The MESA Debate: The Scholars, the Media, and the Middle East

The Twentieth Anniversary Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association of North America sponsored a debate entitled "The Scholars, the Media, and the Middle East" on 22 November 1986. The participants in the debate were, in order of presentation: Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University; Edward W. Said, Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of the New Republic; and Christopher Hitchens, Washington correspondent forthe Nation. The chairman was Professor William H. McNeill, University ofChicago. The debate is presented in full below.