Media gallery

Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Residence

Deborah Horan, former reporter with the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle
September 25-30, 2011

Public Address: “Is Al Jazeera Now the Most Trusted Name in World News?”
September 28, 2011

When newspapers had budgets for international reporting and in-depth coverage of newsworthy events, Deborah Horan spent many years in the Mideast covering the Iraq war and other events in the Arab world, reporting from Iraq, Cairo, and Beirut. She later investigated the effect of satellite media on the Arab world.

From women parasailing in hijabs to insurgents bombing their quarters, Ms. Horan had fascinating stories to share with students and faculty during her week here at Furman. She told of a people who are comfortable with their culture despite Americans’ misunderstandings. Most of all, she made the world a little smaller, bringing a personal connection between this little-understood area of the world and the Furman community.

During her public address on September 28, “Is Al Jazeera Now the Most Trusted Name in World News?” the audience learned about Al Jazeera as a reliable source for world news. In addition, Horan engaged with students and faculty at Furman in a variety of ways including:

  • Breakfasts and lunches with groups of 3 and 4 students
  • Faculty Roundtable discussion on Women in the Mideast
  • Dinner with Hollingsworth and Townes Scholars and a brief talk on “Being a Good Consumer of Media”
  • Open forum discussion and Frodo’s Pizza with the Riley Institute Advance Team on the Arab Spring
  • Visiting classes on the Modern Mideast, the Politics of Good and Evil, Cultural Anthropology, Digital Media, Mass Communications, and World Politics
  • Visiting OLLI class on Foreign Policy

About Deborah Horan

Deborah Horan is a former reporter with the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle with more than a decade of experience covering the Middle East. She was based in Jerusalem for eight years, where she covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the region, including Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq, and Iran. She has been to Iraq four times–including twice in 1999, when Saddam Hussein was in power, and twice since his ouster in 2003. In 2001, she won a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, where she studied the rise of Al-Jazeera satellite television and its effects on Middle Eastern governments and media freedom. In 2002, she joined the Chicago Tribune as a metro reporter covering the Muslim-American community, as well as the Middle East. She currently resides in Washington DC, where she writes mainly about Iraq.

Press Coverage

Furman University Press Release