Journalists to Discuss the Press and Foreign Policy

At 7:30 p.m., reporters Sandy Tolan and Lamis Andoni will address “Today’s Media: What Voice in Foreign Policy?” Tolan is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio. Andoni is a reporter for Al Rai, the largest Arab daily in Jordan and Al Ahram, Egypt’s largest newspaper. The two are married.

As an independent journalist for 16 years, and executive producer of Homelands Productions, Tolan has reported and produced dozens of documentaries and features for National Public Radio, Public Radio International, the CBC and Australian Broadcasting.

His work has also appeared in The New York Times magazine and the Los Angeles Times magazine, as well as many other major publications. His international focus has been Latin America, the Caribbean, the Balkans, Germany, India and the Middle East.

He is currently at work for NPR’s “Living on Earth,” examining the importance of water in the Middle East peace process. A former co-chair of the Association of Independents in Radio and 1993 Neiman Fellow at Harvard University, Tolan is a frequent lecturer on journalism, radio production and coverage of foreign affairs. His work has received more than 15 national and regional journalism awards.

Andoni started working as a reporter in 1982 for the Jordan Times. She joined the international press corps in 1984, writing first for the British Guardian (1984-1989), and the Middle East International in London (a bi-weekly journal of policy analysis). She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and the Financial Times (London). Her main focus has been the Arab World, Iran and Iraq and the U.S. Middle East Policy.

She has also frequently reported on Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood, and was a 1993 Neiman Fellow at Harvard.

The program is part of Wake Forest’s Great Decisions lecture series in International Studies and is co-sponsored by the university’s international studies department and the journalism program. For information, call 759-5938.