Weaver keynote speaker

Published: December 9, 2005

Roy Howard Professor David Weaver was one of three keynote speakers at a recent conference in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on online journalism in the Arab world.

Weaver spoke on the role of online journalism and new media in promoting Arab-American understanding, as well as presented a paper on new trends in journalism and media education in the United States during the conference at the University of Sharjah Nov. 22-23.

Weaver argued that online journalism has the potential to be more effective than traditional news media coverage in increasing understanding between Arabs and Americans because of its interactive capability that comes closer to face-to-face communication, because of the difficulty of censoring it, and because it provides a channel for communication for those whose voices would not otherwise be heard.

He warned, however, that new technologies such as the Web and satellite television alone are not likely to increase understanding if they don't provide a representative picture of the different groups in the societies and a truthful account of events, requirements stressed 60 years ago by the Commission on Freedom of the Press headed by Robert Hutchins.

IU Journalism alumnus Mohamed Kirat (MA 1984, Ph.D. 1987), formerly from Algeria, is an associate professor in the College of Communication at the University of Sharjah, where he has taught since September 2000. He invited Weaver and chaired a session on online journalism education and professional realities where Weaver presented his paper on new trends in journalism education.

Photo shows Weaver and Steve Klein of George Mason University in front of the Souk in Sharjah. Photo taken by Nora Paul of University of Minnesota.