I’ll use my post-presentation blog post to respond to a few comments and questions from today’s seminar, and also provide some more visual explanation of my choice in leader profile.
Elena asked me what was my favorite interview(s) by Riz Khan, and to answer that I’ll be posting videos throughout this post as examples. My personal favorite is, in fact, the most popular video on Al-Jazeera’s Riz Khan Youtube channel – an interview with celebrity philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Not the prettiest man in the world, and has some controversial (though often brilliant) theories. Nevertheless, Khan devotes an entire show to him. Notice the graphic package his put together, and also the way they use audience questions and Facebook comments toward the end.
[Aside: I haven’t been able to embed videos into posts on this blog … is anyone else having this problem?]
Next, Antonio said he preferred “Cosmopolitan Journalist” to “Diplomat Journalist” because it expresses freedom of ideas and multicultural understanding, without any of the politics or deception that are bundled up in diplomacy. The more I think about Antonio’s comment, the more I agree.
Dr. Bill was good to point out the problems with my “East-of-Center”, “West-of-Center” designation of Khan and Zakaria. I meant it as a sort of pun on Left-of-Center and Right-of-Center in American politics, but the ideas don’t translate well, and I came of as sounding all “Clash of Civilizations.” I apologize deeply for that. My intention was to point out that while Khan is discussing issues in a way that’s fair and does not leave anyone out, he also features more Arab and Muslim voices than a CNN enthusiast might be used to seeing.
A good example comes from his final show, “The Last Laugh,” where a few prominent comedians talk about bias, stereotypes, the Arab Spring, and more. Notice the casualness with which the guests are able to talk about things like Islamophobia, “freedom fondlings” for Arabs at U.S. airports, and pro-Palestinian beliefs. “East-of-Center” was just a poor way of expressing this observation.
Check out more Riz Khan interviews here, and Happy Halloween!
