June 13 - by Andi

Today, after our customary four hours of Arabic class, we returned to the apartments for a much-needed nap before setting off for the American University of Cairo.

After a rough wake up call, we all piled into the van for the hour-long ride to AUC (the University was moved to “New Cairo”, a developing residential area, a few years ago to escape the overpopulation and chaos found in downtown Cairo).

When we finally reached the university, we were in awe of the campus’s beauty. The calmness of the university starkly contrasted the hustle and bustle of downtown Cairo, and the buildings combined elements of both Mexican and Islamic architecture. Picturesque fountains and minarets dotted the campus.

After passing the student center, we found Mark Schleifer (also know as Abdullah Schliefer) for a lecture on his experiences as a foreign correspondent. In the past, Schliefer worked in various Middle Eastern countries and was employed by NBC and the New York times, among other news agencies. Many students were especially excited to meet Schleifer as he was mentioned in the book The Looming Towers, which was required reading for Professor Lo’s class on Al-Qaeda and terrorism.

From the beginning of the lecture, Schleifer’s charisma and anecdotes captured our attention. By telling stories from his personal experience as a reporter, Schleifer was able to explain what factors affect the media’s coverage of the Middle East and how this coverage in turn affects our perception of Middle Eastern society. According to Schleifer, the main factor in the public’s perception of a nation is whether or not a country receives general coverage or catastrophe coverage. Generally, only countries that are world powers or are perceived as such receive consistent coverage, or “general” coverage, by the media.

All other countries are only mentioned when catastrophes occur, which negatively colors our opinions of these societies. For example, although the Luxor terrorist attacks occurred about the same time as a terrorist attack in London, Egyptian tourism suffered a much heavier a blow because the story about the attack was the only story run on Egypt that week. On the other hand, England received general media coverage and thus various other stories were run on England that week. Consequently, tourists were less hesitant to travel there as the negativity of the attack was countered by stories with a more positive spin. In fact, the contrast between the reactions to the two attacks was so drastic that President Mubarak actually thought the media was conspiring against Egypt.

Apart from catastrophe coverage, Schleifer also described how denial of media access, violence, and logistical issues that arise while working in certain areas of the Middle East often negatively affect coverage. To illustrate his point, he shared various stories from the field, including the time an armed guard stuck a loaded weapon in Schleifer’s mouth after he violated his cardinal rule of Middle Eastern journalism: “Always smile at a man with a gun.”

By the end of the end of the hour and a half, we were all sad to see Schleifer run to his next engagement. Inshahallah, his advice and experiences on working in and understanding the Middle East will serve us well in our endeavors in Cairo.