A Nonpartisan State of the World Report Featuring Award-Winning Journalist Terry McCarthy Reflection

​By Hania Raza '24

As a young student journalist, I found this seminar/Q&A to be very valuable and interesting. Terry McCarthy began the event with the interesting story of how he got into journalism. Because he grew up in Ireland, he was not able to study it as he would have been able to in the United States. Rather, McCarthy’s interest in non-partisan journalism was sparked by an article he had read about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The writer was able to interview the Isralei Prime Minister, who was being pressured to invade the area of Lebanon where Palestenian refugees were at the time. He found out that the Prime Minister was torn because his wife was very sick then. He had to choose whether to stay and take care of his family or take action for Israel. The writer of this article was also able to interview the leader of Palestine. Describing the meeting with lots of imagery, the writer humanized the conflict and showed two different views. McCarthy, in this way, found a position where he was able to pursue a high level of inquiry by learning about the different sides of a story. At the end of the event, during the Q&A, McCarthy gave two pieces of advice to student journalists. Young journalists should, firstly, learn the many parts of journalism. In these times, many people have had to multitask and do their own photography, voiceovers and shoot their own videos, so learning the many modes of journalism will be a useful skill for the future. Secondly, McCarthy talked about the importance of going outside of one's comfort zone. This will teach a writer how to understand a story they do not know much about. After learning how to listen and pull a story out of someone, a journalist will be able to show that they truly care and will treat a story with respect.