A seminar on pressures on press freedom after Sept. 11 sounded exciting and seemed to promise some lively discussions along with maybe some skirmishes. Being an Arab and a Saudi, attending a function that dealt with 9/11 was quite scary for me. I could only expect that I’d be on the defensive most of the time, trying to deal with misconceptions and doubts — or so I thought. Still, it would be a great opportunity to meet different journalists and media people and get an insight into a myriad of experiences and thoughts.

So I arrived in Salzburg on a rainy night in March going to a place whose name I couldn’t pronounce; I resorted to showing the cab driver the written address — and he got me there safely. The first morning was sunny, beautiful scenery greeted me when I opened my window, and there it was: A castle, or the “schloss” as we learned to call it after that. It was built by Prince Archbishop of Salzburg Leopold Anton Freiherr Von Firmian in 1736 and today is called Schloss Leopoldskron.

The history of the castle is full of different owners and various historical events — from being the house of Max Rheinhardt, Europe’s most famous theater director and the founder of the Salzburg Festival, to being confiscated by the Nazis, to being used by Harvard graduate Clemens Heller who in 1947 had a vision of what would become the Salzburg Seminar. And since then, the Salzburg Seminar has held some 400 sessions with 22,000 fellows attending. This castle, ringed by frozen Alpine peaks with reminders of Julie Andrews and “The Sound of Music,” was to be my home for seven days. Much to the dismay of local residents, the town is associated with the film, but for me after seven days at the Shloss, Julie Andrews yielded first place in my memory to the Salzburg Seminar.

The objective of Session 396 “Influence, Values and Professional Responsibility in the News Media,” was to discuss modern media pressures, specifically post-9/11. A timely idea and one that Salzburg seminar officials undertook willingly. For a week, they managed to transform the beautiful lakeside schloss into a beehive of activity, establishing a media trust, the front page of a journal, a website and a TV program — all dealing with current media problems and pressures.

The first day was spent on introductions, getting acquainted with the place and the people. My tension began to decrease and I began to feel at home. I found myself wandering through the schloss and walking by the lake, talking to strangers with the same ease I talk to friends and colleagues back home.

The group attending the seminar were from all over the world, of different cultures and backgrounds. There were people from the US, UK, Bosnia, Serbia, Malta, India, Pakistan, Egypt, China, Ghana — to mention a few.

A week of discussions, arguments — sometimes heated — and walks beside the lake and in downtown Salzburg with new friends from different countries added magic to the meeting and the place.

The day started with breakfast, followed by lectures and discussions. Different points of view were expressed; divergences came out and yet, after two days, it seemed that the spirit of the place has united everyone into a small friendly community with its differences but knowing how to work them out. There were friendly chats at night by the fire or while playing ping-pong, or table football game. The comfortable atmosphere was greatly helped by the two program associates, Timothy Ryback and Kathleen Schendl, who did their best to make each of us feel at home, welcome and appreciated just for having come.

Taking into account the differences between the nationalities, people were fidgeting at the beginning; daggers were almost drawn at certain sensitive discussions about Arabs/Americans and 9/11 or the Bosnian-Serbian- NATO situation.

We were lucky to have such well-qualified mediators who directed these arguments and discussions. At the end of the day, one was left feeling that though we differ with each other on many issues, when these differences are met with understanding, peace was possible and a sense of community developed. One of the fellows at the seminar noted on our last night there that if this group ran the world, peace would be a very real possibility.

Everyone seemed to have melted in the pot of Session 396. A Palestinian peace activist laughed at something an Israeli TV reporter said and this was just one example of how to deal with differences in a civilized manner. Though it was no Utopia, hard feelings were sometimes inevitable but an attempt to come together was made and that was what counted.

The reason for the seminar — pressures on the freedom of the press, how much the media is subjected to pressure which results in censorship, self-censorship, stereotyping or overzealous patriotism and how one-sided views can prevail in any media — was never allowed to be sidelined. In one of the lectures, Jim Amoss, editor of the New Orleans Times Picayune, talked about the sudden increase in American upsurge in patriotism after Sept. 11 and the effect it had on press freedom. On the other side of the world, Hameed Haroon, publisher of Pakistan’s English language daily Dawn, talked about how those same events influenced the media in Pakistan.

From the Balkans there was Nenad Pejic, a director from Radio Free Europe, discussing how rules were set for practicing journalists in times of conflicts. Market pressure on the media was also a point for discussion. There were optional discussions in the evenings dealing with specific situations in a number of different countries.

The discussions opened windows for us on other parts of the world. The Arab-American situation was one of the most tense. It began on a loud, sharp note and then eventually, in an effort to understand each other’s opinions, things got on a more even keel. I have to admit that among the American journalists present, there were some very impressive characters indeed.

As one of the lecturers observed, the self-centered view prevailing in all countries means that too many of us see the world from only one perspective.

A walk around Salzburg and a concert at the schloss were magic touches that turned this whole experience into a warm memory. I left Salzburg at the end of the seven days holding a folder with a group picture. They were all people I had not met before but whom I definitely hope to meet again and again.

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(For more information about the Salzburg Seminar, you can visit http://www.salsem.ac.at.)