experience and has worked professionally in numerous areas of the broadcast medium. He co-anchors TML's daily and weekly radio programs, and is a regular Middle East contributor to the BBC, USA Radio Network, Salem Radio Network, and local ABC and CBS stations. Mr. Friedson is involved in ongoing research on bias and balance in reporting from areas of conflict.

Please note that this reception follows the general Council presentation and discussion.

Global Outlook (GO) presents Meeting Resistance, a documentary that raises the veil of anonymity surrounding the Iraqi Insurgency. By meeting face to face with the individuals who are passionately engaged in the struggle, directors Steve Connors and Molly Bingham focus the spotlight on the "other side". Through unprecedented access to these clandestine groups, we will learn about the motivations, hopes and goals fueling both the war in Iraq and the Iraqis who participate.

Steve Connors has worked for most of the worlds' newspapers and magazines including Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Telegraph, Der Spiegel, Stern and Paris Match. Starting in November 2001, Connors spent fifteen months in Afghanistan. He also spent fourteen months in Iraq during the invasion.

Molly Bingham began working as a photojournalist in 1994, traveling to Rwanda in the wake of the genocide. She has covered the Pentagon attack on 9/11, Afghanistan, Gaza and Iran. During her work in Iraq covering the invasion, Bingham was detained for eight days by the Iraqi government security services and held in Abu Ghraib prison. Her first major written story - on the Iraqi resistance - was published in Vanity Fair in July 2004.

Global Outlook or GO is a new World Affairs Council program series, bringing timely international affairs programs to exciting new locations and audiences in the greater Houston community. Significant subjects, lively dialogue, and lots of audience participation characterize Go programs. People of all ages are encouraged to attend and join in the spirited discussion.

Visit www.wachouston.org/ypg to learn more.