NAAJA Dearborn Journalism Conference recap

I wanted to share with you the wonderful support letter that NAAJA received from the prestigious Washington Arab American Journalists Association. The letter is below. NAAJA officially recognizes Mohamad Dalbah and the WAAJ as our official Washington DC sister organization and will be working and networking with them in the future to organize a journalism conference there soon.

Our 6^th annual convention was an amazing success. Presented several 2011 NAAJA Excellence in Journalism Awards and scholarships totaling $2,000 to three students:

2011 EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS

George Hishmeh, Washington DC based syndicated columnist and journalist ... He worked at the Chicago sun times steer arriving in the us in 1968 and a few years later was hired by the Washington post ... Born in Nazareth, Palestine, George Hishmeh is an example of how American Arabs can walk through the door and in to journalism careers ... So for his years of service, NAAJA is proud to present George Hishmeh with the 2011 NAAJA excellence in journalism award

Laila Diab ... Laila Diab has been working in journalism and communications for nearly 30 years, writing stories about American Arabs in Chicago and across the nation ... She is an educator and a volunteer to help young people better understand in Chicago how they can be more successful in life. NAAJA is proud to present the 2011 excellence in journalism to Laila Diab

Delinda Hanley, editor, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is one of the most important American Arab magazines in the country. It is the one magazine that offers news and facts that are often Intentionally excluded from the coverage of the American Arab and Muslim community. Delinda Hanley has dedicated much of her life working for the Washington report which is celebrating 29 years in publication, working as the news editor. NAAJA is proud to present the 2011 excellence in journalism to Delinda Hanley for her dedicated to accuracy and professional journalism.

Christine Tatum, for SPJ President: The society of professional journalists is the leading professional journalism organizations in the world. It has more than 10,000 members working in print, broadcast and online media. For years, the SPJ has supported inclusion of American Arabs and one of the people who helped facilitate American Arab involvement ... Bringing true diversity to a fully un-diverse profession is Christine Tatum who as national SPJ president helped launched the Arab section of the organization in 2007-2008. Last year, her successor unilaterally shut that section down without ever contacting our group ... A pattern in the SPJ that is unfortunate and wrong ... For her leadership and dedication to diversity and for supporting the rights of American Arabs NAAJA is proud to present the 2011 excellence in journalism award to Christine Tatum.

SCHOLARSHIPS ... Presented by Rehab Amer, and NAAJA Coordinator Reima Abuarabi

1 --​​  Batoul  Baidoun, Presented by Rehab Amer; Star International Academy, High school senior. Batoul's academic counselor is Hutham Tankersley. Batoul received a scholarship for $1,000. Batoul wrote about the role of the new media and the tragedy of Rehab Amber and the adoption of HB 4118                                                    Sponsored by Dr. Nazer Abdel-Fattah

2 --  Fadel Nabilsi, of Central Academy, Ann Arbor, MI received a scholarship for $500. Fadel wrote about the tragedy of the family of Rehab Amber and HB 4118 the Amer act. Sponsored by Nina Sky Productions (Nina Bazzy).  Fadel's instructor is Tahani Dari, who is the assessment coordinator and career adviser ...                                                                                                              

3 -- Ali Ghandour ... His career counselor is Hutham Tankersley; He is a high school senior at Star International Academy. He received a scholarship for $500 and wrote an essay about the tragedy of Rehab Amer and the Amer Act HB 4118. Sponsored by NAAJA. The Star International Academy is headed by Nawal Hamady. There are several schools in their group

Note: Central academy Ann arbor is a part of global educational excellence ... And we thank Mohammed Issa for all the work he does at global educational excellence and for supporting this conference and our students. We also had entries from many other students and institutions including universal academy ... And also from the University of Michigan scholarships to high school seniors:

We had more than 130 students attend the conference in addition to about 100 full registration attendees and more than 50 speakers on 12 panels. The students were sponsored by Mohamed Issa (65 students) and Ziyad Brothers Importing (65 students).

Dignitaries included:

- Dearborn Mayor the Honorable Jack O'Reilly who spoke forcefully about the racism of Terry Jones and the ridiculous hate claims by bigots that Dearborn is the center of Sharia Law.

- Wayne County Executive the Honorable Robert A. Ficano congratulated NAAJA and the scholarship winners.

- U.S. Rep. the Honorable John Dingell (15th) congratulated NAAJA and the scholarship winners.

Our Keynote speakers were:

- Lawrence Pintak, author "The New Arab Journalist”

- Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East & North Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists

At the end of the program, I performed standup comedy, (raking Ikhras and KabobFest across the coals) to thunderous laughter.

And phenomenal Middle Eastern music was provided by the Usama Blabaki orchestra

Our emcee was Warren David. The Detroit Chapter of NAAJA including Laila alhusinni, our chapter coordinator, and NAAJA staff Sameh Alhady, Reima Abouarabi, Zena Zahr, Saira Mussani and Areej Kattan, organized the event at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn. More than 35 organizations sponsored the dinner.

RAY HANANIA

www.NAAJA-US.com

WAAJ Letter

April 29, 2011

Dear members of NAAJA

Dear Ray

It is with profound honor and pride that we at Washington Association of Arab Journalists (WAAJ) congratulate you and the NAAJA members as well as the Arab community in Dearborn for making this conference a success.

We at WAAJ consider NAAJA a sister organization that represents journalists of Arab heritage across the nation.  WAAJ on the other hand is a representative of Arab and Arab –American journalists in the Washington D.C area.  Our institution represents newspapers and Satellite channels that transmit from the Arab World into and outside the Arab world.

With this in mind, we at WAAJ hope and aspire that we can join forces with NAAJA to build a much bigger and stronger organization that will represent us all.

A new organization that will have NAAJA’s grass root national presence and WAAJ’s Washington and the Arab world strong presence will be the best hope to defend our members’ rights and above all present the story and the perspective of the Arab world in this country.

Ray, as a “historic figure” in the Chicago Arab press and media, you know how important for our community and its institutions to speak in one voice and to be represented by strong institutions. Therefore, my friend, let’s put our hands together and start working together.

In closing, we, again, congratulate you and Liala Hussini for your hard work and efforts to make this conference a success and our hope and goal that by next year, conference there will one big organization that represent us all, and we all will be in one conference.

Thank you so much and God Bless all of you

Yours truly

Mohammad Dalbah

President

Congratulatory letter to NAAJA from the esteemed Washington Arab Journalists Association

April 29, 2011

Dear members of NAAJA

Dear Ray

It is with profound honor and pride that we at Washington Association of Arab Journalists (WAAJ) congratulate you and the NAAJA members as well as the Arab community in Dearborn for making this conference a success.

We at WAAJ consider NAAJA a sister organization that represents journalists of Arab heritage across the nation.  WAAJ on the other hand is a representative of Arab and Arab –American journalists in the Washington D.C area.  Our institution represents newspapers and Satellite channels that transmit from the Arab World into and outside the Arab world.

With this in mind, we at WAAJ hope and aspire that we can join forces with NAAJA to build a much bigger and stronger organization that will represent us all.

A new organization that will have NAAJA’s grass root national presence and WAAJ’s Washington and the Arab world strong presence will be the best hope to defend our members’ rights and above all present the story and the perspective of the Arab world in this country.

Ray, as a “historic figure” in the Chicago Arab press and media, you know how important for our community and its institutions to speak in one voice and to be represented by strong institutions. Therefore, my friend, let’s put our hands together and start working together.

In closing, we, again, congratulate you and Liala Hussini for your hard work and efforts to make this conference a success and our hope and goal that by next year, conference there will one big organization that represent us all, and we all will be in one conference.

Thank you so much and God Bless all of you

Yours truly

Mohammad Dalbah

President

First night of NAAJA 2011 Conference -- Life for Relief Gala Dinner, Shatilla's Bakery and more

Drove from Chicago to Dearborn (4 1/2 hours) and then worked with Laila and Reema to help organize the Welcome Reception Tables ... lots of people expected. Set up the boards, reception tables, Panel Room Posters. Too much work goes in to a conference.

One typo in the program book -- I hate typos. Laura Fawaz is a graduate from Oakland University not Wayne State University. We had it right on the Speaker's Bios Page but not on the Program Panel Page. Sorry Laura.

Octavia Nasr is now following my Tweets. Her story and the story of Helen Thomas are among the topics to be discussed on a panel featuring journalists Lloyd Weston and Christine Tatum, the former president of the SPJ. We reached out to Octavia and Helen to try to get them to speak at the conference.

I was invited to serve as the emcee for the Life for Relief Gala Dinner project tonight so I had to run there and manage their wonderful program. Life for Relief is one of the pre-eminent charitable organizations in the country. one of the best actually. They are devout Muslims and their respect and tolerance for others is a model for everyone to follow. Their work on behalf of orphans and those in need around the world is phenomenal.

Afterwards, we went to Shatilla's Bakery on Warren Avenue to have Knaffa. Joining us included Delinda Hanley from the Washington Repor ton Middle East Affairs, columnist George Hishmeh, publisher Mansour Tadros, writers Amani Ghouleh and Laila Diab, and two great friends from Bridges TV, its president Hunaid M. Baliwala and their marketing director Mohamed Numan Ali joined us. Lots of fun.

-- Ray Hanania
www.NAAJA-US.com
 

Dearborn Arab Journalism Conference features local leaders and journalists from across country

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                 Ray Hanania

APRIL 28, 2011                                                                                 rayhanania@comcast.net

                                                                                                                                    Laila alhusinni

                                                                                                            lealhusinni@yahoo.com

Dearborn Arab Journalism Conference features

local leaders and journalists from across country

Chicago/Detroit – Journalists from across the country will join more than 300 attendees and 120 students at a weekend-long conference to address challenges facing the nation’s American Arab and Muslim community in the decade since the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Welcoming the attendees at the 6^th Annual Conference of the National American Arab Journalists Association at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan beginning Friday April 29 are Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, and Congressmen John Conyers Jr., and John Dingell.

Keynote speakers at the Saturday Gala dinner include Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists and author Lawrence Pintak (“The New Arab Journalist”). The luncheon speaker Saturday is veteran journalist and columnist George Hishmeh. Warren David president of the highly popular online media site, ArabDetroit.com, is the evening’s emcee. Middle East entertainment will be provided by the Usama Balbaki Orchestra and award winning journalist Ray Hanania, columnist for Creators Syndicate, will provide laughter offering his special brand of Palestinian American Comedy.

The evening will feature the presentation of the first annual NAAJA Journalism Scholarships to three high school students pursuing careers in journalism or communications. More than 120 students are being sponsored courtesy of several sponsors including Ziyad Brothers Importing.

Twelve panels beginning Saturday morning at 9 am in two rooms will address a wide range of issues including the pro-Democracy protests sweeping the Arab World, the struggle for freedom by Palestinians, the challenges facing American Arab newspaper publishers, techniques for using social and online media, immigration reform, healthcare issues, civil rights in the 10 years since Sept. 11, and how to tell the American Arab and Muslim story to mainstream Americans.

A panel will also discuss the growing challenges facing American Arabs in journalism reviewing the assaults on Octavia Nasr and Helen Thomas, while another will explore U.S. Policy in the Middle Eat with the State Department’s Near Affairs Director of Public Diplomacy Phil Frayne and journalists George Hishmeh and Ali Younes.

The complete program is available online at www.NAAJA-US.com.

“We are very excited to have everyone that counts in American Arab and Muslim journalism attending this conference,” said Conference Coordinator and NAAJA Detroit organizer Laila alhusinni. “Everyone and anyone who fashions themselves as a journalist and who cares about the future of American Arabs and Muslims will be at this three-day conference.”

Ms. Alhusinni, co-host of the weekly morning radio show Radio Baladi simulcast live on radio in Chicago on WJJG AM 1530 and in Detroit on WNZK AM 690, said the conference will also present four NAAJA Excellence in Journalism Awards.

“We are honored to have so many high quality professional journalists speaking at this event,” said Hanania, who is a political columnist with the Southwest News-Herald and Lawndale News in Chicago, and with the Jerusalem Post Newspaper and PalestineNote.com. Hanania is the national coordinator for NAAJA.

Panel speakers at the conference on Saturday include:

- Suzanne Manneh, New America Media

- Hunaid M. Baliwala, President, Bridges TV

- Stephen Franklin, former Chicago Tribune Middle East correspondent, reporter Detroit Free Press now director of Ethnic Media for the Chicago Community Media Workshop

- Ginnnah Muhammad, radio talkshow host

- Stephen Coats, Sabeel Media

- Weam Namu, journalist

- Brian Bowe, visiting assistant professor of journalism in Grand Valley State University's School of Communications

- Geri Alumit Zeldes, assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University

- Ali Beydoun, Arab American Student Union, Wayne State University

- Laura Fawaz, photographer, journalism graduate, Oakland University

- Delia Habhab, Wayne State University Communications graduate

- Faiz Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief of the East West Link newspaper, and studies at Oakland University

- Peter J. Hammer, Prof. of Civil Rights, Wayne State Uni.

- Ron Scott, radio talk show host

- Imad Hamad, ADC Michigan

- Dawud Walid, Executive Director of CAIR Michigan

- Hasan Nawash, Palestine Center Dearborn

- Janice Milhem, president of Milhem Images, Inc.

- Barbara Harvey, Jewish Voice for Peace, Detroit Chapter board member

- Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire

- Gregg Krupa, editor and reporter at newspapers and magazines in New York City, Boston, Detroit and Providence, Rhode Island

- Niraj Warikoo, reporter, Detroit Free Press

- Joe Grimm is a professor of media at Michigan State University, former editor, recruiter at the Detroit Free Press

- Roop Raj, reporter Fox 2 News Mornings in Detroit

- Oralandar Brand-Williams, Detroit News reporter

- Steven N. Garmo, Esq. Attorney & Counselor at Law, Law Offices of Garmo & Associates, P.C.

- Marshal E. Hyman, Esq. Attorney specializing in Immigration and Nationality Law

- Lena Masri, Esq. immigration attorney

- Charlie Langdon, news analyst for Fox News

- Renée Ahee, APR, Facilitator and presenter, Executive Director, National Arab American Medical Association

- Ahmad Adam, President/CEO and Founder of Crescent Foods

- Dr. Raymond Hilu, internal medicine specialist at St. John Health System and a teaching physician, has confirmed his participation.

- Cindy Goodaker, executive editor of Crain’s Detroit Business, has confirmed her participation.

- Kim Koslowski, Journalist, the Detroit News

- Christine Tatum, former President of the Society of Professional Journalists

- Lloyd Weston, journalist and Wayne State University alumni

- Peter Wirth, President GW Associates, Washington DC

- Mansour Tadros, al-Mustaqbal Chicago

- Warren David, ArabDetroit.com

- Khalil Ramal, Veteran journalist and reporter covering Detroit and the Middle East

- Delinda C. Hanley, news editor, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

- Phil Frayne, Director, Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, US State Department

- Ali Younes, Washington DC based columnist

- George Hishmeh, award winning journalist

More than 35 organizations, businesses and journalism associations are co-sponsoring the conference.

NAAJA also hosts the new Arab American News Wire (www.ArabAmericanNewsWire.com) which will pay freelance writers to write news and feature stories about American Arab and Muslim communities that will be distributed free-of-charge to American Arab and Muslim publications and media.

A limited number of registrations will be accepted at the conference.

# # #

Al Jazeera celebrates one million Facebook fans

Al Jazeera celebrates one million Facebook fans

Doha, Qatar, 28 April, 2011 - Al Jazeera is proud to announce that it has reached more than one million fans on its Arabic Facebook page making it the first and only Arabic news channel to do so. 

Al Jazeera has been particularly praised for its social media efforts in recent months. The network's new media team has been seen as crucial in both newsgathering and news broadcasting during the Arab uprisings. Fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter have increased dramatically during this period.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Social Media, Riyaad Minty, stated: “This is a huge moment for us. The really wonderful thing has been that these numbers have been achieved organically till now – we have not invested huge amounts of money in building this fanbase.

“I can remember first launching the page in 2009, and watching it grow has been phenomenal.  At that time it was seen as a somewhat strange move, but as we can see from this milestone, the page is central to our output.

“We want to continue to grow. Across all of our Facebook pages, including the English one, we have over two million fans in total. Our presences on YouTube are amongst the most popular channels there.”

[ENDS]

Notes

A picture of Al Jazeera's social media team celebrating with a specially branded cake is available on request from saeedo[AT] al jazeera.net

Links:

Al Jazeera Arabic on Facebook www.facebook.com/aljazeerachannel

Al Jazeera English on Facebook  www.facebook.com/aljazeera

Diversity still lags in Newsrooms, and American Arabs still targeted for exclusion

Diversity is a major ingredient of good journalism. While a journalist's skills and training are important to writing and producing a good news or feature story, it turns out that diversity is a key ingredient to insure that the news reporting covers all of the angles. It turns out that a reporter's personal experiences often open doors that might not otherwise be open to other reporters when covering any story. When the door is not opened, no one except those from the community involved would know that the door remains closed. In other words, journalism benefits from diversity and the goal of presenting the most accurate and complete story also suffer when diversity is limited.

The ket to remember is that as a journalist, your personal experience is important. They say a reporter should never interject their own personal opinion in to a story. But the reality is that reporters do interject their opinions in the story by the way they come to decide what to include in it. In reality, what happens is that a reporter is really injecting what they "know" in to the story, more than their personal opinions in to the story. And what they "know" sometimes is important to a story's accuracy and completeness.

Mainstream American journalists continue to fall short in their coverage of American Arabs and Muslims. They have turned what they do coverage in to a religious story, merging the words "Arab" and "Muslim" into synonymous meanings, which they should not do. There are 4.5 million Arabs in the United States and only 45 percent are actually Muslim (Sunni or less, Shiíte). There are about 7 million Muslims in the United States and only 22 percent are actually Arab. The largest group is African American Muslim followed by South Asian Muslims.

In other words, most Muslims are NOT Arab and Most Arabs are not Muslims. So why treat them the same? Expediency? Convenience? But more importantly, because of the lack of diversity. Most non-Arabs or non-Muslims would not realize the distinction. So their coverage reflects an inaccurate premise. That in turn creates a false knowledge about Arabs and Muslims, and feeds into the stereotypes about each group. In the end, the American public is less informed than they could be and as a result might embrace decisions that wrongly deal with issues involving Arabs, Muslims or the Middle East or the Muslim World. American foreign policy could be skewered because we have made the wrong decisions based on the lack of accurate information or factual knowledge.

And you know something, that is a tragedy, because the Middle East is one of the most important topics in our country. It has the most impact on our lives. It consumes much of our time. So why wouldn't we want to be accurate about understanding the Middle East?

That's where diversity in the news room comes in, and why many editors and publishers who are more political than the politicians they cover, want to keep Arabs and Muslims out of the mainstream media.

Their idea of diversity is to only embrace the accepted groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. They don't want Arabs and Muslims helping the journalism professional to make the accurate decisions about the world events around us because they want to manipulate those events and can do a better job when not all of the accurate facts are known.

Knowledge is power, but so is the ability to control knowledge which is also a power, too. If you can control and manipulate knowledge and facts, you can control and manipulate the mainstream public.

Groups exist to champion these issues. UNITY: Journalists of Color is one group. But Minorities and special interest ethnic groups often find themselves competing for bread crumbs in the larger society, so they find themselves in rivalries for what little power they can get and share. UNITY includes Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans, but they have done everything they could to exclude Arabs and Muslims from participating as equal numbers and equal partners at the table.

There is only so much "food" to share and only so many chairs at the table. To let in other groups would dilute the influence and presence of those already at the table, like Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. So there is a hostility not only from the mainstream Americans in journalism but also from those minorities that have already "made it."

Worse is that fact that the situation of diversity in mainstream journalism is pathetic. The idea is that a good goal would be to achieve a balance where minorities and ethnic groups have a presence in professional journalism equal to their presence in society. What percentage are Blacks, for example, of the larger mainstream society? They should have that presence (or close to it) in order to insure that professional journalism reflects the concerns, interests and priorities of Blacks in their coverage.

When an ethnic group is not represented, professional journalism is that much less professional. Let's use Blacks as a theoretical example for the sake of argument.

We know that the experiences of African Americans in this country is important. It can be a negative story where Blacks are blamed for crimes, and undesirable events. These negative stories would dominate the media coverage of the Black community and the impression conveyed would be that Blacks are a problem as a community.

Without Blacks working in the mainstream news media, professional journalism, that is how the media would see Blacks, as a negative story covered only when bad things happens and when Blacks are viewed as the cause of the problems.

But, when we include Blacks in professional media, we start to see another aspect, one that Blacks themselves are helping to define. A positive side to the Black community, one that offers insight in to the issues being covered that drives down the idea that they are a "negative" story and that includes other stories about their successes, achievements, contributions to society and positive news that helps the rest of the country see a true picture of African Americans.

They are not all bad.

It's amazing that even has to be stated.

They are not all bad.

Every community has bad, and good. But when you do not have a seat at the journalism table, the ability to see the "good" is skewered and fogged and not immediately clear. You see the bad and you rarely see the good. The "bad" is thrust ons societies. The "good" has to be mined, found through a specific effort and work.

Replace Blacks with Arabs and you see the problem. The mainstream media does a poor job of covering American Arabs because Arabs are excluded from the journalism profession.

A PEW Research survey from 2010 showed that only 13.26 percent of the more than 41,500 working journalists are "minorities."  The term "minority" is even narrowly defined to include only those identified by UNITY, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans.

Worse, is the fact that the professional organizations which are sentinels to these issues also lack diversity. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) for example has no American Arabs on their national board or on any elected or appointed authority position. Of their many local chapters of the SPJ (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc) there are no American Arabs in elected positions and maybe a few on local committees.

So how does the SPJ represent the issues of journalists when they don't have participation from everyone, especially the one community which is a part of the major news stories that have fixated the attention of this country?

I'm compelled to run for the national board of the SPJ as an at-large director. The purpose is to impose myself on an incomplete system to force the SPJ and thereby force professional journalism to be professional by helping them to achieve a true state of diversity, or at least to get closer to being truly diverse.

If the organizations and watchdogs of journalism don't think it is important -- like PEW or Poynter for example -- that makes it an even worse problem. They don't see the problem. Or, maybe PEW and Poynter are ignoring the problem because none of their writers, educators, professional journalists are Arab or Muslim. When you are not at a table, you are pushed aside. You are not recognized as being a part of the team that addresses the issues. You are excluded form the national voice and the discussions and the talk and the meetings and therefore you are excluded from the process of making the situation better.

That needs to change. Not just because it is the right thing to do for American Arabs and Muslims, but because it is the right thing to do for America and for professional journalism.


Maybe I can either change it, or prompt other American Arabs and Muslims to do the same. Maybe I can prompt other American Arabs and Muslims to also join the SPJ and make change from inside the organization. Entering a hostile organization is in fact the best way to change that hostility. The best way to get something to change is to be involved in that something. That has always been my role as one of the few American Arabs in professional journalism, since 1976. The web site of the Society of Professional Journalists is www.SPJ.org. I hope you will join SPJ and join the fight to make the voice of professional journalism more representative, and to counter the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim voices that have had free reign to do what they want to keep us out.

-- Ray Hanania
www.NAAJA-US.com

State Department official to present at Arab Journalism Conference Phil Frayne will review events sweeping the Middle East

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                       Ray Hanania

APRIL 13, 2011                                                                                  rayhanania  @  comcast.net

                                                                                                                        Laila alhusinni

                                                                                                            lealhusinni@yahoo.com

State Department official to present at Arab Journalism Conference
Phil Frayne will review events sweeping the Middle East

Chicago/Detroit – U.S. State Department official Phil Frayne will join a panel discussion at the 6^th Annual National American Arab Journalism Association convention addressing changes in the Middle East and American foreign policy.

Frayne, the Director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, will join professional American Arab journalists George Hishmeh and Ali Younes during the panel which is one of 12 panels that will be presented on Saturday April 30, 2011 during the conference program.

Titled “American Arab Journalism 10 Years since Sept. 11^th Strengthening our role in educating the American Public & the Arab World,” the 2011 NAAJA Journalism Conference will closely examine the challenges facing American Arabs in the decade since the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We’re very excited to have Mr. Frayne join our distinguished panels of speakers that will be presented in two separate conference rooms all day on Saturday during the conference,” said NAAJA National coordinator Ray Hanania.

“Mr. Frayne joins a panel of American Arab journalists who will discuss with attendees issues such as Arab world coverage of the pro-Democracy movements, the factors pushing for the change, and the challenges facing American Arab journalists seeking to educate the American public on Middle East issues.”

Mr. Hishmeh, an award winning veteran journalist and former president of the Washington Arab Journalism Association, will also offer special insights at a luncheon earlier in the day. The keynote speakers at the Gala Dinner that evening include Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East & North Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Lawrence Pintak, the author of the new book “The New Arab Journalist.”

The conference emcee this year is Warren David, president of ArabDetroit.com. The dinner will also feature a presentation on the civil rights challenges since Sept. 11.

Other panels will explore issues ranging from the attacks against American Arab journalists Helen Thomas and Octavia Nasr to the controversy surrounding the release of the movie Miral. A complete listing of panels are online on the official conference web site at:

www.NAAJA-US.com

Click the Conference Drop Down Menu and select 2011 Dearborn Conference at the top of the website.

“American Arab journalists are under siege,” observed alhusinni. “From Helen Thomas to Octavia Nasr, we are being targeted because of what we represent. And, what we represent is a determination to insure that the mainstream news media is fair, accurate and includes the voices of American Arabs and Muslims in their daily reporting. That doesn’t always happen.”

The conference goals are to strengthen the growing network of American Arab Journalists, NAAJA and help launch more chapter networks in other cities. Currently, NAAJA has more than 300 members – there is no fee to join – and has five chapters including in Chicago, Dearborn, Washington D.C., Oregon and Austin.

NAAJA will also recognize three students with scholarships ranging from $1,000 to two $500 awards. NAAJA is dedicated to supporting young American Arabs to help them pursue careers in journalism.

More than 20 organizations and businesses and journalism associations are co-sponsoring the conference.

NAAJA also hosts the new Arab American News Wire (www.ArabAmericanNewsWire.com) which will pay freelance writers to write news and feature stories about American Arab and Muslim communities that will be distributed free-of-charge to American Arab and Muslim publications and media.

Registration is only $75 per person ($55 for students) and includes lunch and dinner plus full access to all panels on Saturday and the Saturday night Gala Banquet. The Hyatt is offering a special room rate of only $89 per night for conference attendees.

To register online or to get more information, please visit the official web page of NAAJA at www.NAAJA-US.com.  A link to the Dearborn conference, and past conferences, will direct you to registration.

# # #

Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Embrace censorship and subtle bigotry

Over the past two years, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) went from an organization that champions free speech to one that has become a bitter, narrowly focused and promoters of bigotry against people of Arab and Muslim heritage.

Although the SPJ continues to claim that it supports American Arabs and American Muslims -- because they cannot say otherwise publicly -- the actions of the past president Kevin Smith (and maybe the current president Hagit Limor) and Kevin's supporters on the SPJ board who I believe are driven by bigotry suggest otherwise. The SPJ has targeted American Arabs and dissension from SPJ members who are Arab.

Out of an act of pure dislike, Smith closed the Arab Journalism Section of the SPJ, recognizing that the anti-Arab sentiment in the United States in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 would give him cover. His biggest complaint -- was that the SPJ Arab blog (one part of the larger Arab SPJ website section) had included views that were personal opinions.  Smith demonstrated that he lacked leadership when he failed to express any views about the Arab Blog and only expressed his alleged "concerns" after he ordered the blog shut down.

Smith also recognized that allowing Arab members of the SPJ to organize as a Section would give American Arab journalists a foundation of power to pursue other changes at the SPJ, which has crumbled from an organization concerned with ethics and professional journalism conduct to one manipulated by a handful of small minded leaders like Smith.

Limor, who succeeded Smith, has played it coy since most of the actions against American Arabs came while Smith was president; although in the SPJ world, the president-elect works with the president and the past president to help insure a solid lock on controls. (But while Smith singled out the Arab heritage of the people he attacked at the Arab Section, no one ever raised the issue of the inherent bias that might exist if someone noted that Limor is Israeli. Maybe you haven't noticed by Arabs and Israelis have been locked in a conflict for more than six decades over Middle East policies, and that Middle East policies and the failure of the mainstream media to cover these issues was the focus of the Arab Section blog.)

Instead of addressing these issues, Limor has attempted repeatedly to cast herself as the victim of anti-Israeli politics while Smith reinforced that accusing anyone who was Arab who expressed any views as being "propagandists." No one in our group has ever attacked Limor because of her Israeli heritage. It is not an issue. We hope that Hagit Limor, as SPJ president, can be fair but we have not seen that so far.

Yet, we see that Smith is the true political activists and biased propogandists. Read Limor's SPJ Blog and notice how she advocates for issues also. In otherwords, it is okay for her and Smith to express views on issues outside of the realm of journalism or that skirt journalism issues but it is not okay, according to Smith, for someone who is Arab or Muslim to do the same.

The real challenge is most Arabs and Muslims in America have no place to go to fight this kind of bias. The same problem exists at UNITY: Journalists of Color which for the past four years has refused to give Arab Journalists equal standing among the four groups of "Journalists of Color"-- Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans.

UNITY recognizes and the SPJ campaign of anti-Arab bigotry by Smith and Limor demonstrates that Arabs are targets of discrimination in America and rather than stand up for the principles to champion the rights of these victims, the SPJ would rather ignore it and cast it aside. SPJ does this because it's easier than fighting the ethical war with the growing anti-Arab hate movement in America and the West. They just don't want to bother with it. First because it is a difficult fight and secondly and more importantly, some of the SPJ leaders just simply don't like the Arab point of view and do not want to give American Arabs an equal voice in this country nor certainly in the ranks of the SPJ nationally.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

NAAJA Conference to address challenges facing journalists in Middle East

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         Ray Hanania

April 6, 2011                                                                                      rayhanania@comcast.net

                                                                                                            Laila alHusinni

                                                                                                            lealhusinni@yahoo.com

NAAJA Conference to address challenges facing journalists in Middle East

Chicago/Detroit – Speakers will address the challenges facing journalists covering the pro-Democracy movement in the Middle East and Arab world at the annual conference of the National American Arab Journalists Association.

The conference is being held April 29 – May 1, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan. It is open to the public.

Keynote speakers include Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Middle East & North Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Lawrence Pintak, the author of the new book “The New Arab Journalist,” and award winning journalist George Hishmeh.

The conference is being sponsored by nearly two dozen community and journalism organizations. Registration is being kept intentionally low at $75 per person for the weekend event. But a large number of students interested in journalism and communications are attending the event through local colleges and sponsorship by major corporations.

The Saturday schedule features 10 panel discussions on major issues facing American Arabs, a luncheon and dinner gala. Warren David, president of David Communications and ArabDetroit.com, the largest network of American Arabs, is the emcee. Imad Hamad, the executive Director of the Detroit and Michigan Chapters of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee will address the 10^th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 and the increase in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination.

Three students will be honored with college scholarships at the event for essays they have submitted on the importance of being American Arab.

“We are very excited to host the national journalism conference in Dearborn,””said NAAJA Detroit Coordinator Laila alhusinni, host of the morning radio show “Good Morning Michigan” and the syndicated radio show Radio Baladi which is broadcast in both Chicago an Detroit every Friday morning.

“This is just a start. We hope to strengthen the voices of American Arab and Muslim in Detroit and the region by working more closely with professional journalists. This conference will also help define how the community faces and understands challenges in the coming years.”

Entertainment at the Gala Dinner will be provided by the musical ensemble of Usama Balbaki.

For more information on the conference, visit www.NAAJA-US.com. Participants can register online. Hotel accommodations are being provided by the Hyatt Hotel in Dearborn. Hotel registrations can also be made online or by telephone at a special $89 per night rate.

end

Arab and Muslim candidates in Chicago area defeated in nearly every race where there was a contest

Even though many of the candidates had the backing of local political leaders, organizations and the dominant political parties, most of the Arab and Muslim candidates who ran for office were defeated.

The only victors were those who were running in uncontested races. Only a few, non-Arab Muslims, were elected in areas where Muslims have held public office. In those cases, only one received among the highest votes of the winning candidates, while in almost every other uncontested race, the Arab and Muslim candidates received the lowest vote victories.

Click to view an overview of the elections that took place in Suburban Cook County on April 5, 2011: Click Here to view PDF.

Arab/Muslim candidates who won -- there were no Christian Arab candidates slated or backed for public office -- include: 

Ahmed M. Aduib who ran and won uncontested in the race for a 6 year term on the Bridgeview Library District. Aduib had the support of incumbent Bridgeview Mayor and State Senator Steven Landek. Most offices in Bridgeview were uncontested reflecting a rare community harmony compared to other suburban communities where elections were contentious. 

Nuha Hasan won a 4 year seat on the Justice Park District Board where she was also uncontested.

Those are the only success stories.

Other races showed the disconnect between mainstream American voters and American candidates of Arab and Muslim heritage. Ironically, all of the communities have large Arab and Muslim populations. But, although they do not get the support that they give non-Arab and non-Muslim candidates, Arab and Muslim voters were much like other voters and did not vote their true power. The conclusion is that in order for American Arab and Muslims to win office, Arab and Muslim voters must come out in force, more than 90 percent.

In the contested races:

Maha Hasan ran in last place for a 6 year seat on the Justice Library Board. She received nearly one-third fewer votes than the highest vote-getter in the election.

Bassam Abdallah ran in last place for a six year seat on the Orland Park Library District Board, a community where there is a large American Arab and Muslim population. Most Arabs and Muslims there, though, did not vote. 

Lina Zayed lost in a bid for a four year seat on the Burbank District 111 school board. Again, Burbank has a very large Arab and Muslim population. She received less than half of the average vote cast in the election, but in her case, she was extremely active and she did not run in last place. She came in 5th place out of 7 candidates running. The top three winners received over 800 votes each.

Itedal Shalabi running for a four year seat on the North Palos School District 117 seat, lost by a large margin. The district includes Bridgeview and Palos.

Rola Othman also ran in last place in a contest for a four year seat on the Reavis High school district 220 board, also in Burbank where Arab and Muslim populations are large.

All of the candidates ran very professional and high profile races. They were organized and supported by a new political organization called Project Mobilize which helped all of the candidates combine their resources and develop excellent campaign literature and public presence. www.ProjectMobilize.org.

The key clearly is not the high quality of American Arab or Muslim candidates but rather the challenges they faced running in an atmosphere of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias that has only increased in the 10 years since the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorism attacks. All of the candidates were immensely qualified for the posts they were running for and are active in their local mainstream communities.

But the biggest problem is that most Arab and Muslim voters did not participate. Suburban off-year elections are already the lowest voter turnouts, which would give minority ethnic groups and advantage if they did turn out in force to vote. But when the minority ethnic voters act like the majority voters and do not vote, the results are predictable.

-- Ray Hanania

www.TheMediaOasis.com

Al-Jazeera staff threatened in Jordan; journalists detained and released in Syria

Committee to Protect Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, 11th Fl., New York, NY 10001 Phone: +1 (212) 465-1004 Fax: +1 (212) 465-9568

Contact: Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator. Phone: (212) 465-1004; E-mail: m.abdel.dayem@cpj.org

Al-Jazeera staff threatened in Jordan; journalists detained and released in Syria New York, April 5, 2011- Al-Jazeera staffers in Jordan have received anonymous threatening phone calls warning that their office and correspondents would be attacked, Al-Jazeera's Amman bureau chief told CPJ. Journalists in Jordan have been facing mounting dangers while covering pro-reform demonstrations, CPJ research has found. "Jordanian authorities need to credibly investigate the threats made against Al-Jazeera immediately," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "A failure to do so would send a disturbing signal to the entire Jordanian media." Yasser Abu Hilala, Al-Jazeera's Amman bureau chief, told CPJ that his office received death threats via telephone as well as on Facebook and email. Several pages have been created that have stirred hatred against Abu Hilala, CPJ research shows. The bureau chief said the threats began approximately two weeks ago, after Al-Jazeera covered pro-reform demonstrations in Amman. "Our coverage is the only reason behind the threats," Abu Hilala said. On Monday, 52 Jordanian journalists issued a statement voicing their support for Al-Jazeera's journalists. "Some have gone too far by inciting and agitating against the press, against journalists, and against correspondents to a degree that is alarming to all of us," the statement said. "This has prompted us all to raise our voice and reject such threats, which fall within the category of intellectual terrorism; indeed they are a criminal offense (death threats and assaults by unidentified individuals), punishable by the law." It also called on the government to investigate the threats and punish the perpetrators. A local journalist, who asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal, told CPJ that several reporters received phone and email threats of physical harm and unless they stop covering the reform movement in the kingdom. "The situation is no longer about censorship or repressive legislation-the danger has become personal," the journalist said. On March 24, journalists covering pro-reform demonstrations were beaten and had their equipment confiscated or destroyed.  At least 20 journalists were attacked on that day by plainclothes attackers and security forces, according to local news reports. In an unrelated case, Syrian authorities today released two Jordanian journalists, according to the Jordanian news website Amoon News. Akram Abu Safi and Sobhi Naim al-Asal, both of whom work for the regional radio production company Arab Broadcasting Service, were detained on March 24 while on their way to Lebanon to deliver equipment. Doha Hassan, a photographer and journalist working for Orient TV, remains in custody, two local journalists told CPJ. Hassan was detained on March 26. The signal of Orient TV, a private, Dubai-based satellite channel, has been jammed in Syria since March 25.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

Bahrain manipulates critical daily; attacks continue in Libya, Iraq, Yemen

Committee to Protect Journalists 330 Seventh Avenue, 11th Fl., New York, NY 10001 Phone: +1 (212) 465-1004 Fax: +1 (212) 465-9568

Contact: Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator. Phone: (212) 465-1004; E-mail: m.abdel.dayem@cpj.org

Bahrain manipulates critical daily; attacks continue in Libya, Iraq, Yemen New York, April 4, 2011-The Bahraini government continued its attempts at muzzling critical media with the Ministry of Information ordering the country's premier independent daily temporarily shut down on Sunday. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Bahraini government's strong-arm tactics, which effectively forced a change in a prominent paper's editorial management. In Libya, Iraq, and Yemen, independent and critical media continue to be targets for government intimidation and harassment, CPJ research found. Al-Wasat did not appear on newsstands on Sunday and its online edition was disabled, according to local and international news reports. The Information Ministry accused Al-Wasat of "deliberate news fabrication and falsification during the recent unrest that gripped the Kingdom of Bahrain," the official Bahrain News Agency reported. On Monday, president of the Information Affairs Authority, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, lifted the ban after the paper's editor-in-chief, Mansoor al-Jamri, Managing Editor Walid Nouwaihidh, and Local News Director Aqeel Mirza stepped down. "Resigning was a difficult decision but it is what was needed to safeguard the newspaper and the livelihood of its staff," al-Jamri told CPJ. "The paper has been subjected to a relentless campaign of intimidation by the authorities." Bahrain has intensified its crackdown on media since imposing a state of emergency last month, CPJ research shows. "Alleging bias in Al-Wasat's coverage without providing credible evidence to support such a claim is laughable," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Bahrain has previously hurled unsubstantiated accusations of bias in order to silence critical media, most prominently against Al-Jazeera last year when the government wanted to shut the channel's local bureau." Lotfi al-Massaoudi, one of four Al-Jazeera journalists detained by Libyan authorities, was released and arrived in Tunisia on Sunday night, the Qatar-based news station reported. Al-Massaoudi, along with colleagues Ahmed Vall Ould Addin, Kamel Atalua, and Ammar al-Hamdan, were arrested in mid-March and freed on Thursday only to be re-arrested on the same day. The three journalists remain in custody, according to Al-Jazeera. At least seven local journalists who spoke critically of government policies remain missing amid wide speculation that they are in the custody of forces loyal to Qaddafi.                                                                                        "We are relieved that Lotfi al-Massaoudi has been released, but remain concerned about the fate of the other missing and detained journalists in Libya," said CPJ's Abdel Dayem. On Sunday, Libyan authorities ordered London's Daily Telegraph correspondent Damien McElroy to leave Tripoli, according to news reports. The Libyan government provided no justification for its action. On Wednesday, the government expelled Reuters correspondent Michael Georgy, who had been covering the conflict for several weeks. Again, no reasons were given for the expulsion.                                                                                                                                     In Iraq today, security forces arrested Murtadha al-Shahtour, media director of Al-Nasiriyya's police department and a regular contributor to the independent daily Azzaman and other news websites. On January 2, al-Shahtour published an article on the website Kitabat in which he criticized government policies related to security issues. Kitabat said that al-Shatour's detention stems from the January 2 article; the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), a local press freedom group, concurred. Security forces arrested Raya Hamma Karim, a correspondent for the independent weekly Hawlati and Niyaz Abdullah, a journalist and a board member of JFO, in Iraqi Kurdistan today, news reports said. Both were covering student protests at a university in Arbil. In Yemen, Ahmad al-Aghbry, a journalist working for the official SABA News Agency and a member of the Yemeni Journalists' Syndicate, told CPJ that he received an email that it interpreted as a threat. In the email, the sender accuses al-Aghbry of possessing information about an upcoming terrorist attack, adding that he would be held accountable for it, al-Aghbry told CPJ. The syndicate condemned the threat, and called on the Interior Ministry to seriously investigate this and similar previous threats. CPJ has documented dozens of threats made against journalists during the past two months in person, on the telephone, and over email. Reuters said that Syrian authorities freed its Damascus-based photographer Khaled al-Hariri on Sunday, six days after detaining him. Al-Hariri was the last of five Reuters journalists who had been detained incommunicado by Syrian authorities in the past two weeks. All have since been released. On Friday, two correspondents for The Associated Press were ordered to leave the country with less than an hour's notice, the news agency reported. CPJ continues to track the cases of a handful of local journalists who have been rounded up in Syria, either while reporting or from their homes.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.