| In an Egypt Today exclusive, the CNN anchor weighs in on change and journalism in the Middle East By Mariya Petkova |
| Since settling behind the news desk at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, heavyweight journalist Jim Clancy has been coming to the Middle East to cover only major events such as the 2006 Israeli offensive against Beirut. However, the veteran anchor — with three decades of international reporting to his name and a reputation as a powerhouse in the American cable news network — has something more than even-handed news reporting to offer this tumultuous region.The pursuit of hot stories, which flung him into Beirut during a civil war, then to Iraq as American tanks rolled into Baghdad in 2003, and to Rwanda to cover the genocide, has led him to Egypt many times. Most recently, he returned not as a reporter but as a participant at a December conference on human trafficking. Clancy took a few moments with Egypt Today to share his views on the changing tides sweeping across a region that is hard to pin down. “Understanding the Middle East is a challenge,” he concedes. “It’s a challenge because the Middle East is a moving target. In some countries the politics, the dynamics change every three months.” Clancy has plenty of experience chasing moving targets, jumping across hotspots that ambitious and aspiring news reporters lust over. He has waded into war zones and brushed shoulders with top political leaders, at times sitting next to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on his private jet plane and at others standing right next to Arafat’s opposite number, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as Israeli control over Beirut was announced in 2006. In a way, he says, he has been shuttling across the world to fulfill a young man’s dream. “I was always very interested in international news from the time I was a very young person, fascinated by the photos that used to be published on the wire services that told the story of events halfway around the world,” says Clancy, reminiscing. His first job behind a microphone was for a college radio, which was followed by other gigs in local radio and television in Denver and San Francisco. In 1981, he joined his lifelong employer, the Atlanta-based CNN, as a national correspondent. But he did not linger around the home desk for long; within a year he was off to explore the dangerous world of international correspondence. His first overseas assignment was Beirut in 1982, where he was posted to report on the war. Egypt has been a regular stop during his time in the region, and he remembers his last visit to the country fondly — albeit adding, in an afterthought, that “not all of the experiences have been wonderful. “I remember trying to get off the boat that was carrying Yasser Arafat through the Suez Canal and the problems we had [doing so] and getting into Egypt at Port Said,” he says. “It was very, very difficult.” Winds of Change Clancy has been slowly moving away from a role as strictly an observer, at least in the Middle East. In 2004, he hosted a special roundtable of Arab journalists to discuss Iraq’s political future and prospects for peace; this past December he moderated panel discussions at the Luxor International Forum on ending human trafficking, hosted by the Suzanne Mubarak International Peace Movement. Ever the analyst, Clancy revisited his memories of the southern city, pondering its potential in light of the bigger changes engulfing the Middle East. “It was wonderful that [the conference] was held in Luxor because it was a chance for me to return to that city,” he says. “I actually ended up staying in the same place [as before] and to visit some of the sites and see the tremendous change that has taken place in Luxor.” Clancy was impressed not only by the speedy economic development of the city, but also by the sense of optimism and confidence that the locals exuded. Luxor, in his opinion, is an example of what is happening throughout the country. “Egypt is a country that has seen sweeping change,” he says. “It’s not readily apparent perhaps on the surface but it’s taking place, nonetheless.” According to Clancy, Egypt, along with the rest of the Middle East, is embarking on a new journey. “There’s a sense that change is coming — and this isn’t Barack Obama’s campaign slogan,” he says. “This is a real sense that things in the Middle East are once again evolving and it’s an exciting time to be around and witness it.” Clancy likes to think that he presents an “accurate” picture of the Middle East. He looks beyond the common perspective that views the region through the prism of conflict, politics and religion. Instead, he focuses on what has been happening in people’s everyday lives, and that is where he is excited to see a major shift. “I think [there is change] in terms of the way people are able to express themselves; in terms of the way people’s lifestyles are changing,” he says. “Their ability to talk to the rest of the world is changing, their interaction with one another is enhanced.” The advent of communications technology and the mass access to it is very much making a difference from the bottom to the top, according to Clancy. The change in status quo, however, will not be welcomed everywhere. “It’s going to be very difficult for some individuals and some governments to accept the change that’s taking place. There will be setbacks, no doubt, but this is an unstoppable force. This force can’t be thrown in jail; this force can’t be denied,” he says. “We are going to see a change in the way leadership itself is defined. And we are going to see the decentralization of leadership, especially in the cultural sphere and also in the political sphere. There’s no doubt about it. I don’t think it can be stopped.” The news veteran’s analysis seems prophetic: barely a month after this interview, the Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted after a month of popular protests. Reporting on Change According to Clancy, the vibrant transformation that is sweeping through the Middle East is opening new channels of communication and giving more people the chance to voice their thoughts and concerns. At the forefront of this intensifying exchange of information and increasing transparency are journalists; their tool — the internet. “There’s absolutely no doubt that the internet is changing absolutely everything in the world of journalism. It is enabling us to get more access to more information and is also enabling us to send back our reports in real time. It’s an amazing revolution that is only going to continue to improve the delivery of news,” he says optimistically. On the other hand, Clancy acknowledges that regional authorities are more and more aware of the importance of news reporting and often take measures to curb it. “The most difficult news to report is always when the government doesn’t allow you access to people, doesn’t allow you the ability to go out and do your job. That and those conflicts that essentially do the same thing when the man with the gun or the man with the authority doesn’t permit you to do your job as you need to do it: to listen to all sides,” says Clancy. “So many places are satisfied if you tell just one side of the story but everyone knows that this is not journalism.” Clancy also sees an alarming new trend in the region: journalists as the targets of violence: “The war zones are much more dangerous today because so often journalists are seen as important figures in the fight and if they aren’t on your side, then they become targets.” Recalling his own experience during the Lebanese civil war, Clancy says the different warring factions viewed journalists as independent actors and allowed them to travel between their zones of control. He has recently observed a progressive departure from this attitude among armed groups. “I think with the rise of Hezbollah and Iran in Lebanon, for instance, we saw the kidnapping of journalists who became targets. And that was extended in Bosnia where journalists were often targeted,” he explains. “We lost many, many journalists. In Iraq and most recently in Afghanistan, Western journalists are prized targets for kidnapping.” Although Clancy talks about these increasing difficulties that journalists experience, he disagrees with those who claim freedom of speech is waning. “I think anybody that says that there has been a decline in freedom of speech has to really stop and ask themselves if there’s a decline in the determination of journalists to stand up and speak the truth about all the issues despite the risks to their jobs, the risks of criticism, all of those things,” he argues. In his view, it’s part of the job to dodge danger and overcome limits. “There are pressures but there have always been pressures at different times. Freedom of speech really depends on the journalists themselves and their willingness to exercise it.” |
Be Social
Comments
Leave a Comment