Christiane Amanpour led a lively discussion of politics and journalism during Tuesday’s Turner Construction Student Forum. Amanpour is currently CNN’s London-based chief international correspondent.
Questions focused on her recent visits to Iraq and the stability of the nation.
“The Bush administration was not in favor of nation building when it took office,” Amanpour said, “but after 9/11 it all changed.”
She believes that democracy in Iraq was “an experiment that could have worked” but was handled poorly during the post-war operations.
She mentioned the recent news of seven retired generals criticizing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and pointed out that several generals on the ground after Baghdad fell said that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed.
“But they were ignored — and now Iraq is on the knife edge of breaking down,” Amanpour said.
She said the only hope for the country is for the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to sit down and create a workable government. Amanpour said the country is headed toward splitting into sectarian states and battling each other for control of land.
“It would make what we saw in Yugoslavia look like a picnic,” she said.
Amanpour said the types of wars she is covering are changing. She said war is in transition — no longer traditional army versus army but more internal strife. She mentioned Iraq as the perfect example of internal conflict.
“In the past it was about soldiers and materials; now men, women and children are caught in the middle,” Amanpour said.
She mentioned that covering Iraq has become progressively more dangerous since the fall of Baghdad. CNN now hires security teams to be with their correspondents along with providing bulletproof vests and other protective gear.
“There is no way to be totally immune from hardships,” Amanpour said.
When asked about the state of journalism in the United States, Amanpour said the landscape is changing at a rapid pace.
“The media is being fragmented — I think we should acknowledge that and work within the reality,” she said.
Amanpour thinks networks should identify what kind of broadcaster they want to be — and she believes that there is still room for “quality broadcasting” in today’s media.
She mentioned that there are two kinds of audiences. The first is still committed to TV and the other is more committed to the newer platforms.
“Instead of trying to transform TV, make it the best and put it on the other platforms that are growing-if it’s good solid reporting, then why wouldn’t it translate to the Internet?” Amanpour said.
She also derided the blurring lines of news and entertainment programming.
“There’s a place for both, and when you mix the two nothing gets accomplished,” she said.
