Chronicle co-editor-in-chief Noa Yadidi ’14 was one of a dozen high school and college journalists invited to meet privately Feb. 23 with Samantha Power, the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who was giving the annual Daniel Pearl Lecture at UCLA about the importance of protecting journalists and the rights of the press.
The lecture was presented by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA and the Daniel Pearl Foundation. Pearl was a Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. His family created the foundation in his name to “continue Danny’s mission and to address the root causes of this tragedy, in the spirit, style, and principles that shaped Danny’s work and character,” according to the foundation’s website.
Representatives from the Chronicle, along with those from several other schools in the Los Angeles area, were invited to meet with Power before the lecture in an off-the-record question-and-answer session. During the meeting, Power answered questions relating to her time as a journalist and her work on the UN Security Council.
“It was nice that it was more of a dialogue as opposed to just a lecture,” Yadidi said.
After the private meeting, Yadidi joined the rest of the audience for Power’s main lecture.
Power began her career as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.” She has also worked as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights on the National Security Staff at the White House.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ’88 introduced Power, who discussed the importance of a free press and protecting journalists and the war in Syria, among other issues. Coincidentally, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution Feb. 22 demanding both sides of the Syrian conflict to allow aid to be delivered to millions of people. This is the first time the UN has united on a humanitarian resolution during the three-year conflict.
“She’s a very inspirational person because of what she’s accomplished in her life and where she’s gotten herself, especially being a woman,” Yadidi said.
