#MEspeech

NPR’s managing editor for digital news Mark Stencel has responded to criticisms made by this blog of the network’s facilitation of a White House instigated event to talk about Obama’s Middle East policy speech that featured just one panelist: Obama’s speechwriter.

President Barack Obama laid out in a little bit more detail a US “vision” of what “peace” would look like in his much anticipated speech on US policy in the Middle East and North Africa, there was precious little new. Moreover, the speech affirmed that the United States will not take any effective action to advance its vision of a two-state solution.

To great fanfare, NPR, Foreign Policy and The White House simultaneously announced this morning a joint event to be held tomorrow immediately following President Obama’s much-anticipated speech on US policy in the Arab world.