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Galvanizing the World: The Role of Media

Galvanizing the World: The Role of Media

The second session of the first day of the 2017 Aurora Dialogues Galvanizing the World series was moderated by Stephen Kurkjian, author, former Washington Bureau Chief and Founder of Investigative Column Spotlight, The Boston Globe. Panelists included Nigerian-American Journalist Chika Oduah and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of BILD Florian von Heintze.

Stephen Kurkjian drew everyone’s attention to the title of the day’s session, Galvanizing the World, and reflected upon the impact fair reporting can make on solving the most pressing humanitarian issues. “Galvanizing is not a word that the media is easily comfortable with because it implies advocacy, and that is something the traditional media all hesitate in adopting,” said Kurkjian.

“Honest, probing, independent, fair reporting is in fact the first step in galvanizing the world to the problems that beset the world,” he added.

Nigerian-American Journalist Chika Oduah, whose 15-year reporting career has included work with Al Jazeera, CNN, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and France24, made sure to emphasize the role of not only the global outlets in covering the crisis, but also the smaller local ones. “It’s very important for the international audiences to know what’s happening from the locals’ perspective, so I’m always trying to empower local journalists and make sure that they also have a voice,” explained the journalist.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of BILD Florian von Heintze talked about the transformation of the modern media and the extra effort they now need to put in to really get their message across. “We don’t only send our reporters to write for the paper. Every reporter that we send out to this world also writes for the social media – Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. That’s where we reach the next generation, and that’s very important to us”.