Goldberg Paints Dire Picture of Middle East Journalism

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has broken the previously “unwritten rule” that terror organizations generally refrain from killing foreign journalists, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg argued Tuesday in a talk at the Kennedy School of Government.

The terrorist group’s recent public beheadings of journalists was a prominent topic in the discussion. Even after Pakistani militants kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, Goldberg said, American journalists were generally thought to be protected by their status as foreign correspondents.

“Even after Danny Pearl was murdered, a lot of us, me included, thought that it was an exception to the rule,” said Goldberg, a national correspondent for “The Atlantic” who knew Pearl personally. “The literal thought I had was: Those guys broke the rules.”

As a result of ISIS’s recent tactics, journalism in the fraught area has become far more dangerous than it used to be, Goldberg said.

Previously, he argued, the groups operated with an understanding of a “contract,” in which terrorist organizations disseminated their message, and journalists showed “how appalling they are.” The advent of YouTube and Twitter, however, meant that terrorist groups no longer needed the “middleman” to convey their message, he said.

Goldberg was blunt about the difficulties reporters face in covering the Middle East, interspersing his analysis with wry jokes.

He grew somber, however, when discussing the late American journalist Steven Sotloff, whom ISIS beheaded earlier this year. Years ago, Goldberg said, Sotloff asked him for advice about going to the Middle East.

Today, Goldberg said at the talk, he cannot in “good conscience” tell anyone to go near the conflict in the region.

“There are incredibly negatives to this,” he said. “It’s very important for America to have American journalists on the ground. But I’m not going to ever again tell someone to risk their life for a story.”

In response to a question from an audience member, Goldberg added that the system of hiring freelancers to report in the Middle East is “built for exploitation” and warned that the work there is dangerous.

Goldberg said he now offers aspiring journalists a more cautious message about reporting in the Middle East.

“I made a decision in my own life, not to tell anyone ever again [to follow my path],” he said. “Because something very, very important has changed in the Middle East.”

Audience members praised the talk. Laurie Penny, a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism who attended, said she found Goldberg’s lecture interesting. She said hearing “talks from journalists with all kinds of different views” is part of the reason why she came to Harvard as a fellow.