Declan Walsh and Ruadhan Mac Cormaic
New York Times journalist Declan Walsh joined the panel with Irish Times foreign correspondent Ruadhan Mac Cormaic on ‘Dangerous work if you can get it’ at the Cleraun Media Conference on Sunday 18th of November.
Declan Walsh is the Cairo Bureau chief of the New York Times. He previously worked for the Guardian. He recently did a piece on the impact of the civil war in Yemen. He talked of the story and the picture he used of seven year old Amal Hussain. He said he got a “huge response from readers and how it opened their eyes to this story”.
He talked of the difference now between The New York Times and the Gaurdian. He said “The Times has more resources” and also that there is “more time for stories, more leeway to take a run on these stories”.
When covering the 2016 US presidential election he said “it was a challenge to do that assignment” and that it was “completely eye-opening to see the way people think”.
Declan was also expelled from Pakistan and he talked about that. He said “I had nine years of relationships and friends” and he talked of how that had a personal impact on him.
Declan went on to win the Cleraun Media Award for Outstanding Contribution 2018 at the conference.
Ruadhan was previously the Paris Correspondent where he covered the Tunisian revolution. While on the panel he asked Declan many questions about his career.
When it came to the question and answer session and he was asked on keeping that balance when reporting and staying neutral, he said “the fact that you can’t always achieve it doesn’t mean you can stop trying”.
Cleraun Media Conference 2018 (DCU Newsdays) 