The Influence of ISIS
Series
When
Saturday, 29 Aug 2015, 11:30am - 12:30pm
Event Status
Past event

As the reach of ISIS continues to unfurl, key strategic cities in Syria and Iraq have fallen to the group and a number of Australians (most often young or vulnerable) have been drawn into its networks. While media attention has focused primarily on the spectacle of ISIS – the beheadings and immolations – and the organisation’s sophisticated online recruitment strategies, true and measured insight has sometimes proven elusive. What are we failing to comprehend about the workings and the ambitions of the group? Not five years since the optimistic first stirrings of the Arab Spring, how did we get here – to talk of an apocalyptic showdown – so quickly?
Sally Warhaft is joined by award-winning journalist Sally Neighbour, author of two books on terrorism and Islamic extremism, and Jamie Tarabay, senior editor of national security and tech at Vocativ, to discuss the growing influence of ISIS and, more generally, the challenges of reporting on global conflict today.
Update: Sally Neighbour has replaced Roger Cohen in this event, as Roger Cohen is no longer appearing at Melbourne Writers Festival.
Featuring
Featuring

Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year, a Wheeler Centre podcast about Australians’ lives in the fog of ... Read more

Jamie Tarabay is a foreign correspondent and the author of A Crazy Occupation: Eyewitness to the Intifada. As Baghdad bureau chief for NPR News her reporting was awarded the Alfred I duPont-Columbia University Award. She has lived and reported from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Northen Africa and... Read more

Sally Neighbour is executive producer of Four Corners. She is a multiple award-winning journalist and author, best known for her work with Four Corners as well as her specialist writing with The Australian newspaper and her authorship of two books on terrorism and Islamic ex... Read more
Location
Flinders Street Federation Square Melbourne Victoria 3000
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