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Ilene Prusher Informs UM Students About Dangers In Journalism

University of Miami
/
Courtesy

Ilene Prusher, noted international reporter and editor, spoke to University of Miami journalism students Wednesday night.

She informed them about the dangers journalists have to face when shedding light on the dark corners of the world.

For two decades, Prusher reported on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And she covered the Arab-Israeli conflicts.

"If we, as the so called 'experienced reporters,' didn't go out and cover these stories, who would?" she said. "So I felt the sense of duty and I saw it as a privilege to have been given a chance for a front row seat to seeing history as it unfolds."

Prusher was also at one point StevenSotloff’seditor -- the Miami journalist who was kidnapped and killed by the Islamic State while reporting in the Middle East.

She said this UM event was in honor of Sotloff and all the journalists who have lost their lives on the job. Prusher quoted Sotloff in an email he sent to a friend just months before he was kidnapped.

"We're all naive. It's easy to feel invincible even with death all around. It's like 'I'm not gonna die,'” she quoted.

Isabelle Morris is a sophomore at UM interested in broadcasting. She attended Prusher's talk.

"I am Jewish and Israeli and I know that she's Jewish and lives in Israel, so something that definitely sparked my interest," she said.

After the event, Morris said Prusher inspired her to be a journalist even more.

"She does it purely out of passion and I really hope that I end up doing something that I'm passionate about and not for the money," Morris said.

Ilene Prusher concluded her speech saying, "With the conscience of the world on our shoulders, we can’t afford to let these losses stop us."

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