Wadah Khanfar to deliver Guardian keynote

Wadah Khanfar, the director general of al-Jazeera, will be giving the keynote speech at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival in August. He’ll be focussing on the superficial, immediate and unfiltered reporting that plagues what is called news coverage today,

He will expand on his belief that international journalism is in need of a serious overhaul to counter a “growing disinterest in the news and its analysis”. Khanfar will stress the importance of considering the “social, cultural and historical dynamics” of societies when reporting conflict. link

Khanfar previously worked as a war correspondent in Afghanistan during 2001 and 2002 and during the second Gulf war in 2003.