The Miller Center hosted Nick Schifrin, PBS NewsHour foreign affairs and defense correspondent, to join William Antholis, Miller Center director and CEO, in discussing the United States’ role on the global stage Thursday. Centering on Schifrin’s experience working internationally as a journalist, the conversation focused on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the recent tradewar in China and the new presidential administration’s approach to international relations.
Schifrin leads daily foreign coverage at PBS and has embarked on multiple trips to Ukraine since the invasion in February 2022. His work exploring Putin’s Russia, his coverage of COVID-19 and his reporting in Afghanistan and Ukraine have earned him various accolades.
The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University that aims to provide insight, especially on the presidency, that advances democratic institutions and the public good. The conversation with Schifrin was the fourth annual James C. Lehrer Lecture — Lehrer was the PBS NewsHour co-founder and former anchor, as well as a longtime member of the Miller Center’s Governing Council.
According to Schifrin, his approach to hosting NewsHour is one that values a memorable and thoughtful viewing experience. His most prominent goal in his work as a journalist is to unveil the humanity of the groups affected by the events he covers.
“What media, in my opinion, should be, is that … [learning] that the opposite of war is not peace — it’s humanity,” Schifrin said. “It is teaching or reminding someone on the opposite side of the planet … that perhaps a woman in Gaza loves their children just as the woman back in America does, or the man in Afghanistan has the same hopes and dreams for his children as the parent [in America].”
Emmett O’Brien, third-year College student, asked Schifrin what we thought a journalist’s role is in the current media landscape to shape the political and international landscape.
Schifrin responded that he thought his impact working as a news correspondent is not as large as it was 10 to 20 years ago. He said although interest in the content journalists are reporting is at an all-time high, mainstream media via news outlets has less influence on history due to platforms like Twitter that allow political figures to communicate directly to their constituents.
“Does [media] really shape what's happening? Maybe,” Schifrin said. “I actually am of the belief that the media, in some ways, has less influence on history than it used to.”
Touching on his experience on the ground in Ukraine, Schifrin spoke of the unanimity of opposition to Putin and Russia that characterizes the citizens of Ukraine. Schifrin said he was once interviewing a Ukrainian family after the invasion. The mother was struggling to answer the questions in Ukrainian. When the translator clarified that she was welcome to speak in Russian, the language the entire family spoke fluently, she adamantly refused to speak the language of her oppressor.
Although Ukraine’s unity has weakened as a result of the waning political popularity of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — driven by war-weariness and claims of army corruption — Schifrin said that after the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine united. Schifrin said that prior to the invasion, the nation was slightly divided into those looking toward Moscow, celebrating a Soviet past and those looking to the EU and NATO for a Western-centered future. According to Schifrin, those divides are over.
“There is no pride in Soviet history connected to Vladimir Putin in today's Russia, it's simply gone,” Schifrin said. “You do not create the level of trauma and pain that the Kremlin and the Russian Federation's military has created in Ukraine without, in turn, creating a similar amount of unity and anger on the other side.”
Schifrin summed up the conflict between Ukraine and Russia with an analogy — Putin understood the illness of Ukraine drifting to the West, but the medicine Putin prescribed has created an effect opposite of his intended impact.
Pivoting to Schifrin’s work in the Middle East, Schifrin said war will not cease when Israel and Gaza have had enough of the fighting, but rather when both sides are convinced they cannot win, which Schifrin does not see evidence of right now. According to Schifrin, Israel, under the rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is being driven by an extremely right-wing government that believes the nation can defeat Hamas on the battlefield. He said Hamas is heavily degraded and much less capable of launching attacks on Israel, but it is too interwoven into the fabric of Gaza. Schifrin spoke to the humanitarian horrors of the crisis, gleaning from his experience on ground.
“The humanitarian aspects of Gaza are horrific — other than Sudan, it's the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, and Gaza is a postage stamp,” Schifrin said. “And [for the] Israelis … It's cliche to say October 7 was their 9/11, but it really is a pivot in history for Israel. There was a day before October 7, and there was a day after October 7.”
He also described the conflict between Israel and Gaza as one heavily dependent on the right-wing coalition. Schifrin said that Netanyahu’s hold on the prime ministership would be threatened if the war ends without a victory in the eyes of the right-wing coalition. He said this concept extends to other global conflicts and what is at stake personally for leaders like Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China — for example, Xi would lose his grip on power if he launched a failed invasion of Taiwan.
Continuing in the vein of the U.S.’s relationship with China and the current tradewar, Schifrin said that the U.S.’s tensions with China have become a technological cold war — one that centers on a confrontation of national security, military build-ups on China’s part and modernization at a rapid pace.
“I think the National Security Council, their priority will be continuing to confront Chinese technology and continue to modernize the U.S. military to deter China,” Schifrin said. “I think the trade war is in the middle of the larger context of how the U.S. is trying to confront China.”
Schifrin spoke briefly about the current administration’s approach to international affairs. He said that although most everyday functions persist under the new administration, there are members in the inner circle of President Trump who oppose the “enemy” of the entrenched bureaucracy that is the government. According to Schifrin, this manifests in distrust of government officials in the state department, military and national security council officials — individuals typically self-described as patriots and bipartisan.
Schifrin, reflecting on his work across the globe, said that his work covering hot-topic events and crises is both immeasurably rewarding and scarring at the same time. Schifrin said that covering some of the most horrific events over the past few decades has inevitably taken a toll on both himself and his family, as he has repeatedly encountered danger and been forced to confront harsh realities occurring around the world.
“You know Gaza, Pakistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Kenya, Somalia. These are like merit badges on the war reporter sash. But they’re also each scars for me, and I admit I was naive when I started this journey that there would be no impact on me or my family,” Schifrin said.
Despite these challenges and scars, Schifrin continues to believe in the importance of covering these events.
“It is worth telling the stories of those people whose stories need to be told — it is worth trying to bring the humanity that has been stolen,” Schifrin said.
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