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Palestinian American Perspective Finds a Weekly Column in U.S. Paper
By
Dina Rashed, IOL Chicago Correspondents
CHICAGO,
July 12 (IslamOnline) – Recently a major Chicago daily newspaper
decided to go against the assumption that Palestinian perspective
could hardly make it to the American people because the U.S.
mainstream media is heavily dominated by pro-Israeli views. The paper
is now running a weekly column by one of Chicago’s most respected
Arab American journalist.
The
daily Herald, the third largest daily paper in the state of Illinois
with a circulation of almost 150,000, is giving the Palestinian voice
a regular Friday column written by Ray Hanania, along side another
column by Chay Gil, a Chicago attorney, who presents the Israeli side
of the story.
The
paper’s editorial board decided to do so being caught in the middle
of accusations from the Jewish and the Arab American community over
its phrases, bylines and selection of specific words that both
considered implicitly biased and explicitly unfair on the coverage of
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
During
the intense confrontation between the Israeli forces and the
Palestinians last April, the paper ran a headline saying "Bush to
Israel: Enough is enough" over an AP story that clearly stated
President Bush's frustrations with both Israel and Palestine.
Later
that same month, it ran a front-page story from Newsweek headlined
"How a culture learns to nurture martyrs." In a cosmopolitan
city like Chicago, where the pro-Israel Jewish community and the
Palestinian community, are actively involved with the overseas
situation, it was inevitable that such headlines would anger both.
The
move was not to reassure one side or the other, but more of a
dedication to the ethics of the profession, and commitment to the
paper’s readers neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian.
“We
recognized that the broad readership of all backgrounds will benefit
from presenting the two perspectives,” said Jim Slusher, assisting
managing editor of the Daily Herald, in a phone interview to
Islam-online.
Slusher,
a weekly columnist himself, ran an earlier column presenting the idea
to the readers and introduced both Hanania and Gil.
“In
reporting on conflict, especially that involving foreign nations, it
is a newspaper's duty not to take sides,” wrote Slusher to his
readers on June 27th.
“Because
of the format of the column, and the fact that we were trying to
present both perspectives, the Jewish community welcomed it. We also
received letters form the Arab community supporting the idea,”
Slusher added.
Hanania,
a 17-year veteran journalist, is the first Arab American to have a
weekly column in a mainstream American daily in Illinois and perhaps
the only one in the U.S.
“I
don't know of any other Palestinian American who is writing a column
for a major American daily newspaper, and to me that is unbelievable
and should be thrown in the face of newspaper editors around the
country,” said Hanania, “It's just unfair and wrong. There are so
many Palestinian and Arab Americans who have journalism experience and
who could write regular columns.”
The
unedited columns as published in the past two weeks, are not written
in a point-counter point format and do not tackle the same topic at
the same time, although they definitely do intersect. But Slusher adds
that at a latter point in time the editorial board may ask both
columnists to reflect on a specific issue at the same time.
Hanania
is a nationally recognized Palestinian American Journalist. He is the
founder and publisher of the Arab American View, a newspaper focusing
on the activities of the Arab and Muslim community in Chicago, and
founder of the National Association of Arab American Journalists and
the Chicago Association of Arab American Journalists and
Communicators. He has freelanced to the Houston Chronicle, the Boston
Globe, the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He
is also a regular panelist on the Islamic Broadcasting Network radio
program airing on Friday afternoons from Washington D.C. and
dedicating its 30-minute to discussion of the current affairs.
Last
Spring he managed to put together the first national Arab and Muslim
news media conference held in Chicago, bringing many Arab and Muslim
American journalists from all over the U.S.
Besides
journalism, he is actively involved in organizing the Palestinian
community in the U.S.. He served as national president of the
Palestinian American Congress in 1995-96, and currently serves on its
national board.
Gil,
who writes of the Israeli views, is the vice president of the American
Jewish Congress- Chicago chapter, and is actively involved in the
American Zionist Movement. She is also a delegate to the World Zionist
Congress in Jerusalem and sits on the General Zionist Council, the
congress's governing body.
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