Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) discussed U.S. foreign policy Wednesday. The speech followed an award ceremony for journalists Peter Jennings and Robin Wright.

Two American journalists received awards for their distinguished reporting on foreign policy and diplomacy from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Tuesday.

Peter Jennings and Robin Wright, recipients of the 2001 Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting, were recognized in the ICC Auditorium for their respective achievements in broadcast and print journalism.

Following the presentation, Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), known as one of the Senate’s leading foreign policy experts, addressed the audience of approximately 300 people. Biden’s speech, entitled “U.S. Engagement in the World,” emphasized the significance of American leadership and involvement in foreign policy.

Jennings’ recent award-winning ABC documentary entitled “Dark Horizon: India, Pakistan and the Bomb,” aired in arch 2000. It focused on the impact of nuclear weapons as well as the festering ethnic, religious and national problems between India and Pakistan over the disputed area of Kashmir.

“Incisive, hard-hitting, tough-minded television reporting about foreign news is so unusual these days that we thought it highly appropriate to recognize the work of Peter Jennings and his executive producer Tom Yelin,” Marvin Kalb, a member of the Weintal selection committee, said.

According to Kalb, Jennings, who was unable to attend the presentation, was pleased that the documentary had been valued enough to receive recognition. Yelin, who accepted the prize on Jennings’ behalf, discussed the difficulties encountered in broaching such a heavy and complex subject.

“There is difficulty in getting these programs on television,” Yelin said. “You take on programs like this at great peril to your success.”

According to Yelin, it was a challenge to incorporate the correct amount of background information and current events into a documentary that would be engaging and understandable to the average American viewer.

Wright, a correspondent for The Los Angeles Times whose extensive list of travels includes Asia, the Middle East and Africa, offered words of encouragement to females in journalism after receiving her prize.

“When I first went to Africa there were 106 members of the foreign press corps and 105 of them were male,” she said.

Wright also discussed the ever-increasing significance of foreign diplomacy.

“Events today may not have the kind of cataclysmic drama of the Cold War,” she said, “but diplomacy today could end up being even more important as the world goes through quite an historic transition from the modern era to a global era.”

“Diplomacy and leadership will be critical in establishing the kind of guidelines of how societies interact, in codifying an array of global institutions,” Wright added.

Biden commended the two recipients for their ability to articulate complicated foreign issues in his address.

“To find two journalists who have both the interest and the rigor not only to explain complex foreign policy issues to the American public but also to convince us why we should be interested is indeed rare,” he said.

Biden also discussed the relative absence of international awareness in the recent presidential campaign.

“It’s a shame that in the presidential debates neither candidate spoke about foreign policy,” he said.

Biden spoke about the impending future of foreign policy under President Bush as well.

“Eventually we will find out whether President Bush’s [foreign] policy will be marked by continuity or change, engagement or disinterest, coordination with our allies or a tendency toward unilateralism . or some combination of both,” he said.

The senator concluded his remarks by enthusiastically encouraging U.S. leadership in foreign policy, specifically concerning the present situation of a military alliance in Korea. He praised American action and initiative regarding the matter.

“We do not have the luxury of engaging when and if we choose to engage,” Biden said. “If we don’t, someone else will, and they may not share our interests,” he added.

Past recipients of the Weintal Prize include Tom Brokaw, Christiane Amanpour, Bryant Gumbel and Ted Koppel.

The ISD also presented six $6,000 scholarships Tuesday to students in the masters program at SFS, a two-year curriculum dedicated to training “generalists for positions of leadership in international affairs in the of public, private or non-profit sectors.”

The Weintal Prize, which receives funding under an endowment at the university, was established through the will of Edward Weintal, one of Newsweek magazine’s chief European correspondents.

“Now, news executives care primarily about the bottom line and documentaries are a rare species in network news,” Kalb said.