Middle East Insight

A unique three week regional program that brings together American and Arab journalism students for a series of seminars and meetings held in two of the Arab world’s most important capitals. Led by a pair of leading  Middle East journalist-scholars — one American, the other Arab — and tapping top experts on the region, this program will expose participants to the people and events that shape the modern Arab world and help them better understand the intricacies of a complex and fascinating region.

Arab Centers of Influence

The first ten days of the Institute will be based at the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training & Research  on the campus of The American University in Cairo, a city that is the historic heart of Arab politics. Students and faculty will then travel to Qatar, a rising new power in the Gulf, for ten days of seminars held on the campus of Qatar University.

The goal is to experience two very different perspectives on the Arab world, breaking through stereotypes, broadening worldviews and preparing participants to write about the region with context and nuance. 

About the Course

The Middle East Journalism Boot Camp offers a first-hand, in-depth understanding of the modern Arab world, Islam and American policy in the region.
The three-week program brings together 12 American journalism students – one each from the top U.S. journalism schools – with 12 of their counterparts from The American University in Cairo and Qatar University. It is assumed that students will arrive with a basic grounding in journalism in order to learn how to apply that knowledge in a Middle East context. The goal is to produce:

• The next generation of Middle East correspondents for Western news organizations and U.S./Europe-based correspondents for the Arab media;
• Western journalists better equipped to report on domestic stories involving Arab and Muslim communities in their own localities;
• Arab reporters better positioned to report on the impact of Western policies on their own region.