Media Contact:
Dr. Akram Khater, 919/513-2218
Chad Austin, News Services, 919/515-3470

Jan. 24, 2006

Acclaimed Journalist to Offer Insight into Media’s Impact on Democracy in the Middle East

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, will deliver a public lecture on media and democracy in the Middle East on Monday, Jan. 30, at 2:30 p.m. in the Campus Cinema of Witherspoon Student Center on the campus of North Carolina State University. The event is free and open to the public. Witherspoon Student Center is located at the corner of Dan Allen Drive and Cates Avenue on NC State’s main campus.

Khouri’s lecture will address the role of media in the construction of democracy in the Middle East. He will examine how the media has circumvented government-controlled print and broadcast media to allow for multiple perspectives in the region. Khouri will also discuss how the
media has shaped public reaction to events in the region, while examining the media’s role as it
relates to the United States’ designs for the region.

The goal of the lecture is to provide an American audience with more insight into the democratization of the Middle East. Khouri will also provide an assessment of what is transpiring
in the region and a prognosis for the future.

Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and a U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman and Nazareth. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author. Khouri hosts Encounter, a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan television. He was editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times newspaper for seven years and has written for the Financial Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. Khouri often provides commentary on Middle East issues to international media outlets such as CNN, BBC and National Public Radio.

The event is sponsored by NC State’s Middle East Studies program and the Department of English, both in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Office of the Provost; the
Office of International Affairs; and the University Scholars Program.

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