ISSUE

Summer 2007

Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity

This collection of articles explores the challenges journalists encounter in their coverage of Islam in the wake of 9/11. Words and images that follow speak to these difficulties but also address ways in which journalists—and scholars who study Islam—are striving to anchor their work in a knowledgeable context and imbue it with essential layers of complexity.

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Articles

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Summer 2007: Introduction

“The blast had not been an attack at all,” writes Griff Witte, the Islamabad/Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post, about a deadly blast in a gunpowder shop in the center…
Melissa Ludtke
June 15, 2007
Opinion

The Civil Rights Struggle and the Press

A book revisits the time when only a few brave voices in the Southern press stood up against the many ‘that supported and often led massive resistance to change.’
Mary C. Curtis
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

A Photojournalist Immerses Himself in the Story Being Told

An Essay in Words and Photographs
Iason Athanasiadis
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Two Years Later, Justice Denied

In reporting a story about public officials' misuse of government funds, police injure an investigative journalist in a ‘particularly violent encounter.’
Andrea McCarren
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

American Muslims

By some estimates, as many as six million Muslims live in the United States. They have roots around the globe, from Albania to Senegal, Guyana to Pakistan. Some 34 percent…
Andrea Elliott
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Summer 2007: Words & Reflections Introduction

On an April morning in 2005, WJLA-TV investigative reporter Andrea McCarren set out with a photographer to do some preliminary reporting about the activities of a Prince George’s (Md.) County…
Melissa Ludtke
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Visual Contours of Middle Eastern Life

An Essay in Words and Photographs
Katharina Eglau
June 15, 2007
From the Curator

Honoring the Best for Fairness in Reporting

‘Newspapers that meet the test of fairness can reassure the public of the important role of the press as a vital institution of democracy.’
Bob Giles
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Newspapers, Schools and Newsroom Diversity

Newspapers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain journalists of color. Right now, their annual turnover exceeds 10 percent, which is significantly higher than for their white counterparts.…
Dan Sullivan
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Predicting Digital Media Challenges Is Not Difficult

A newspaper journalist reflects on a book in which many problems are proclaimed, but hard thinking about solutions remains elusive.
Cameron McWhirter
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Revisiting the Vanguard of Women Journalists

Outside the Box: A MemoirBy Lynn SherrRodale. 360 Pages. $25.95.I don’t think I’ve ever met Lynn Sherr, but our experiences in journalism—she in television for much of her career, I…
Kay Mills
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Emotions Speak Through Images

An Essay in Words and Photographs
Anja Niedringhaus
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

When the News Media Focus on Islam’s Internal Struggles

Journalists highlight the secular Muslim vision ‘because it reflects a Western outlook that Islam needs to transform and modernize.’
Geneive Abdo
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Violence: Its Source Is Not Always What It Seems

‘... it's rare when religion alone offers an adequate explanation for conflict.’
Griff Witte
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Understanding the Many Faces of Islamism and Jihadism

A scholar of Islam shares insights to help journalists confront the challenges involved with reporting on the political Islamic movement.
Fawaz A. Gerges
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Western Journalists Report on Egyptian Bloggers

An observer of press coverage of cases involving Arab bloggers and government pressure notices some troubling trends in whether and how stories are told.
George Weyman
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

The Arab Story: The Big One Waiting to Be Told

‘How do journalists make the lives and aspirations of Arab men and women who will not succumb to criminality or terror relevant to Western audiences?’
Rami G. Khouri
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Swamp Speak: Then and Now

A former CIA officer draws on journalist Walt Kelly's experience to illustrate the value of objective, in-depth analysis in intelligence reporting and journalism.
Ray Close
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

The Consequences of Uninformed Reporting

‘Most Americans think that since Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the literal word of God, they must read the Qur'an literally …’
Jamie L. Hamilton
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Misperceptions of the ‘War’ in Iraq

An NBC News correspondent—with longtime experience in Iraq—describes many other visions of the war now being fought.
Richard Engel
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Reporting the Arab and Muslim Worlds

It is hard to see ‘ourselves—our actions and their consequences—in the picture.’
Marda Dunsky
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Islam Today: The Need to Explore Its Complexities

A scholar finds in most coverage of Muslims ‘a striking lack of clarity and an atmosphere of incomprehension that can only generate suspicion and fear.’
Tariq Ramadan
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

History, Memory and Context

‘… when a major story erupts in Lebanon, Westerners don't already have the dots by which they can make connections.’
Iman Azzi
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Fiction Can Be More Real Than Journalism

‘In journalism, the color gray too often comes out a muddy brown.’
Matt Beynon Rees
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Finding Ways to Bridge the Abyss of Misunderstanding

‘… to travel in ignorance when insight and understanding are possible is to drive a wedge between Islam and the West.’
Khaled Almaeena
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Glossary

Allah: Literally, "The God." Arabic speaking Jews, Christians and Muslims use this term as the proper name for God. Muslims view Allah as the Creator and Sustainer of everything in…
Various Sources
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Exposing Extremism—No Matter Where It Is Found

What happens when journalists fail to separate what is evil in people from what is good in those who share their religious tradition?
Bruce B. Lawrence
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Deconstructing ‘the Other’—And Ourselves

“… they came to a certain point and the mufti said, ‘Well, now I’m going to pray.’ And he was silent. And the pope clasped his hands sort of at…
Robert Azzi
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Newspapers Portray Women in Pakistan as the ‘Good’ Muslims

An analysis of news reporting and commentary in the wake of 9/11 reveals a pattern in which women's circumstances and lives served as a vehicle for a desired narrative.
Susan Moeller
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

A Master Narrative About Iran Emerges

‘… the surplus of news outlets has had the paradoxical effect of increasing our information and reducing our knowledge.’
Ali M. Ansari
June 15, 2007
Nieman Notes

A Dilemma for Black Women in Broadcast Journalism

‘They say you look militant, like Angela Davis. You're scaring them!’
Renee Ferguson
June 15, 2007
Opinion

‘A Voice, a Brain, and a Notebook’

Bloggers have taken up where I.F. Stone left off, and journalists shouldn't be far behind.
Dan Froomkin
June 15, 2007
Women and Islam: Bearing Witness to Their Daily Lives
International Journalism

Women and Islam: Bearing Witness to Their Daily Lives

An Essay in Words and Photographs
Alexandra Boulat
June 15, 2007
Nieman Notes

The Civil Rights Struggle and the Press

A book revisits the time when only a few brave voices in the Southern press stood up against the many ‘that supported and often led massive resistance to change.’
Mary C. Curtis
June 15, 2007
Opinion

Demonstrating the Craft of Writing

A book ‘grounds the reader in practical improvement by presenting 50 sharp, focused “tools.”’
Tom Ehrenfeld
June 15, 2007
Opinion

A Sampling of Clark’s 50 Writing Tools

RELATED ARTICLE“Demonstrating the Craft of Writing”– Tom Ehrenfeld7.Fear not the long sentence. Take the reader on a journey of language and meaning.9.Let punctuation control pace and space. Learn the rules, but…
Tom Ehrenfeld
June 15, 2007
International Journalism

Muslims in America: Creating a New Beat

A New York Times reporter—a non-Muslim—looked for pathways into the Muslim experience and, once found, she immersed herself to tell the story.
Andrea Elliott
June 15, 2007