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. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor

Islam: Reporting in Context and With Complexity
Introduction
By Melissa Ludtke, editor
Violence: Its Source Is Not Always What It Seems
‘... it's rare when religion alone offers an adequate explanation for conflict.’
By Griff Witte
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.
By Fawaz A. Gerges
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?’
By Rami G. Khouri
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.’
By Geneive Abdo
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.
By Richard Engel
Fiction Can Be More Real Than Journalism
‘In journalism, the color gray too often comes out a muddy brown.’
By Matt Beynon Rees
Emotions Speak Through Images
An Essay in Words and Photographs
By Anja Niedringhaus
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.’
By Tariq Ramadan
Deconstructing ‘the Other’—And Ourselves
‘In American eyes, moderates are the ones most like us. Those who are not are the enemy.’
By Robert Azzi
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?
By Bruce B. Lawrence
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.
By George Weyman
A Photojournalist Immerses Himself in the Story Being Told
An Essay in Words and Photographs
By Iason Athanasiadis
A Master Narrative About Iran Emerges
‘… the surplus of news outlets has had the paradoxical effect of increasing our information and reducing our knowledge.’
By Ali M. Ansari
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.’
By Khaled Almaeena
Reporting the Arab and Muslim Worlds
It is hard to see ‘ourselves—our actions and their consequences—in the picture.’
By Marda Dunsky
Visual Contours of Middle Eastern Life
An Essay in Words and Photographs
By Katharina Eglau
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.
By Ray Close
History, Memory and Context
‘… when a major story erupts in Lebanon, Westerners don't already have the dots by which they can make connections.’
By Iman Azzi
Women and Islam: Bearing Witness to Their Daily Lives
An Essay in Words and Photographs
By Alexandra Boulat
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.
By Andrea Elliott
American Muslims
By Andrea Elliott
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.
By Susan Moeller
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 …’
By Jamie L. Hamilton
Glossary
By Various Sources
Words & Reflections
Introduction
By Melissa Ludtke, editor
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.’
By Andrea McCarren
Newspapers, Schools and Newsroom Diversity
Redirecting Newspapers in Education to focus on the program's proven benefits could result in more minority students becoming journalists.
By Dan Sullivan
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.’
By Mary C. Curtis
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.
By Cameron McWhirter
‘A Voice, a Brain, and a Notebook’
Bloggers have taken up where I.F. Stone left off, and journalists shouldn't be far behind.
By Dan Froomkin
Revisiting the Vanguard of Women Journalists
‘… we didn't get jobs, pay raises, or choice assignments because of our gender.’
By Kay Mills
Demonstrating the Craft of Writing
A book ‘grounds the reader in practical improvement by presenting 50 sharp, focused “tools.”’
By Tom Ehrenfeld
A Sampling of Clark's 50 Writing Tools
By Tom Ehrenfeld
Curator's Corner
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.’
By Bob Giles
Nieman Notes
A Dilemma for Black Women in Broadcast Journalism (2 comments)
‘They say you look militant, like Angela Davis. You're scaring them!’
By Renee Ferguson