By Lutful Kabir Khan 
     
     The Gateway 
     
    
   
   
    
     “All you can report upon is 
     
     NOW - on what you see, what 
     
     you hear, and what you touch,” 
     
     said Ann Medina, CBC foreign 
     
    
   
   
    
     correspondent, “if you play God 
     
     - think you can read in a crys- 
     
     tal ball what’s going to happen 
     
     tomorrow... tomorrow gets 
     
    
   
   
    
     as 
     
    
   
   
    
     Just the Facts, Please 
     
    
   
   
    
     blown up in your face.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     Medina was speaking before 
     
     a large gathering at the Uni- 
     
     versity of Alberta Nov. 27th on 
     
     ‘The Role of The Media in 
     
     International Politics.’ 
     
    
   
   
    
     According to Medina, a re- 
     
     porter’s primary objective is to 
     
     report, not to ‘go out and cru- 
     
    
   
   
    
     Sa 
     
     ‘‘A reporter’s 
     
     jobis to find out 
     
     if something is 
     
     true or false and 
     
     report it to the 
     
    
   
   
    
     people” 
     
     GPL ae 
     
    
   
   
    
     sade, not to save lives, not to 
     
    
   
   
    
     _ mould peoples opinions’. 
     
    
   
   
    
     “There is no such thing as 
     
     pure objectivity... but there’s 
     
     still something in our guts that 
     
     can distinguish between what 
     
     is more objective or less objec- 
     
     tive, more subjective or less 
     
     subjective.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is very important for a 
     
     reporter not to have a pre- 
     
    
   
   
    
     conceived notion on what she 
     
     is going to write ‘like a tourist 
     
     who has all the details planned 
     
     out even before boarding the 
     
     plane’; a true reporter has to be 
     
     ready for the unexpected, th 
     
    

    
     contrary. : 
     
    
   
   
    
     “Everyone was saying the 
     
     people of Syria hated Assad,” 
     
     Medina said, “but I went there 
     
     and found outit was his brother 
     
     the head of internal security, 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     that the people hated; they love 
     
     Assad.”’ Reporters should go 
     
     looking for a story. They don’t 
     
     know what they are going to 
     
     find. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Reporters should not be con- 
     
     sidering what effect their sto- 
     
     ries are going to have on mil- 
     
     lions of readers or viewers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     “Aid is being abused in Afri- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ca; should we keep from report- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ing it just because there might 
     
     be less aid and more people 
     
     would die?” she said; “Our job 
     
     is to report the facts... maybe 
     
     that will change government 
     
     attitude and the abuse of aid.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “The Israelis were trying to 
     
     justify their raids by publicis- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ing the suicide bombings by 
     
    
   
   
    
     the Shiite extremists in Leba- 
     
     non,” said Medina, “I went to 
     
     Tyre... talked to the people... 
     
     they were just regular people. 
     
     The Israelis have done some- 
     
     thing to the whole Shiite that 
     
     prompted them to do these. 
     
     But the Israelis wanted us to 
     
     believe they were extremists 
     
     only to justify what they were 
     
     doing.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “President Reagan did the 
     
     same thing about Gaddafi,” 
     
     she noted, “Itis tragic that the 
     
     media was accepting what 
     
     Reagan was claiming as true 
     
     faith.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “A reporter’s job is to find 
     
     out if something is true or false 
     
     and to report it to the people,” 
     
     Medina said, “I am as much 
     
     worried about the government 
     
     controlling us as I am about 
     
     terrorists controlling us.” 
     
     Medina discussed the Vietnam 
     
     war and its coverage by the 
     
     media. “Maybe the coverage 
     
     stopped the war,” she said, 
     
     “but we should not weigh the 
     
     consequences of our reporting 
     
     and self-censor the reports.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     “Tf people die in Africa, I am 
     
     very sorry. I cry at night think- 
     
     ing that my report contributed 
     
     to that, but itis better for meto 
     
     report than to hold back in- 
     
    
   
   
    
     formation,” Medina said.