Military Reporters and Editors 2005 Conference
October 20-22, 2005
Hyatt Regency Crystal City
Crystal City Arlington, Virginia
The Long Hard Slog: Covering the Iraq War at Home & Abroad
SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 20
5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Registration
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Social Regency Ballroom A
8 p.m. Movie and popcorn: “War and Truth” – a documentary about war journalists, including some MRE members. Location: Hotel Theater.
Friday, Oct. 21
8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Welcome
9:15 a.m. -10:30 a.m. SESSION 1
Shooting the messenger – Is the media telling the whole story in Iraq?
Moderator: F. Whitten Peters, former secretary of the Air Force
Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder, former Baghdad bureau chief
Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs
Jamie McIntyre, CNN Pentagon correspondent
John Hendren, Los Angeles Times Pentagon correspondent
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. SESSION 2
Panel A
Combat Fatigue: How are journalists coping with repeated trips to the war zone
Moderator: Ellen Shearer, Medill Center
Jonathan Shay, Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatist and author, Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming
Gina Cavallaro, Army Times
Sig Christenson, San Antonio Express-News
Greg Jaffe, Wall Street Journal
Kirk Spitzer, free-lance producer
Panel B
Photojournalists and videographers in the war zone
Moderator: Chip Somodevilla, free-lance photograher David Gilkey, Detroit Free Press
Scott Olson, Getty Images
James Lee, Army Times Publishing
Kevin Burke, freelance photographer
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Luncheon and Keynote Address | David Halberstam and awards
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. SESSION 3
Hurricane Katrina – Journalists as first responders
Moderator: Sig Christenson
Chris Bury, ABC Nightline
Mira Oberman, AFP
Felicity Barringer, New York Times
Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, National Guard Bureau chief
3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. SESSION 4
Panel A
Coming home – profiling this generation at war. A look at some of the stories you can do from the home front
Moderator: Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun
Gregg Zoroya, USA Today homefront reporter
Eric Schmitt, New York Times.
Linda Robinson, U.S. News & World Report
Lt. Col. Daniel O’Donohue, Marine Corps veteran of Iraq
Panel B
Four years after 9-11: 10 stories you can write on the war on terrorism
Moderator: Dave Moniz, USA Today
Doug Farah, former Washington Post reporter and author of terrorism books
Jonathan Landay, Knight Ridder.
Elisa Massimino, Washington director, Human Rights First
Brig. Gen. Vince Brooks, Army public affairs director
Saturday, Oct. 22
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Business meeting
Election of officers and board of directors and organization update
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. SESSION 5
Panel A
BRAC – What’s next?
Moderator: Jim Crawley, Media General News Service
Greg Piatt, Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fla
Dale Eisman, Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Jeremiah Gertler, CSIS
Peter Murphy, Holland & Knight. Washington, DC
Panel B
Managing Your Editor – War reporting from 7,000 miles away
Moderator: Jim Wright, former assistant managing editor, Albany, N.Y. Times-Union
Andrew Schneider, Baltimore Sun.
Jim Michaels, USA Today.
Julien Barnes, U.S. News and World Report
Joe Galloway, Knight Ridder News Service
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. SESSION 6
Coping with trauma.
Moderator: John Hendren, Los Angeles Times
David Wood, Newhouse News Service, DART Center fellow
Evan Wright, author, Generation Kill
Jonathan Shay, Department of Veterans Affairs