Eric Loo | More Qs than As in reporting on ISIS
“What comes to mind when you see a bloke shrouded in black, masked, and machete in hand,” I asked my final year journalism students. “What about these names – Daniel Pearl, James Foley, Steven Sotloff?”
They sensed where I was leading with the question. When an Asian teacher, such as I, steer class discussions among an all-white student cohort to the reporting of race, religion and terrorism – we end with more unresolved concept questions than clear practical answers.
Disregarding talk-back radio where ‘home-grown terrorists’ and ‘enemies within’ are freely spewed on air, my students see the difficulties that journalists face in interviewing, sourcing, framing and writing about suspect ISIS supporters since the Australian government raised the terror alert from “medium” to “high” (meaning ‘terror attack is likely’) in early September.
Full story: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/276464
