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July 30, 2019
East-West Center Senior Journalists Seminar at Shangri La: Bridging Gaps Between the United States and the Muslim World
On August 25 and 26, 2011, 12 senior writers, reporters, editors and television producers from the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the United States gathered in the Playhouse at Shangri La to discuss U.S. Muslim relations, Islam in Asia, religious diversity, and the problems journalists covering these issues face. Bridging Gaps Between the United States and the Muslim Worldwas the theme of the East-West Center’s 2011 Senior Journalists Seminar, a travel and exchange program for journalists from the United States and Asian countries organized by the East-West Center and co-sponsored by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
This year’s Asia participants traveled to Washington, D.C., New York, Colorado Springs and Honolulu to meet with government officials, community leaders, religious authorities and others active in the dialogue on Asian–U.S. relations; their American counterparts traveled to Manila and Mindanao, the Philippines, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, to do the same. The journalists were pleased to comment on the hospitality and openness on the part of the Muslim religious leaders who welcomed them during their travels. “[I was surprised by] the many varieties of and differences between countries in the way they practice Islam. It makes it clear that no one political size will fit all in terms of U.S. relations with Muslim majority countries” reported Jason Scanlon, FOX News Channel.
The theme of the seminar was "Bridging Gaps Between the United States and the Muslim World."
The two-day program’s wrap-up sessions at Shangri La were characterized by lively discussions touching on religion, politics and economics in Asia and the United States. “By bringing together participants from diverse religious backgrounds and allowing them to debate various issues relevant to the relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim world, we were better able to understand the religious diversity of the places we visited and to analyze the real causes of conflict,” said Md. Zahir Shah Sherazi, DawnNews, Pakistan.
For more information about this program, please visit: http://www.eastwestcenter.org/seminars-and-journalism-fellowships/journalism-fellowships/senior-journalists-seminar.