UPDATED - Covering ISIS: A Journalist's Challenge

February 9, 2016
7:30 PM
Shambaugh Auditorium, 100 Main Library

More than 80 people braved the cold weather on February 9 to listen to a lecture entitled, "Covering ISIS: A Journalist's Challenge" by Ben Plesser, a senior producer from NBC News.  The lecture was held at Shambaugh Auditorium at the UI Main Library, and was co-sponsored by the Public Policy Center, the UI College of Law, and the UI Lecture Committee.

Plesser talked about and showed film from some of his riskier assignments, including a trip into Syria to interview a militant jihadist about his treatment of prisoners, and footage of himself and crew very narrowly dodging gunfire after sneaking across the Syrian border.  

Ben Kieffer of Iowa Public Radio moderated a Q&A after Plesser's presentation, wrapping it up with a very frank question, "Give us your assessment, in terms of 20, 40, 30, 50 percent…what is the likelihood that you will die doing your work?"  Plesser responded that while he considers himself to be very lucky, he cited the quote, "Luck favors those who have a plan."  His crews meticulously plan for every possible scenario, and he said that if they weren't willing to do everything in their power to mitigate risk, they should be in a different business.  When pressed for a more direct answer to Kieffer's question, Plesser responded that there are is no law of averages in his profession, and no straight answer to that question.

To read more, see a story in the Daily Iowan here.

Plesser heads a dedicated team with NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel. Having covered international news for two decades, he is the recipient of multiple Emmy awards as well as the prestigious Peabody and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia awards.

Plesser started as a researcher in 1995 at the New York Times’ Jerusalem Bureau, before making the move to television news in 1999 as an associate producer at CBS News’ 60 Minutes in London, where he quickly became a producer. During the 2003 Iraq war, he led the CBS News team on the northern front, and later became one of the network’s rotating bureau chiefs in Baghdad.

Over the next decade, he covered many major news events around the world, including an earthquake in Iran, unrest in Pakistan and flooding in Burma; he was the main producer when news anchors travelled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and London; in 2005, he returned to the US for coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

In 2011, when the Arab spring erupted, he led the CBS News team in Cairo throughout the Tahrir Square uprising, and was the first American journalist to report from Tripoli after the uprising in Libya. When Syrians took to the streets, Plesser made repeated and dangerous trips into Syria, following the story as civil unrest turned to civil war.

In late 2013, Plesser left CBS to join the newly formed Richard Engel Unit at NBC, which he now leads. He and Engel have won accolades for their coverage of the civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS, and cover other major events around the world, from the earthquake in Nepal and the migrant crisis in Europe to the terror attacks in Paris.

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Other University of Iowa co-sponsors:

Department of Political Science, Department of History, Department of Religious Studies, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, International Programs, Department of Communications Studies

The Forkenbrock Series provides a forum for dialogue about policy areas from applied, academic, and interdisciplinary perspectives. The series was established in honor of David Forkenbrock, a nationally recognized transportation researcher. Dr. Forkenbrock established the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa in 1987 and directed the Center until 2007. His vision was to enable public and private sector decision makers to work with faculty, staff, and student researchers to explore solutions to complex problems related to the public interest.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Dragana Petic at dragana-petic@uiowa.edu.