During this year’s International Journalism Festival: Last September marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. Just a month earlier, the United States’ withdrawal after a two-decade war in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban appeared to bookend two decades of the U.S.-led “war on terror.” While that war is far from over, this panel explores the ways in which U.S. actions post-9/11 have changed countless lives, both abroad and at home. The panel focuses on the ways in which the media covered and in many cases contributed to the narrative of the war on terror, from the failure of journalism that helped justify the invasion of Iraq to some of the outstanding investigative reporting that has exposed this war's true cost.

Panelists Azmat Khan, Murtaza Hussain, and Spencer Ackerman, moderated by Alice Speri, will discuss how journalists covered one of the most consequential stories of our time, the stories they missed, and the blind spots in their coverage, as well as how the war on terror “came home” to the United States.