Days 4/5: Final workshops and the flight home

More business buildings in Beirut. Wonderfully beautiful designs.

I know there aren’t many people reading my blog…yet. However, it seems odd that I wait 48+ hours to update on the last of the conference well after it was over. The reason being is that I usually type these posts right before I sleep; and seeing as I haven’t been to bed since 9 a.m. Lebanese time on the 20, this counts as my right-before-bed post.

The fourth and last official day of the conference was the most interesting to say the least. The topic were either the most controversial or most relevant to modern journalism. The three topics: Social media coverage of international justice, photojournalism of international crime, and a workshop with a defense attorney on preserving the presumption of innocence.

Day 3: Training day one, walking through downtown Beirut

This shwarma business is located in the Hamra section of Beirut. The dish is a sliced meat sandwich where the meat is cooked on massive roasters and rotisseries before being sliced directly onto the bread before being wrapped.

The third day of the conference may have been the most exciting yet. During the actual conference part of my day, I attended two workshops. One, by Sam Houston State University professor of criminal justice Mitchel Roth, Ph.D., who gave a lecture on where to find basic information for a foundation in covering organizations and tribunals like the ICC, ICJ, ICTY, ICTR, STL. Second was a workshop on covering international justice for print media by Malise Simons of the New York Times. I’ve had a chance to talk with her on several occasions and she is a real character. You can easily tell why she is both well liked and well respected. Her workshop was an emotional, heart-felt session where she went beyond the basics of covering a war crime trial. She told us stories that she used to help put a human face and emotion into an otherwise boring or dry topic.

Day 2: Panel discussions at MCIJ

My Lebanese breakfast at the Riviera,

I finally got to see parts of the city of Beirut today when I got up. Ate breakfast which consisted of several Lebanese foods including chickpeas. Although I found out today that I’m not the world’s greatest fan Mediterranean cuisine, I’ve definitely found some that I like but more importantly broadened my scope of food.

Outside of the hotel is a beautiful view of the Mediterranean sea as well as the Lebanon mountains. The architecture throughout the city is a mixture of both the old, pre-war style of Lebanese architecture and more modern-style of design. Aymann Mhanna, SKF executive director, said that the city is going through a rebuilding stage and that there is construction going on in any available space.