Swarthmore Students Launch
Radio Program on Iraq War
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On the snowy weekend of Jan. 21-23, a dozen Swarthmore students worked under the tutelage of four professional broadcast journalists to produce a pilot radio program on the war in Iraq. Energized by the experience and the results, the students, with the support of the Swarthmore administration, are launching "War News Radio," a daily, student-produced radio program.
Eva Barboni and Amanda Klonsky.
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The Swarthmore students hope to provide the public with a valuable source of news and perspective on the on-going conflict in Iraq. The summary will be broadcast over the Internet.
"We see this program as a good way for us to have an impact on the debate over the war and provide listeners with some of what's missing from the mainstream media coverage of Iraq," said Eva Barboni, a junior from Pittsburgh, who is working on the project. "We intend to provide more context, and through interviews with everyday citizens there, more Iraqi perspective on the war."
The pilot broadcast, for example, features an interview with a young Iraqi who works as a clerk at a Baghdad hotel hosting many international journalists.
Wren Elhai and Ariana Nash.
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Swarthmore's "War News Radio" is the brainchild of David Gelber, a 1963 Swarthmore graduate and current Swarthmore board member who is a producer for CBS's "60 Minutes." Gelber was inspired by a similar radio program on Vietnam that aired on Pacifica Radio in the early 1970s. One of the producers of that program was Paul Fischer, who is now Gelber's colleague at CBS.
During the weekend workshop on campus, Gelber, Fischer, and two other broadcast journalists worked with the students to teach them the basics that go into the production of a radio program. Within hours, the students were conducting their first telephone interviews with journalists, officials, and everyday Iraqis.
David Gelber and Paul Fischer (standing, dark shirts) confer with students.
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Also working with students at the workshop were Amanda Klonsky, a Chicago-based documentary radio producer, and Jessie Graham, a freelance radio reporter and producer based in New York who is soon heading to Iraq to train journalists.
"Iraq is the most serious event in U.S. foreign policy since Vietnam, and yet a lot of what's going on there is not covered by the mainstream media," Gelber said. "The fact that Swarthmore students will be reporting some of what the big media are missing -- and the fact that the college is enabling the students to do it -- is more evidence of what a truly unique place Swarthmore is."
Contact: Tom Krattenmaker, tkratte1@swarthmore.edu
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