ABSTRACT
Academic contribution to the public arena of course is not limited to writing op-eds. Interviews are another important way to contribute to the debates. For instance, browsing the Lebanon Daily Star we find two articles, in the September 13, 2013 issue, from contributors affiliated to the American University of Beirut (AUB). Journalist Lysandra Ohrstrom interviewed three academics at the AUB school of medicine for her article “Bat’s blood: Hair removal potion or old wives’ tale?”1 Kareem Shaheen interviewed an academic from the faculty of public health about “The dark side of gambling.”2 But in general, long interviews or expert advice to a public issue (not only related to political and social life) are almost absent from newspapers.
