"Reporting at the Southern Borders" Book Discussion

Regardless of one’s politics and whether one’s concern is more about borders and security or opportunity and human rights, millions of undocumented immigrants, and the thousands who die trying to cross frontiers, are a cause of major concern for Western democracies.

Giovanna Dell'Orto, a journalism professor, former Associated Press immigration reporter and member of the National Press Club, will discuss her book Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the U.S. and the E.U. (co-edited with Vicki Birchfield) in the Games Room on Monday, October 27th at 6pm.

The book's diverse contributors candidly reveal the mounting challenges for journalists seeking to enrich our political and public debates about immigration: Whether in Maricopa County or Lampedusa, reporters tackle the difficulty of breaking through the polarized political agenda, the near-impossibility of discussing societal transformations without playing into the hands of extremist rhetoric, and the daily struggle to engage in investigative reporting despite shoestring budgets -- and assassination threats. Bringing into dialogue journalists, scholars, and human rights practitioners from North America and Europe, the book unearths the professional, political, and logistical constraints on reporting today at the global flashpoints of clandestine crossing -- the US-Mexican border and the Mediterranean.

Dell'Orto teaches international journalism and communication history at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She is the author of three other books on news and international affairs, and is working on a new manuscript about foreign correspondence.

The event, sponsored by the International Correspondents Committee, is open to the public, but reservations are requested. Tickets are free for NPC members, $5 for public.