MUSLIMS DESERVE MORE
By Leo E. Laurence
Member, National Committee of Diversity
Board member, San Diego “Pro” chapter
“Diversity is not simply a discussion about different ethnicities,” said President Christine Tatum in an interview during a two-day visit to San Diego recently.
“We also need to be sensitive to newsrooms that reflect diversity of religion,” she emphasized.
We do very well covering the police beat and politics. We get caught up in the daily grind of covering stories when a priest gets indicted or bigots burn down a church. But, religious stories get pushed back onto the Friday religious page, rather than in hard news.
We could do much more to add religious diversity into our news coverage, and especially what we report on Muslims.
Unfortunately, when some see a Muslim, they also think terrorist. That’s wrong, and newsrooms with religious diversity in their coverage can do a lot to counter such prejudice.
In their coverage of the Pope’s recent visit to Turkey, how many newsrooms asked local Muslim leaders for their reaction?
The Economist published in London on December 2nd said that “the Pope has given heart to a growing body of people who demand ‘reciprocity’ in relations between the Muslim world and the West. “Their argument is that since Muslim minorities are free to practice their faith in historically Christian countries, the Western world should expect Muslim countries to show more respect for the rights of local Christians (and indeed, Jews).”
The Economist doesn’t like that argument. “The West should treat all religious groups fairly on principle – not as a part of a trade-off.
“Apart from the general principle of human rights,” the Economist reported, “religious diversity is a safeguard against the ‘clash of civilizations’ between Islam and the West that extremists expect or want.”
While these issues are prominent in the coverage of the Pope’s visit to Turkey, they also play out in American communities where Muslims live and worship.
Your assignment editor probably has the phone number for a contact person within the local Catholic community, but does that person also have a contact person within your local Muslim community?
Reaction to this blog is invited. Contact me (619) 757-4909 are E-mail at leopowerhere@msn.com.
Leo E. Laurence
San Diego News Service
(619) 757-4909
Member, SPJ Nat’l. Committee on Diversity