What is the responsibility of ethnic journalists who are "under siege?"
There is an interesting discussion taking place among several members of the National Arab American Journalists Association (www.NAAJA-US.com) and SPJ-Arab Journalists. It has to do with this question:
With so much negative coverage of Arab and Muslims already in the mainstream American media, is it appropriate for Arab and Muslim American journalists to write negative stories and columns about the Arab and Muslim American community and the Arab and Islamic Worlds?
This is my view:
On one had, many Arab American journalists I know have said they dislike it when I or others write columns that are critical of the Arab or Islamic World. So many columns and news stories are published that portray Arabs and Muslims in a negative and often hateful light in America (Land of the Hate-Spree and Home of the Radio TalkShow Host Depraved).
Yes, we are under siege. We do not get fair treatment from the mainstream American news media. Worse, they pretend like they are giving us fair treatment and are often hypocrites when it comes to their professional journalistic credentials. One view is very popular, but the Arab and Muslim view is "token." We're patronized, marginalized and "discriminaized" (to borrow a phrase once used by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson. So there is merit to the argument that the mainstream media is so hateful, bigoted, biased and wrong that the incidents of coverage of the negative aspects of the Arab and Muslim American community far outweigh the incidents of coverage of the positive aspects of the Arab and Muslim American community.
Listen, I have already been told by emailers who claim to be "journalists" who tell me that I'm just a hack, and that anyone who identifies him or herself as an ethnic journalist is not a professional journalist at all. And then it often leads to the argument that Islam is an "evil religion" and that Muslims fail to denounce their extremists, blah, blah, blah "Aaaah-choo-Sean Hannity!" (Yecht! What is that green stuff?)
So the reality is that while some journalists talk the talk of objectivity and professionalism, they don't walk the walk.
Worse, you journalists -- yes you, reading this entry -- are afraid to address the topic. Yes you, Mr. Managing Editor whose newspaper RARELY offers an Arab American or Muslim American perspective, or never has a positive story about local Arab Americans (and probably doesn't even have a rolodex of important Arab American resources beyond the FBI's Middle East 10 Most Wanted List). You're biased and you should be ashamed.
Yet still, despite all these FACTS of bias and bogotry and hatred and discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the mainstream American media, I don't think that as professional journalists ourselves, Arab and Muslim journalists should pull their punches and cross the line to "activism," where most of the few Arab writers who appear on Op-Ed pages originate.
I believe in principle. That means, for example, in the case of the Palestine-Israel conflict: If Israeli soldiers kill an innocent Palestinian civilian, we all should loudly condemn the killing. BUT, when a Palestinian terrorist organization like Hamas kills innocent Israeli civilians, we all including Palestinians should denounce that LOUDLY and FORCEFULLY, too.
In otherwords, your own condemnation of the killing of your "own people" only becomes moral when you apply principle. It's not the killing of "your people" that is the issue. It is the killing of "innocent people" that IS the issue. It is the injustice that is the issue, the violation of the principle of fairness that is the issue. If I can't stand up and denounce the senseless murder of an Israeli, then who am I to stand upa nd denounce the senseless murdere of a Palestinian?
The counter argument is that the Palestinians are the "victims" and the Israelis are the "oppressors." The real balance, though, is that the Palestinians are fighting for the national identity and the Israelis already have their national identity int he form of a recognized state and that gives them an advantage the Palestinians lack, but that is a political argument, not an argument of principle.
In otherwords, your state. Your existence. The circumstances of how you live, oppressed or oppressor, has nothing to do with principle. Principle is pure. You either apply it across the board or you don't, and not doing so is immoral.
(I use the Palestine-Israel conflict only as an example, not as a political debate because it happens to be close to me. But this could apply to almost any situation.)
So back to the bigger issue. Should Arab and Muslim American journalists focus on the "positive" aspects of their community and become advocates rather than journalists? Or, should we write what we believe is the true and accurate news story, even when we don't agree with it, dislike it personally, and express the opinion commentary that may be critical of ourselves?
The answer is an unequivocal YES. Our job is to be journalists. We do tap our individual experiences to guide us through the maze of news and public discussion and debate. But we should not let it influence how we select the focus of our writings. We should be about the truth, when it hurts or when it feels good. Because when we can stand up and speak the truth about ourselves, as Arabs and Muslims, for example, then our voices in speaking the truth about others will become more powerful, just and moral.
That's my view.
I'd love to hear yours.
-- Ray Hanania
www.ArabWritersGroup.com