The Pearl Project
 
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On Jan. 25, 2002, two days after my friend and Wall Street Journal colleague Danny Pearl left my home in Karachi, Pakistan, for an interview from which he didn't return, I stood in front of a dining room wall I'd covered in blank paper, a thick black Sharpie pen in my hand. I wrote one name in the middle, "DANNY," and drew a box around it.
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Robert Manuel
Dean of the School of Continuing Studies
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introduction
The Pearl Project is an innovative investigative journalism project at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies exploring the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.

The Pearl Project has taken shape as a three-credit seminar led by Barbara Feinman Todd, associate dean of journalism in the School of Continuing Studies, and former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Q. Nomani, a professor in the practice of journalism. Nomani, Pearl's friend and colleague from his days at the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau, rented the Karachi home where Pearl and his wife Mariane were staying at the time of his disappearance. After participating in the search to find Pearl, Nomani began the preliminary reporting and research for The Pearl Project.

The project includes graduate students from the Master in Professional Studies Journalism Program and Georgetown undergraduates. Students enrolled in the seminar are investigating the questions of who really killed Pearl and why they killed him. They will also examine the wider relationship between the Muslim world and the press and profile others who have died in the frontlines of journalism. The project is taking place during the fall 2007 semester and the spring 2007 seminar and has the support of Pearl's family.

At a time when investigative journalism is on the wane in the media industry, the Pearl Project is modeled after the Arizona Project, an investigative reporting project into the murder of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles three decades ago. The Pearl Project invites the participation of journalists, media organizations, media outlets and sources from around the world. Anyone with information about Daniel Pearl's disappearance and murder are encouraged to contact the project at pearlproject@georgetown.edu or (202) 687-4413.

We have created the Pearl Consortium of Faculty-Student Investigative Reporting Projects. There are faculty-student investigative reporting projects emerging at universities around the world to fill the gap created by elimination of investigative reporting teams in this age of media consolidation. The consortium is committed to nurturing a new generation of investigative reporters trained in old school gum shoe reporting combined with new media expertise. In this consortium, faculty and students will come together to discuss, blog about and share ideas regarding their reporting projects.