NOTES FROM: Talk by Hassan Fattah, NYT Middle East Correspondent
[Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. You can see the master list of all the “Notes From” items here.]
Below, notes from a talk by Hassan Fattah of The New York Times. Many thanks to the volunteer notes-taker Mohammad Al-Kassim. Feel free to post a comment below (free, one-timeregistration required).
NOTES FROM… A Talk by Hassan Fattah of The New York Times
Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007
Lecture Hall, Columbia Journalism School
By Mohammad Al-Kassim, J2008
Hassan Fattah, Columbia University J-School Class of 2000, and New York Times Middle East Correspondant based in Dubai, spoke to J-School students at the Lecture Hall on Tuesday morning. A former Baghdad correspondent, he now covers the entire region except for Iraq, Israel and Palestine.
Some of the points he made are below.
Among the most important things in a journalist’s life: a pencil (not a pen, but a pencil); a Nokia phone (in other countries, you can always find someone nearby who has a Nokia charger); a passport (make sure you travel a lot) and family (that’s after all why you work so hard, he said, as he showed us a photo of his family ).
The best reporters are humble and approachable and are great listeners. Those are the ones people will talk to. Those are the ones people will trust. People are turned off by arrogant journalists.
Journalism is going through a tremendous change. Be flexible.
This business is not about you, it’s about the people, championing the cause of the people.
Freelancing is a viable option if it’s done right. The first assignment is the most important one. Deliver early. Be reliable. Write well. Editors like reliable journalists.
Reporters are not politicians.
The job of a reporter is to sift through information, analyze and synthesize.
TIPS FOR YOUR TIME AT THE SCHOOL: Meet as many people as possible. Do stories you have never done before. Fail so you know where to improve. This is the place to screw up, bend the boundaries of comfort and make mistakes.
Live your beat. Walk your beat. Listen and talk to people in your beat.
You can catch a short YouTube clip of Fattah’s appearance here:
ABOUT HASSAN M. FATAH
Hassan M. Fattah is the Middle East Correspondent for the New York Times, based in Dubai. He is responsible for covering the entire region outside Iraq and Israel/Palestine.
In 2003, he co-founded Iraq Today, an English-language weekly newspaper written and edited by Iraqis, turning the venture into an internationally recognized publication before its closure a year later due to security concerns. In 2004, Mr. Fattah helped found Aswat Al Iraq, Iraq’s first independent, non-governmental news exchange, funded by the United Nations
and focused on developing a new generation of Iraqi journalists.
He has served as a correspondent for Time, and at various times has been a regular contributor to the Economist, Prospect Magazine and the New Republic, among other international publications.
Born in Beirut Lebanon to Iraqi parents, Mr. Fattah was raised between Lebanon, Jordan and the U.S. He holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Science from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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