A recent series of events which have transpired in Turkey and Saudi Arabia have caught the attention of the public eye. Reporter Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul when an alleged altercation occurred between him and men working in the embassy.

This, including president Trump’s response, are important because they demonstrate how the world reacts to important events and times of crisis.

Seniors Dat Luu and Umar Ahmed, President and Vice-President of PACE (politics and current events), decided to speak about it at the last club meeting.

“Extrajudicial killings of journalists is a serious issue that people have to be informed of the dangers. Also, we have to periodically reflect on the US’s alliances in the middle east and its cost-effectiveness and benefit of the US citizens and people directly involved,” Luu said.

The implications of this effect on us reach farther than just foreign relations.

“I think that this has important implications just given that our own press and media has been under attack lately as a result of the Trump administration,” Ahmed said. “I think that students staying informed on issues regarding journalism is important so that detrimental entities are not able to seize rights which we have guaranteed to us.”

Sponsor of Model United Nations Neil Koreman shares a similar view.

“So I think the Kashoggi case is the triumph of state-sponsored cruelty, and if we wish our governments to represent our people we need to stand together,” Koreman said.

So, other than the political problems this event raises, its importance stretches to our own lives in the United States and our own freedom of the press. It’s important for students to stay informed about events like these since they may spell disaster for the future of journalism, and they will help build complex reasoning skills needed to succeed in the world today.