Challenges facing the development of professional
Arab American Journalism
By Ray Hanania
August 12, 2002
Journalism is a profession, not an
instrument of politics. Yet, professional journalism can influence
politics and events by insuring that an accurate version of events are
presented to the public. The imprimatur of professional journalism gives
the process a unique credibility that is unparalleled and that conveys a
sense of trust that is embraced by the public.
It is therefore important that Arab American
journalism evolve as an effort to achieve professionalism, rather than as
an instrument of political opportunity. In the short run, politicians who
apply journalistic techniques without proper training do achieve a sense
of greater fairness. But in the long run, the community suffers greatly
and the truth of an argument can become distorted in the political
manipulation of the process.
Therefore, it is important that Arab
Americans pursue journalism as a career choice rather than as an option in
a political battle.
It is important to understand the purpose of
journalism: That purpose is to present information that is free of
advocacy, fair and objective, and comprehensive in its coverage to a
targeted audience. Understanding that there are different audiences helps
to understand why professional journalism reaches the widest possible
audiences, while unprofessional or non-journalistic communications reaches
the most limited audiences.
Journalism is not just about expressing an
opinion. It is much larger. It includes the ability to report news as
objectively as possible, recognizing the shortcomings of reporters and
humans to write about "what you know or discover." It includes the ability
to write compelling feature articles that provide a broad perspective to
the bigger picture, and that helps present the human side of issues. It
includes commentary, the one area where most anti-Arab bias exists in the
media.
It is interesting that the American media is
biased for two reasons: First, the American media often presents a limited
variety of viewpoints on their op-ed and commentary pages. Absent are
suppressed on these pages are views written by Arab American journalists
-- in part because Arab American journalists are a rarity, and because the
American media does not seek these views out to be included.
Second, the American media rarely uses the
feature side of journalism to explore Arab issues. The American media doe
snot often present the events involving Arabs in a human perspective. The
depth of understanding is restricted to statistics and political rhetoric.
Third, Arab Americans do not pursue
professional journalism as a real career choice, or cannot find jobs in
journalism that provide adequate wages to survive. They are forced to take
other employment in non-journalism fields -- as a result, we have many
professional journalists who work as activists for Arab organizations, or
hold down jobs in many other professions that range from real estate,
banking, law, medicine and even engineering. (The wage paying career often
tends to influence how the journalists evolves, pulling them away from
professional journalism and more toward political writing and
dissertation.)
Finally, with all of these first two factors
missing or suppressed, American journalists find themselves ignoring the
mainstream Arab community in their stories because this community appears
to lack credibility. They have no real ethnic press. Their media is
dominated by non-journalist professionals and self-serving business
interests, and the community tends to be combatative as a result of
existing in a hostile, anti-Arab environment that does not treat the
community fairly.
You can see how the situation feeds the
problem and imprisons the Arab American community while serving to limit
the American media's coverage of our community.
Journalism must be understand in the context
of audiences. Who is it that you are speaking to? Who you are speaking to
determines who should be speaking. It is a principle that is not
understand in the Arab World and in the way Arab Americans and Arab groups
approach communications.
VOICES & AUDIENCES
There are three types of Arab individuals
championing accuracy in the Middle East. They are:
Arab American activists: This
group writes eloquently and with reasoned political arguments in English.
The articles are complex dissertations that often remain unread by the
American public. They work independently or within their political
circles. This group includes business people, community organization
leaders, and activists for causes who sometimes produce publications that
appear to be products of journalism but are instead non-journalistic
products of advocacy. (The vast majority of Arab American magazines,
newspapers, radio and TV shows are actually created and managed by this
group of non-journalists, undermining the credibility of professional
journalism in the Arab American community.)
Arab American Academics: This
group writes from the need to be published as academics. Their
dissertations are extensively complicated and read only by the smallest
circle of individuals interested in Middle East issues. They dominate the
debate because the non-Arab media tends to view them as more credible than
the Arab journalists or the activists groups. Yet, their arguments are so
complex, lack the creative edge that makes journalism the most effective
form of communications possible, and tend to be argumentative. Their views
are also often presented to the public in the context of debates, rather
than as objective journalistic analysis.
Arab American journalists:
This group writes from the stand-point of professional journalism by are
subjected to intense pressures that box them into focused debates that
tend to undermine their credibility. They lack a network of professional
journalism support and are often forced to find non-journalism related
jobs in order to earn incomes as the Arab American journalism profession
does not generate adequate wages.
You can also analyze the three groups based
not only on who they are but on their natural audiences. The activists and
academics speak to the narrowest audiences, while the only group that has
the ability to speak to the largest audience (the general public) are the
professional journalists.
The Activists speak to the choir, their
circle of supporters and members who already believe and accept their
views. The American media views them with skepticism, often pairing them
with spokesmen offering the alternative viewpoint to the public.
(Ironically, the activists view this as a victory when in fact the very
act of always being paired is a subtle signal to the reader that the two
views should be taken with a grain of salt.)
The Academics speak to the academic
community, and a level of published dissertation that is read almost
exclusively by the academic world and yet ignored by the vast majority of
average Americans. These journals (such as the Journal of Palestine
Studies and others fail to achieve the goal of informing the public and
tend to only serve to reinforce the existing views of the choir.)
Both the activist and the academic strive to
be published on the op-Ed pages of major American newspapers, and they do
succeed to a limited degree ... limited in comparison of what could be
achieved if the same columns were authored and submitted by Arab American
journalists.
It is the Arab American journalists who have
the best chance of speaking to the widest possible audience. The more
professional the journalist, the wider the audience becomes. More
Americans will listen to this group than to the activists or the
academics. It is the Arab American journalist who will more than likely be
published in the mainstream American news media, more often than the
activist and academics.
Ironically, the Journalists will also be
able to more effectively deliver the messages, conclusions and the
findings of the activists and the academics than the activists or
academics could ever hope to deliver on their own.
CHALLENGES
The biggest challenge we face is the fact
that the Arab community comes from a society where, historically,
journalism does not exist. Despite some recent (past 20 years) exceptions,
free speech is prohibited in the Middle East. Inexperienced in this
fundamental essential to the profession and craft of journalism, Arabs who
come from this scenario are burdened by restrictions and distortions in
what journalism really is.
They do their best. They are prohibited from
criticizing their own governments and political processes, so the
journalists focus on those issues and views that are sanctioned by their
governments. (Many examples exist in the Arab World, too, including Aug.
10, 2002, Jordan closing the al-Jazeera Offices in Amman.)
That experience becomes ingrained and is
repeated in the evolution and growth of Arab American "journalists" whose
publications and media tend to reflect the restrictions imposed in their
homelands by the governments in power. This result in publications that
are not journalistic in quality, but that instead advocate points of
views.
Instead of assisting to improve the
situation, Arab American organizations encourage the problem.
Arab conferences such as those hosted by the
civil rights advocacy group the American Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, ADC, for example, showcase individuals as journalists who in
fact are not journalists at all. Panel discussions on communications focus
not on encouraging grassroots professional journalism in the Arab
community, even though they recognize the failings of the professional
American media, but rather on reinforcing their organization's political
agenda.
Arab American journalists are victims of a
environment where issues advocates and academics who are not journalists
are recognized as journalists by these Arab organizations. Those who are
journalists are excluded because these same journalists often criticize
the global issues. Arab organizations seem to define Arab journalists not
on the basis of professional education (as they apply to almost every
other profession) but on the basis of a criteria that demands an
affirmative response to each of the following four premises:
-
Do they support political and
social agendas embraced by the organization?
-
Are they members of the organization's circle of activism?
-
Are they pro-Palestinian academics?
-
Do they adhere to a policy of only
criticizing Israel and ignoring the problems of the Arab community?
SOLUTION
Arab Americans need to work toward
professional journalism, recognizing the existing situation is not one of
choice.
That is, those who work in non-journalism
related fields to allow them to pursue journalism should continue to
strive toward professional journalism.
This means networking with others who seek
to produce professional journalism products. This means working in an
atmosphere of understanding professional journalism and encouraging our
youth to pursue journalism careers for the sake of becoming journalists.
We should not try to become journalists
because we want to change the way the world views the Palestine-Israel
conflict. Instead, we should pursue journalism because we recognize that
professional journalism as a career choice will lead the writer to the
truth. And that we should be confident that the process of identifying the
truth is the answer to the unfairness of the coverage of the
Palestine-Israel conflict. In other words, the higher principle of
achieving professional journalism is more important than pursuing the
"truth" of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
If we achieve the higher principle of
professional journalism, then the truth of the conflict will be
self-evident.
The individuals who write should also
recognize that supporting journalism as an instrument of professional
communications will help them achieve their goals. That is, the academics
certainly have a role to play in serving as the foundation and source for
accurate information. But, instead of being the deliverers of the
information, they should be the sources who are delivered by a
professional journalism mechanism to the public.
It is a fact that a person who attempts to
advocate an issue loses a significant amount of credibility in the eyes of
the general public. But, the same argument takes on a greater sense of
truth when it is delivered not by the advocate but by an individual
trusted to seek out the truth of an issue. That person is a professional
journalist.
This is so important.
The cause of Palestine is handicapped not by
an anti-Arab American media -- which does exist and slows down the process
of accurately informing the public. It is handicapped by the absence of a
group of individuals who are professional journalists who seek to achieve
a level of professional accuracy in Middle East coverage.
CONCLUSION
Recognizing the limitations of those who
lack professional journalism experience is not a criticism of their
efforts. Individuals in Palestine, for example, who struggle to present
the truth, are victims of a process they do not understand and they
therefore fail to address.
They try to become not only the news but the
deliverer of the news. They tend to want to both express their opinions
and deliver the opinions.
The person who delivers the information must
be viewed as objective instruments of the process of communications,
rather than as advocates of the views.
Arab Americans who strive to professional
journalism are handicapped by the restrictions imposed on them. The
greatest hindrance to their struggle is the absence of jobs that pay wages
that permit them to survive on professional journalism alone. There are
very few journalism career options for them where they can work as
journalists exclusively.
In those few instances where Arabs are hired
by American media, the media often imposes restrictions on them that on
principle are correct but that are not applied to Jewish journalists, for
example. Arab Journalists are often restricted from covering Arab or
Middle East issues while Jewish journalists often have a greater freedom
not only to cover the Middle East but to apply their personal experiences
to their reporting.
Finally, because the Arab academics and
activists lack a real understanding of professional journalism (or view
professional journalism in the context of the often unprofessional
journalism we see in the American media), they do not recognize the
importance of the process of professional journalism. They often strive do
both, rather than to allow the Arab journalists to do their jobs.
The higher principle is the most important
goal, not advocacy per se. That is, if you believe a cause is just,
finding the truth will either prove you wrong or prove you right.
Those who are afraid to be proven wrong are
the unprofessional journalists and who contribute to this problem.
