Research and Preparation

Find out as much as you can about your country or organization.  To do this, you should look up information from a variety of sources, electronic and paper.  Never rely on one source of news.

Electronic Sources.  Most countries have embassy websites that will be glad to tell you what you want to know – usually under the name of the country.  The State Department has good information at www.state.gov.  The CIA site, www.odci.gov, includes the excellent World Factbook – a compendium of statistical information on every country in the world. 

News Sources.  One good tip about getting news is never to rely on one source, especially now that so many American news sources are owned by the same corporations (a fact you should be concerned about).  Real news junkies rely on no fewer than four sources – TV, radio, online and print. 

The best American news program on TV is the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, on weekdays at 5pm on PBS (channel 11).  NPR, 89.5 FM, provides the best radio news, and even runs the BBC’s World News program at 11pm daily.  As for pure online sources, look at MSNBC, CNN, Slate and sources like that for up-to-the minute news.  One nice thing about these sources is that you can search narrowly for just the news you want, such as Middle Eastern news.

Lots of excellent newspapers are online.  Look up the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and other newspapers.  Check Google for the correct links.  The Newseum, a museum of the news, has a page containing front pages daily from newspapers around the world.

Don’t forget foreign news sources.  The Economist is the best newsmagazine, arguably, in the world, and The Financial Times is one of the best newspapers.  For Middle Eastern news, Look for the Jerusalem Post and the Arab satellite station, Al-Jazeera.  Remember that news is culturally biased, which is why Americans have such a hard time understanding how other cultures think or feel.

Try and clip out a variety of articles on your country and the region.  Some players will come to the simulation with binders full of relevant articles.  You do not necessarily have to do so much to prepare, but it would enhance your understanding of the region.  As an American, you might consider learning more about the world to be a patriotic duty.