Cascade PBS Ideas Festival poster

Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Journalists, politicians, authors and newsmakers from around the world come together.

Tug of War: Covering the Crisis in the Middle East

At the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, CNN’s David Rind and Middle East correspondent Nada Bashir discuss the challenges of covering the crisis in Gaza.

CNN’s Tug of War podcast brings listeners into the heart of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Providing perspective on the attacks of October 7 and the subsequent outbreak of war, CNN reporters take us on the ground to document the escalating conflict and what it means for the rest of the world. 

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, host David Rind and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir took the stage for a live taping of Tug of War. They discussed the unique challenges of covering an unfolding war with decades of trauma ingrained into generations of people. Bashir details the difficult process of reporting in the Middle East under the fog of war.  

Rind and Bashir sit down for a powerful and candid conversation about the horrific events taking place in Gaza and the ripple effects the war is having on the rest of the region and the world. They discuss the international media’s heavy reliance on Palestinian journalists, as few other reporters have access to Gaza. They pull back the curtain on biased reporting and what many media outlets get wrong. Bashir explores what she has learned and how her approach has evolved as she continues reporting on the conflict.  

This conversation was recorded in Seattle on May 4, 2024.   

Listen to full uncut episodes on the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast at crosscut.com/podcast.