Regis Iman Bryant

October 29th 2014

Journalism 312
Journalists going to Egypt
There are some deficiencies that U.S. media currently have in international coverage
which is, the U.S. media are sometimes known to be biased when reporting the news coverage in
international countries. Many U.S. news stations when covering international news begin to have
American citizens only have a constricted view on important world issues. According to
Christopher Karadjov in the article, Challenges in Foreign Correspondence states foreign
correspondence may also find themselves torn between their understanding of what are the most
important stories in the country they are covering and what their editors back home think is
newsworthy (p. 167). As myself being an editor in chief with my journalism team going to
Egypt I would want my team to first have multimedia skills, and having social media strategies
to interest the audience and viewers.
According to Arthur C. Clarke in the article Global News under Stress he states The first
Duty of the press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of the events of the time,
instantly, by disclosing them, to make them the common property of the nation (p. 49). Its very
important for my journalism team to have certain strategies when traveling abroad such as; one
of them having advanced skills as a programmer because it will present a certain quality in their
stories when using multimedia skills. By a journalist having the skills as a programmer stated in
the article 8-Must have traits of tomorrows Journalists, Vadim Lavrusik said when having the
multimedia skills you can build and manage platforms that present the stories. Creating flash
visualizations and building inter-actives that clearly display data are all key elements of online
journalism (Lavruisk, 2009). I would also like them to have advanced experience in their social
media skills which they will be able to edit videos, able to write targeting headlines for the
audience, and to also understand the value with interacting with a community.
Most journalists going abroad to another country first fail to learn the languages, etiquette
and customs, social class and culture. For instance when greeting someone in Egypt they greet
someone based on their religion of that certain individual, and it is also best to always follow the
lead of the Egyptian that you are greeting. Its very important to learn these tactics because there
might be misunderstandings in the minds of people when visiting another country such as Egypt.
Before sending my Journalists off to their assignment they would have to do their research such
as talking to other reporters who had experience traveling and reporting to these countries. In an
article Six Tips for Journalists Reporting Aboard it states Network before you get there, touch
base with local reporters, who are typically more than willing to help a new journalists in town.
Contact bloggers and people who are active in social media. Buy a local cellphone as soon as
your arrive. Try to get connected to the local media scene as soon as possible (Looney, 2011).
With my journalism team they will need to do extensive research on the issues and
problems that are going on before they go abroad. In Egypt they advise travelers to reconsider
because of the civil conflict and the danger of the terrorist attacks. In the article Department of
Affairs and Trade they state Foreign journalists have been increasingly targeted by security

forces in recent months and several have been arrested, detained and questioned by the Egyptian
authorities (Department of Affairs and Trade, n.d). For the safety of the journalists I would
expect them to know certain tactics especially if they are going to report in war zones. If my
journalism team was reporting on war that was happening while in Egypt it requires special skills
and experience.
I would make sure to choose the right staff or freelancers who are advanced and will be
able to handle a being in crisis situations. I would also provide my team with the appropriate
equipment if they were going into a war zone, such as helmets, bullet proof jackets, survival kits
(first aid kits) and communication equipment. Also when reporting in war zones journalists have
to be careful on what the report due to censorship. In the article War Reporting: Fire and Misfire
William A. Hachten and James F. Scotton states In far-flung combat theaters, reporters were
generally free to move about and join military units but were always subject to possible
censorship. With mobile units and tape recordings, radio coverage greatly increased (Hachten &
Scotton, 187).
In-conclusion, it is very important for my journalism team to know the certain skills and
tactics when going to Egypt. Skills that are essential to have in my team are social media
strategies, multimedia skills, to know the safety procedures when traveling to Egypt if entering a
warzone, and knowing the social norms, etiquette and customs, languages and culture. Its
always best networking when you travel abroad, and touch base with the reporters so you know
what things are going on. When my journalists are traveling abroad I would also teach to them to
not make the news they are reporting biased. Using these fundamental skills are very important
to build a journalism team especially when going to another country.

Work Cited
Anup, Shah. (2012, January 28th). Media in the United States.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/163/media-in-the-united-states
SPJ. (2014, August 17th). Journalistic Tool Box.
http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/global-journalism
N.A. (2014, August 8th). Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/egypt
N.A. (2011, March 10th). Safety resources for journalists travelling abroad.
http://en.rsf.org/safety-resources-for-journalists-10-03-2011,39739.html
N.A. (N.D.) Egypt - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette.
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/egypt-country-profile.html
Lavrusik, Vadim. (2009, December 9th). 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow's Journalist
http://mashable.com/2009/12/09/future-journalist
Margaret, Looney. (2011, November 8th). Six tips for journalists reporting abroad.
https://ijnet.org/stories/six-tips-journalists-reporting-abroad
William A. Hachten, & James F. Scotton. (2012). The World News Prism. John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.
Christopher D. Karadjov. (N.D). Global News Media.