by Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson<\/p>\n
Alissa Rubin has seen it all. A foreign correspondent for nearly twenty years, she has faced great peril in the name of great reporting. She became deputy chief of the New York Times bureau in Baghdad in 2007, and chief of the Times\u2019 bureau in Kabul two years later. When she almost lost her life in a 2014 helicopter crash in northern Iraq, she dictated a report of the accident from her hospital bed. In her current position as chief of the New York Times bureau in Paris, she stays true to one lesson learned from past reporting: \u201cYou have to be humble about the unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubin speaks softly but doesn\u2019t mince words. During an informal dinner with Princeton University students, she dives right into France\u2019s core political issues. As Paris bureau chief, she focuses on terrorism. But her team takes care in deciding when and whether to use the word\u00a0terrorist<\/em>, particularly when a given attacker is Muslim. She is cautious not to sensationalize. \u201cWe don\u2019t do conjecture. We report a lot of details of each case, to paint a portrait,\u201d she said. Without making premature conclusions, Rubin probes for causes. \u201cWhy? <\/em>That\u2019s the big question. Why<\/em> do Muslim communities feel disenfranchised in France?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rubin\u2019s ability to suspend judgment makes her a flexible reporter. She also writes on the French presidential election. She gained insight from watching the U.S. election and the referendum on Brexit unfold last year. \u201cThis year is about absorbing the fact that we \u2013 the press \u2013 were wrong,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t trust the polls. I don\u2019t know what to believe. Wisdom is knowing what you don\u2019t know.\u201d Even as a seasoned journalist, she continues to grow in her craft. She takes criticism in stride and always responds to it. \u201cIf someone takes time to write to me, they deserve my engagement,\u201d she believes.<\/p>\n Rubin views journalism as a privilege and a responsibility. \u201cWe\u2019re paid to ask questions that other people can\u2019t ask. We\u2019re there because you can\u2019t get there,\u201d she said. For that reason, she worries about new\u00a0journalism that values speed over accuracy. She believes nothing analytic can be done so quickly. \u201cThought happens at its own rate,\u201d she said. Twenty years into her journalistic endeavors, thought remains Rubin\u2019s forte. Her intellect continues to capture the world\u2019s most poignant stories, and transmit them\u00a0to readers eager for truth in an era of alternative facts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson Alissa Rubin has seen it all. A foreign correspondent for nearly twenty years, she has faced great peril in the name of great reporting. She became deputy chief of the New York Times bureau in Baghdad in 2007, and chief of the Times\u2019 bureau in Kabul two years later. When she almost … <\/p>\n