Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity

Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity

Summer 2007: Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke• June 15, 2007

“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 of Kabul, which many assumed to be an intentional … Read more

Violence: Its Source Is Not Always What It Seems

By Griff Witte• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘... it's rare when religion alone offers an adequate explanation for conflict.’ Read more

Understanding the Many Faces of Islamism and Jihadism

By Fawaz A. Gerges• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

A scholar of Islam shares insights to help journalists confront the challenges involved with reporting on the political Islamic movement. Read more

The Arab Story: The Big One Waiting to Be Told

By Rami G. Khouri• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘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?’ Read more

When the News Media Focus on Islam’s Internal Struggles

By Geneive Abdo• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

Journalists highlight the secular Muslim vision ‘because it reflects a Western outlook that Islam needs to transform and modernize.’ Read more

Misperceptions of the ‘War’ in Iraq

By Richard Engel• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An NBC News correspondent—with longtime experience in Iraq—describes many other visions of the war now being fought. Read more

Fiction Can Be More Real Than Journalism

By Matt Beynon Rees• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘In journalism, the color gray too often comes out a muddy brown.’ Read more

Emotions Speak Through Images

By Anja Niedringhaus• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An Essay in Words and Photographs Read more

Islam Today: The Need to Explore Its Complexities

By Tariq Ramadan• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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.’ Read more

Deconstructing ‘the Other’—And Ourselves

By Robert Azzi• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

“… 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 his waist, and bowed his head, and even seemed to … Read more

Exposing Extremism—No Matter Where It Is Found

By Bruce B. Lawrence• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

What happens when journalists fail to separate what is evil in people from what is good in those who share their religious tradition? Read more

Western Journalists Report on Egyptian Bloggers

By George Weyman• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An observer of press coverage of cases involving Arab bloggers and government pressure notices some troubling trends in whether and how stories are told. Read more

A Photojournalist Immerses Himself in the Story Being Told

By Iason Athanasiadis• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An Essay in Words and Photographs Read more

A Master Narrative About Iran Emerges

By Ali M. Ansari• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘… the surplus of news outlets has had the paradoxical effect of increasing our information and reducing our knowledge.’ Read more

Finding Ways to Bridge the Abyss of Misunderstanding

By Khaled Almaeena• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘… to travel in ignorance when insight and understanding are possible is to drive a wedge between Islam and the West.’ Read more

Reporting the Arab and Muslim Worlds

By Marda Dunsky• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

It is hard to see ‘ourselves—our actions and their consequences—in the picture.’ Read more

Visual Contours of Middle Eastern Life

By Katharina Eglau• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An Essay in Words and Photographs Read more

Swamp Speak: Then and Now

By Ray Close• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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. Read more

History, Memory and Context

By Iman Azzi• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘… when a major story erupts in Lebanon, Westerners don't already have the dots by which they can make connections.’ Read more

Women and Islam: Bearing Witness to Their Daily Lives

By Alexandra Boulat• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

An Essay in Words and Photographs Read more

Muslims in America: Creating a New Beat

By Andrea Elliott• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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. Read more

American Muslims

By Andrea Elliott• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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 of American Muslims are of South Asian descent, another 26 … Read more

Newspapers Portray Women in Pakistan as the ‘Good’ Muslims

By Susan Moeller• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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. Read more

The Consequences of Uninformed Reporting

By Jamie L. Hamilton• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

‘Most Americans think that since Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the literal word of God, they must read the Qur'an literally …’ Read more

Glossary

By Various Sources• International Journalism• June 15, 2007

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 the universe, Who is transcendent, has no physical form, and … Read more