On Oct. 6, 2001 at its National Convention in Seattle, the Society of
Professional Journalists passed a resolution urging members and fellow journalists
to take steps against racial profiling in their coverage of the war on terrorism
and to reaffirm their commitment to:
— Use language that is informative and not inflammatory;
— Portray Muslims, Arabs and Middle Eastern and South Asian Americans
in the richness of their diverse experiences;
— Seek truth through a variety of voices and perspectives that
help audiences understand the complexities of the events in Pennsylvania,
New York City and Washington, D.C.
Guidelines
Visual images
— Seek out people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds
when photographing Americans mourning those lost in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania.
— Seek out people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds
when photographing rescue and other public service workers and military personnel.
— Do not represent Arab Americans and Muslims as monolithic groups.
Avoid conveying the impression that all Arab Americans and Muslims wear traditional
clothing.
— Use photos and features to demystify veils, turbans and other
cultural articles and customs.
Stories
— Seek out and include Arabs and Arab Americans, Muslims, South
Asians and men and women of Middle Eastern descent in all stories about the
war, not just those about Arab and Muslim communities or racial profiling.
— Cover the victims of harassment, murder and other hate crimes
as thoroughly as you cover the victims of overt terrorist attacks.
— Make an extra effort to include olive-complexioned and darker
men and women, Sikhs, Muslims and devout religious people of all types in
arts, business, society columns and all other news and feature coverage, not
just stories about the crisis.
— Seek out experts on military strategies, public safety, diplomacy,
economics and other pertinent topics who run the spectrum of race, class,
gender and geography.
— When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacist,
radical anti-abortionists and other groups with a history of such activity.
— Do not imply that kneeling on the floor praying, listening
to Arabic music or reciting from the Quran are peculiar activities.
— When describing Islam, keep in mind there are large populations
of Muslims around the world, including in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, India
and the United States. Distinguish between various Muslim states; do not lump
them together as in constructions such as "the fury of the Muslim world."
— Avoid using word combinations such as "Islamic terrorist"
or "Muslim extremist" that are misleading because they link whole
religions to criminal activity. Be specific: Alternate choices, depending
on context, include "Al Qaeda terrorists" or, to describe the broad
range of groups involved in Islamic politics, "political Islamists."
Do not use religious characterizations as shorthand when geographic, political,
socioeconomic or other distinctions might be more accurate.
— Avoid using terms such as "jihad" unless you are
certain of their precise meaning and include the context when they are used
in quotations. The basic meaning of "jihad" is to exert oneself
for the good of Islam and to better oneself.
— Consult the Library of Congress guide for transliteration of
Arabic names and Muslim or Arab words to the Roman alphabet. Use spellings
preferred by the American Muslim Council, including "Muhammad,"
"Quran," and "Makkah ," not "Mecca."
— Regularly seek out a variety of perspectives for your opinion
pieces. Check your coverage against the five Maynard Institute for Journalism
Education fault lines of race and ethnicity, class, geography, gender and
generation.
— Ask men and women from within targeted communities to review
your coverage and make suggestions.
Web resources on this topic
— Informational
Resources on Arab-Americans, the Arab World and Islam
— The Quran online (1
or 2)
— The South Asian Journalists Association provides a stylebook,
sources and a roundup of coverage for journalists.
— Newswatch is a site
dedicated to diversity in journalism, with commentary on media performance.
It is a project of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism
of San Francisco State University and a collaboration between the Native American
Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists,
the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists
Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
— Maynard Institute for
Journalism Education
— The Religion Newswriters Association maintains an extensive set of resources on religion and covering religion.
— The mission of the Anti-Defamation League is to combat anti-Semitism
andbigotry of all kinds. One section of its Web
site details how ADL leaders have responded to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab-American
violence.
Diversity Committee On both chapter and national levels, SPJ provides an open forum for the discussion of diversity issues in journalism. This committee's purpose is to promote a broader voice in newsrooms across the country and expand the depth and quality of news reports through better sourcing. Its ongoing project is the compilation of experts — primarily women, gays and lesbians, people of color and people with disabilities — through the Society's Diversity Source Book. The Society's relevance to its member is based on inclusiveness.
Diversity Committee Chair Pueng Vongs E-mail Bio (click to expand)
Pueng Vongs has more than 14 years experience as a journalist. She began her early career in financial journalism working for Money magazine and CBS.Marketwatch.com. She also reported from her native Thailand working for Bangkok-based Manager magazine and contributed articles to the Asian Wall Street Journal. Today she is an associate editor at Pacific News Service/New America Media in San Francisco, which produces original, youth and ethnic media content covering the nation’s growing ethnic communities. Her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Audubon magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Oakland Tribune, California magazine among others. She also works as an associate producer for the UpFront on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She has contributed radio pieces to KQEDâs Pacific Time and NPRâs the Travis Smiley Show. Among her SPJ posts Vongs serves as vice president for the Nor Cal board in 2006, was a member of the planning committee for the chapter’s multi-cultural writers conference, and was a national diversity leader fellow in 2005.
Linda Jue, vice chair
New Voices in Independent Journalism
San Francisco, Calif. Bio (click to expand)
Linda Jue was president of SPJ-NorCal for two and a half years and vice president for three. She is director of New Voices in Independent Journalism, a national initiative dedicated to building a diverse pool of independent investigative journalists and public intellectuals who can bring the emerging perspectives of the country's changing demographics, as well as the next generation of youth, to public interest reporting. She is the former associate director and founding staff member of the Independent Press Association, where she directed several cutting-edge national journalism programs.
Before going to the IPA, she directed San Francisco State University's Community Press Consortium, the first professional training program20in the country for journalists working in the community and ethnic press. She was a member of the founding collaborative of New California Media, now called New America Media, and directed the judging for the first two years of the New California Media Awards.
Linda is a former associate of the Center for Investigative Reporting and a former editor at San Francisco Focus magazine. She also worked as the Northern California correspondent for C-SPAN. Her work has appeared in San Francisco Focus, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Toronto Globe and Mail, GEO, MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, PBS Frontline and other outlets. She was a longstanding member, board director and president of Media Alliance during its years as a professional journalism and media watchdog organization. Linda is well-known in national media reform and media diversity circles. She is also a contributing member of a Bay Area travel writing group that has published three collections of travel essays through Traveler’s Tales.
Linda has won two Thomas Moore Storke International Journalism Awards and a Maggie Certificate of Excellence for Feature Writing.
Diversity Committee Members
Maria Alvarez
Freelance journalist
San Francisco, Calif.
Greg Daniels
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Holly Edgell
University of Missouri
Columbia, Mo.
Leo Laurence Editor, San Diego News Service
Curtis Lawrence Journalism Faculty, Columbia College Chicago Bio (click to expand)
Curtis Lawrence joined the Columbia College Chicago faculty in 2004 after working for nearly 20 years as an urban affairs reporter. Since 1980 he has worked at six daily newspapers and at the Chicago Reporter, a monthly publication that focuses on issues of race and poverty. Most recently, Lawrence worked at the Chicago Sun-Times where he covered a number of urban issues, including extensive coverage of the Chicago Housing Authority’s plan to replace its high-rises with mixed-income housing.
Lawrence earned a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Mass Communications from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.
Lawrence has been active with diversity issues for the past two years. He is involved with recruitment and retention issues at Columbia with a special focus on diversity. He and Nancy Day, the Journalism Department chair, were instrumental in securing a grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation to direct an outreach and journalism education program for Chicago Public Schools students and teachers.
Sally Lehrman
Santa Clara University
Montara, Calif.
slehrman(at)bestwrit.com Bio (click to expand)
Sally Lehrman is a director at large for the SPJ National Board of Directors. Additionally, she is an award-winning reporter and writer for some of the top names in national print and broadcast media. Her byline credits include Scientific American, Nature, Health, the Washington Post, Salon.com and the DNA Files, distributed by NPR. She specializes in medical and science policy reporting, with an emphasis on genetics, race and sexuality. Distinguished honors include the 1995-96 John S. Knight Fellowship; a shared 2002 Peabody award, Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Award for excellence in health and medical programming, and Columbia/Du Pont Silver Baton (for the DNA Files); and reporting and writing awards from SPJ, Case, and other organizations.
Besides SPJ, Lehrman is active in several organizations that promote diversity in the media. Her volunteer work in diversity has been recognized by the 2003 Wells Key, a 2002 SPJ President’s Award, the 1998 Howard Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award and an award for service to the NorCal SPJ chapter. She is author of News in a New America, a fresh take on developing an inclusive U.S. news media, and is a USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism Expert Fellow. Lehrman also serves as SPJ’s Diversity Committee chairperson.
Aiesha D. Little
Associate Editor
Cincinnati Magazine
513/562-2772 E-mail Bio (click to expand)
Aiesha D. Little is the associate editor for Cincinnati Magazine, a glossy city/regional publication covering Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Chief among her duties are writing features and departments, assigning and editing the calendar section, and managing the magazine's editorial internship program.
Little started her journalism career in newspapers before switching to magazines while pursuing a master's degree at Xavier University. Her daily news work has appeared in The Saginaw (MI) News, The Detroit News, and The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal. After interning with both the special sections and editorial departments of Cincinnati Magazine, she headed to Chicago to work as the associate editor for EdTech Magazine, an education technology quarterly. She returned to Cincinnati Magazine as the associate editor in 2004.
Little's involvement in the Society of Professional Journalists goes back to her undergraduate years at Central Michigan University, where she served as the chair of her chapter's diversity committee. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and professional advisor to the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists.
Rebecca Tallent
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho
Venise Wagner Associate Department Chair, San Francisco State University Bio (click to expand)
Venise Wagner is an assistant professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. She spent 12 years as a reporter for various California dailies, including the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. While at the Examiner, she covered Education and issues in the Bay Area's various black communities. She also was a religion and ethics reporter for The Orange County Register and The Modesto Bee. Her work has been published in Mother Jones, Parade and Hope magazine. Her interest in improving diversity in the news and giving voice to marginalized communities has led her toward the practice and instruction of public journalism. At San Francisco State, she developed a public journalism course that has sent students to the Bayview Hunters Point and the Mission districts and Oakland's San Antonio district to write about undercovered issues in those neighborhoods.
Wagner graduated with a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a master's in Latin American Students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is currently working on a content analysis of the coverage of slave reparations in the mainstream print media. She is also working on an historical novel about the rise and fall of black colony in Southern California called Allensworth.
Society of Professional Journalists
Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Center, 3909 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208
317/927-8000 | Fax: 317/920-4789 | Contact SPJ Headquarters | Employment Opportunities
Pueng Vongs has more than 14 years experience as a journalist. She began her early career in financial journalism working for Money magazine and CBS.Marketwatch.com. She also reported from her native Thailand working for Bangkok-based Manager magazine and contributed articles to the Asian Wall Street Journal. Today she is an associate editor at Pacific News Service/New America Media in San Francisco, which produces original, youth and ethnic media content covering the nation’s growing ethnic communities. Her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Audubon magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Oakland Tribune, California magazine among others. She also works as an associate producer for the UpFront on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She has contributed radio pieces to KQEDâs Pacific Time and NPRâs the Travis Smiley Show. Among her SPJ posts Vongs serves as vice president for the Nor Cal board in 2006, was a member of the planning committee for the chapter’s multi-cultural writers conference, and was a national diversity leader fellow in 2005.
Curtis Lawrence joined the Columbia College Chicago faculty in 2004 after working for nearly 20 years as an urban affairs reporter. Since 1980 he has worked at six daily newspapers and at the Chicago Reporter, a monthly publication that focuses on issues of race and poverty. Most recently, Lawrence worked at the Chicago Sun-Times where he covered a number of urban issues, including extensive coverage of the Chicago Housing Authority’s plan to replace its high-rises with mixed-income housing. 
Sally Lehrman is a director at large for the SPJ National Board of Directors. Additionally, she is an award-winning reporter and writer for some of the top names in national print and broadcast media. Her byline credits include Scientific American, Nature, Health, the Washington Post, Salon.com and the DNA Files, distributed by NPR. She specializes in medical and science policy reporting, with an emphasis on genetics, race and sexuality. Distinguished honors include the 1995-96 John S. Knight Fellowship; a shared 2002 Peabody award, Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Award for excellence in health and medical programming, and Columbia/Du Pont Silver Baton (for the DNA Files); and reporting and writing awards from SPJ, Case, and other organizations. 
Aiesha D. Little is the associate editor for Cincinnati Magazine, a glossy city/regional publication covering Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Chief among her duties are writing features and departments, assigning and editing the calendar section, and managing the magazine's editorial internship program.
Venise Wagner is an assistant professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. She spent 12 years as a reporter for various California dailies, including the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. While at the Examiner, she covered Education and issues in the Bay Area's various black communities. She also was a religion and ethics reporter for The Orange County Register and The Modesto Bee. Her work has been published in Mother Jones, Parade and Hope magazine. Her interest in improving diversity in the news and giving voice to marginalized communities has led her toward the practice and instruction of public journalism. At San Francisco State, she developed a public journalism course that has sent students to the Bayview Hunters Point and the Mission districts and Oakland's San Antonio district to write about undercovered issues in those neighborhoods.