The State of the Arab American Ethnic Media
I was privileged to participate in the Chicago Community Media Workshop Thursday June 12, at Columbia College on a panel discussing the challenges facing ethnic media in this country.
My presentation is posted online. Here is the link:
http://arabjournalists.blogspot.com/2008/06/state-of-arab-american-journalism.html
My prepared remarks included an overview of the State of the Arab American news media as well as some background on the challenges we face as an ethnic American media.
Issues included:
- Advertising
- Circulation
- Content
- Arabic language versus English language
- Distribution
- Professionalism (journalists versus activists)
And, the ongoing push by Arab American journalists to push UNITY: Journalists of Color to truly be unified and represent ALL Journalists of collor, including Arab American journalists. The sad fact is that after several years of lobbying UNITY, we have been ignored, either as a result of the disconnected bureaucracy that "manages" UNITY -- I say that because several of the UNITY people I met and spoke with are great and sincere people. But when nothing happens and the issue is only addressed, informally and never formally, weeks before the quadrennial convention coming up in July, that is a tragedy that reflects badly on UNITY as an organization.
This is difficult to address because on one hand, we want to work with UNITY, but on the other hand we want respect. Arab American journalists face the exact same challenges facing Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American journalists, and maybe in recent years more challenging, in a different way.
We need the help of UNITY, but we are getting nothing.
It's sad to say, but it is true.
Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com