2004 Gatekeepers travel to Syria and Lebanon
May 8-17, 2004
Thirteen U.S. editors and senior producers conducted a rare, 90-minute interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad as part of their 10-day Gatekeeper Editors trip to Lebanon and Syria May 8-17, 2004.
The editors met with President Assad on May 13, one day after the Bush Administration announced sanctions on Syria. His reactions to the sanctions, as well as his comments on the war in Iraq, the Israel-Palestinian issue and internal dissent and politics, were the subjects of the wide-ranging interview, conducted in the presidential palace above Damascus. Many of the editors filed daily stories for their news organizations after the meeting with Assad.
The trip was designed to provide senior U.S. editors with background on one of the most volatile regions in the world. Editors interviewed the Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, the onetime spiritual lead of Hizbullah, one of the most important political forces in Lebanon and a group labeled as terrorist by the United States.
Gatekeepers met with prominent scholars on Islam, university students, journalists, social activists and political figures in Beirut, a city that has resumed its position as the intellectual capital of the Arab world in the years since Lebanon's civil war ended 14 years ago. Editors received a first-hand look at the devastation that remains from that war in which more than 100,000 people died from 1975 to 1990, as well as a tour of the reconstruction of the city's downtown.
In Syria, the editors met with critics of the Assad regime, including dissidents who had been jailed for opposing the Syrian ruler. The editors’ visit generated considerable press attention in the region, and excerpts of some of the local media coverage of the visit appear on this page. Storied filed by the Gatekeepers are also available for reading.
| Associated Press | Laura Myers, assistant international editor |
| Baltimore Sun | Kathy Lally, deputy foreign editor |
| Boston Globe | James Smith, foreign editor |
| The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette | Mark Bowden, editor |
| Frontline/World (PBS) | Stephen Talbot, series editor |
| Kansas City Star | Miriam Pepper, editorial page editor |
| Knight Ridder Newspapers | Steven Butler, foreign editor |
| Miami Herald | John Yearwood, world editor |
| National Public Radio | Graham Smith, senior producer, “All Things Considered” |
| Newsweek.com | Arlene Getz, deputy editor |
| Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Larry Johnson, foreign desk editor |
| The (Toledo) Blade | Ronald Royhab, executive editor |
| USA Today | Jim Michaels, deputy world editor |
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