Aref Assaf, PhD
American Arab Forum
http://www.aafusa.org

I recently engaged the chief editorial board and chief editor of a leading New Jersey paper. The topic was part of our continuing efforts to mainstream the main issues of our community. Chief among these concerns was the paper’s involvement, position, and response to a vicious and smear-laden campaign by a State Senator against Arab Americans and their organizations. After two hours of ’frank and constructive talks’, we agreed on certain tasks to be worked on. Within a few days, the paper came out with a major column, a leading editorial, and a letter from us on the subject of fear-mongering and the abuse of the terror card to win votes. A small success story that needs to be emulated nationwide.

Among the minor issues I raised was to gauge the relevance of the Arabic ethnic media in mainstream media’s news and story gathering. I wanted to know the extent to which our Arabic-owned papers impact news and opinions about our community. To my astonishment, one editor stated that for a large newspaper, it rarely relies or seeks out ethnic media outlets. Pressing the editor to further explain his rather startling assessment, he believed that most ethnic media is biased because it is generally speaking to an audience that through subscriptions or advertising controls the editorial content.

I shared my thoughts with an associate and he similarly argued that, with few expectations Arab owned media ‘is not worth the paper it is printed on.” He further stated that if it was not for the fact that these papers are distributed free, he would never bother to read let alone pay money to read them.”

I too have my own misgivings about Arabic owned media in this country. Generally speaking, of the seven weeklies that are distributed in the NJ/NY area, and except for one notable exception, all I see in these papers are ads and more ads. You rarely see original articles and feature stories. Most content is ‘borrowed ‘from other sources. And when English is used, it is often butchered to an extreme.

The only shining star in the Arabic owned media is by far the Brooklyn, NY based Aramica. For the last six year, I have followed its phenomenal growth, unmatched coverage of our community and consistent editorial maturity. Aramica stands alone in breaking many taboos about what can and should be said about our people and their issues. It is not afraid to ruffle feather or just as willingly to bestow accolades.

I had had my differences with Aramica on one recent and important topic and have expressed my strong reservations about their article on the now deposed principal of the Khalil Gibran Arabic Academy. But my core position about Aramica’s integrity remains unshaken.

Back to my original quest: Are Arab owned papers and Arab American journalist’s main objective to ”embellish” and promote the Arab American community? Are they to never criticize failures and missteps by our leaders? Is the role of ethnic media to be a PR machine, questioning everybody else’s motive and remaining silent about our own shortfalls and omissions? I recently spoke to an owner and editor of an NJ-based Arabic weekly and he offered the following justification: “We should not criticize our people or their organizations because the rest of the media is doing a good job at that.”

If this is how we perceive the role of our media, then is it a shock that mainstream media pays no respect to the integrity of our news or the justice of our causes? What do you think?