BBC Baghdad bureau chief Adi Raval to speak about his time in Iraq Feb. 21

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? Adi Raval, bureau chief for the BBC in Baghdad and senior White House producer, as well as a Middlebury College 1998 graduate, will speak on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 4:30 p.m. The lecture, titled “Reflections on time spent in Iraq as a journalist and as an American,” is part of the college’s “Meet the Press” series and will take place in Room 220 of McCardell Bicentennial Hall. The event is free and open to the public and will include time for audience questions.

As a senior producer for the BBC, Raval currently oversees White House coverage and has been particularly involved with recent 2008 campaign activities. Over the past year, however, he made several trips to Baghdad as bureau chief. Because it tends to be such a rigorous assignment, the BBC sends journalists in a rotation of short assignments. During his talk at Middlebury, Raval will discuss his experiences while in Iraq, as both a journalist and an American.

Prior to joining the BBC, Raval was a producer for ABC News and also spent time in Iraq reporting for that organization.

Raval’s talk is part of Middlebury College’s “Meet the Press” lecture series and is co-sponsored by several Middlebury College organizations: Atwater Commons, the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs and the English Department. “Meet the Press” was established in 2003 by author and Scholar in Residence in English Sue Halpern. The lectures are presented under the auspices of the Middlebury College Institute on Working Journalism, a program designed to bring newsmakers - reporters, editors, critics, photojournalists, bloggers and editorialists - to the Middlebury campus.

McCardell Bicentennial Hall is located on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125). For more information, contact Sue Halpern at shalpern@middlebury.edu.