American News Coverage of the Middle East

The American University of Kuwait held a talk as part of its American Corner lecture series, titled "American News Coverage of the Middle East"

The U.S Embassy in Kuwait sponsored the lecture, which was attended by AUK community members as well as guests, focused on the theme of American media coverage of the Middle East and was conducted by Columbia University professor Peter Spielmann, who is visiting AUK as a Senior Fulbright Specialist and is teaching a course in journalism. 

Spielmann said he hoped the event would shed some light on the reasons for the declining and one-sided coverage of the Arab world in America.

"Most Americans are poorly informed regarding making decisions involving the War in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program, and whether the Israel/Palestine peace process has any hope for progress," said Spielmann, who is also an editor at the North America Desk at the Associated Press news wire agency.
 
Spielmann further added that it is the shrinking of international sections in most major media outlets in America, due to costs of maintaining foreign bureaus and correspondents and audience and reader demands, which leads to the narrow exposure to Gulf countries like Kuwait.

"With Middle East coverage, news-gathering favors violence over development, conflict over cooperation, the shrill over the subtle and local news over international events, leaving most Americans confused about the Middle East," he said.

During the informational session, members of the audience asked if there were studies indicating whether Americans really want to read about violence rather than news stories that reflect peace and prosperity in Arab countries. Spielmann said that most media outlets seem to judge a story based on the impact it would have on their readers and viewers, and that those are usually stories that focus on violence and terrorism.

Spielmann pointed to the growing coverage of entertainment stories, which are starting to dominate news in the United States, as another challenge to balanced reporting on the Middle East.

"We hope the talk will open more dialogue on how Kuwait and other Arab countries can help improve the media coverage that the United States receives about this region," said AUK Journalism Instructor Charles Mitchell, who moderated the event.
 

Senior Fulbright specialist professor Peter Spielmann is being introduced by AUK Journalism Instructor Charles Mitchell
 

Columbia University professor Peter Spielmann