Lost in the Shadow of Iraq /

A conference I attended in Bali the first week of May brought together more than a hundred journalists from around the world, where we were supposed to be finding common ground.

The idea for the annual talk-fest grew out of controversy: A group of Danish newspapers had published what were deemed offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed – one of them depicting him with a bomb in his turban – and in 2006 rioting had erupted around the Muslim world. European notions of free speech had run smack up against the most delicate of Islamic sensibilities. Some Scandinavians, Indonesians and others had the smart idea that if journalists from the developing world and the so-called “settled democracies” could sit down together periodically to exchange views, they could gain appreciation of each other’s culture, and future such misunderstandings like the cartoon controversy could be avoided.

This year’s conference was going along predictably enough, with everyone in seeming agreement on pretty much everything: the need for more media coverage of climate change, concern that poverty issues don’t find much mainstream press attention, and the rest. Then on the second day I slipped into a workshop with the title “War on Terror.” That’s when the fireworks began.

Beyond Iraq / Essays / Keith Richburg