Jakarta Islamic Journalism conference distorts meaning of "free press"
Way back in 1980, when Muslims were really under siege and they had absolutely no voice, a small group of Muslim activists with no journalism training met in Jakarta and adopted what they called "The Islamic Mass Media Charter."
Here's the link to view the "Chater" on the International Journalists Network.
http://www.ijnet.org/Director.aspx?P=Ethics&ID=38189&LID=1
The "Charter" -- remember, we're talking nearly 30 years ago -- asserts that it is the responsibility of Muslim journalists to 1) promote the Islamic faith, 2) elevate male journalists to do that job, and 3) denounce "Zionism." (Ah, what would a good story about the Middle East be without the "Zionist Entity" (an abhorrent euphemism for Israel) issue?)
There are several issues here. First, no journalist that I know has ever adopted, promoted or circulated this so-called "Charter." I never heard of it until the International Journalists Network decided to publish it, and an obscure pro-military blogger cited it recently as an example of all that is wrong with Islam. (Wow. He had to dig back 30 years to find something. That's impressive.)
First, what was the point of the so-called IJN to republish the "Charter" without any context?
Here is how the IJN describes itself in its mission statement:
The International Journalists' Network (IJNet) is the world’s premier resource for the media assistance community. It is an online service for journalists, media managers, media assistance professionals, journalism trainers and educators, or anyone else with an interest in news media around the world.
Our mission: to help connect journalists with the opportunities and information they need to better themselves and raise journalism standards in their countries. Hand-in-hand with that mission, IJNet strives to track media training and other assistance efforts in more than 150 countries, helping donors and organizers avoid duplication and learn about innovative programs around the world.
IJNet is published by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington, D.C.
Support for IJNet comes from the Open Society Institute, the Eurasia Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and friends of ICFJ.
Really? If that was the case, why post such an outrageous document with no context? The Washington DC based journalism group has often been criticized as being unfriendly to Arabs and Muslim American journalists.
But my bigger issue is with the so-called Charter itself.
Certainly, Muslims did get together in Jakarta and they adopted this ridiculous document. Read it. It reflects all of the out-dated notions that Muslims back int he 1980s had about the Western News media. It is written in typical Muslims style, a "reaction" to the Western Media. It lacks vision and creative independent thought, a big problem that lingers today among Arab and Muslim journalists. Some of us -- I say some -- tend to deifne themselves not on the basis of pro-active and creative pursuit of professional journalism, but rather as a response to what we see as the obvious and unquestioned bias that exists against Arabs and Muslims int he news media.
Now, I love to point out this bias. It exists and I won't shut-up until they round us Ay-rabs up and lock us away in concentration camps the way they grabbed all the Japanese Americans (and some German Americans) during World War II and denied them their rights. The Hollywood movie "The Siege" predicts this weill happen and what is projected in Hollywood eventually becomes reality. We all know that, don't we?
The lingering hatred and self-centered political activism that dominated the Arab and Muslim Worlds 30 years may not be as powerful as they were then, but they continue to exist.
Today, we have mostly activists with an agenda who publish columns analyzing the Middle East. They're not journalists but they are treated like journalists by the mainstream American media mainly because an extremist is so much more entertaining and easy to rebuff than a professional Arab or Muslim American journalist who advocates views more moderate than the media or the topic at hand.
The Jakarta Charter is garbage. It's ridiculous and it may represent Muslims in Jakarta, or the attitudes prevalent in Pakistan, one of the dictatorships that is approved by the administration of President Bush because it does what we ask it to do -- most of the time. (American foreign policy is like that, you know. We denounce, invade and violate international law in dealing with dictatorships, except when they are our (American) allies. Then, we coddle them.)
So, might I suggest to the IJN that they trash the so-called Jakarta media charter, or at least put it in its true context, a worthless document that reflects the sad realities of 30 years ago when the media was so outrageously anti-Arab and anti-Muslim that they forced the victims to resort to insanity rather than reason as a response?
What's the bootm line? Well, the most important thing is that we should stop looking for ways to demean each other.
We should try to understand each other, the positive, negative, and even the anger.
We should recognize that diversity also means that we are different and naturally will have points of contention. We should respect those differences, tolerate discussions about them and do so with the goal of trying to understand.
Clearly, this Jakarta "charter" is ridiculous and symbolizes a challenge that I and other Arab and Muslim journalists face in our own communities. But don't be confused. It's not as bad today as it was. (In my diversity post on the SPJ Diversity Blog -- where I am writing for the next week or so, I note some very progressive comments from Wadah Khanfar, the director general of the Arab World's Satellite news station, al-Jazeera.
Ray Hanania
www.NAAJA-US.com