The School of Continuing Studies' newest degree track in journalism is kicking off this fall with an ambitious project that could help solve a lingering mystery: Who killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan, while investigating possible terrorist contacts of would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid. The reporter's capture and eventual beheading became international news, and the identity of the murderer remains unknown.
Georgetown students taking part in the Pearl Project will work with investigative reporter Asra Nomani and Barbara Feinman Todd, associate dean of journalism in SCS, to explore what happened to Pearl and why he was killed.
But the seminar is more than a "whodunit."
"Danny wouldn't want this to just be about him. Danny is the inspiration, but this is about deeper questions," said Nomani, who had a close friendship with the journalist. "There are important global lessons to be learned here about the gap between Muslims and the media. Understanding what happened to Danny helps us understand what’s happening in the world today."
The seminar is modeled on the Arizona Project, launched by colleagues of an Arizona Republic reporter who was killed in 1976 while investigating land deals involving organized crime.
The Pearl Project embraces the school's ultimate goal, which is to take learning beyond the classroom, Provost James O’Donnell said.
"This is providing education that is action-based learning," he said. "It takes pedagogy in an innovative direction, especially for our continuing studies students, who are lifelong learners and want to have these kind of experiences."
SCS Dean Robert Manuel said the Pearl Project capitalizes on another goal of the school: to draw from a web of university resources.
"What we're able to do, and it's something a lot of other institutions aren't able to, is align ourselves with work existing in other academic units at Georgetown and complement what they offer," he said, noting that the seminar will include both undergraduates in the English department and graduate students from the Master of Professional Studies journalism track.
About a dozen students will take part in the project. The idea is to find students who have a bit of "old school journalism" in their blood. Gaining information from live sources rather than Internet research will be key to uncovering who killed Pearl in Pakistan, Nomani said.
Conducting the Pearl Project at Georgetown is a departure from how most investigative journalism unfolds. Though Nomani began developing the project's concept almost immediately after Pearl's death, it wasn't until this year that she began to look for a home base to carry out her work.
Feinman Todd and Nomani met through a mutual friend earlier this year. Feinman Todd's enthusiasm about the project prompted an e-mail correspondence and then meetings with top university officials. Nomani quickly agreed to bring the Pearl Project to the Hilltop.
"I really believe a university setting is where this needs to happen," she said. "Our lab is the world and I want students to be involved in it. I'd like to help guide the students to figure out where they fit in the world after Georgetown."
The project will help bridge the gap between the academic and outside worlds, she added.
"We're touching on sensitive areas, but the truth will prevail," she said. "We need to show there are no sacred cows when it comes to the truth, and I appreciate that Georgetown has the courage to take on this project."
Students learning investigative techniques -- how to uncover information, when to use computer-assisted reporting, how to cultivate and judge the trustworthiness of sources -- is the primary goal of the seminar, Feinman Todd said.
"I also hope that we can make some sort of contribution toward understanding the way media works in other countries where journalists aren't afforded as much freedom as we are," she noted.
More than anyone else involved in the Pearl Project, Nomani has a personal stake in its outcome. As young reporters in a newsroom of older colleagues, Nomani and Pearl became close during their time together at the Wall Street Journal's Washington, D.C., bureau.
Their camaraderie strengthened over the shared experience of being first generation Americans. Pearl helped Nomani purchase her first compact disc and plan her first party. The pair played beach volleyball behind the Lincoln Memorial and explored Washington together.
"We provided counsel to each other. I remember he called me when he first met Marianne, who would later become his wife, and told me all about her," Nomani said.
When Pearl went missing in Karachi while investigating Reid and potential ties between Al Qaeda and a Pakistani intelligence agency, Nomani joined the search. She began probing his death immediately, taping together pieces of paper in a large flow chart of Pearl's contacts, known terrorists and their relationships. Nomani still has the chart and is updating it for the seminar.
Journalism typically frowns upon reporters becoming advocates for their investigation subjects since balanced treatment is paramount. But Nomani said the investigation isn't advocacy as much as exposing other meanings behind Pearl’s murder, such as strained relations between Muslims and the West.
"Everyone wants this to happen. People know something changed with Danny's murder, so let's make sense of it as a society," Nomani said.
The project is moving ahead with the full support of Pearl's family.
One challenging element for the instructors is the time crunch, and Nomani and Feinman Todd are trying to ease the way for students given the limited classroom time. Nomani is developing source lists and background materials and Feinman Todd is manning a tip line set up primarily for reporters who have information on the case.
"If we find we need more time, then I will find a way to get more time," Feinman Todd said.
Nomani remains realistic that Pearl's killers -- and those who are concealing the perpetrators -- may never be exposed.
"That would be a story in itself. Who did this and who is covering it up?" she said. "Even if we cannot get an answer, the process is just as important as the investigation."
