Throughout your travels in the Muslim world, did you make observations about what are the greatest challanges that muslim peoples will be facing in the upcoming century aside from politcal turmoil?
Answer
I do not presume to know the future, but one of the things the crosses my mind is that the Muslims need to study Islam more. When people are born into a faith and a culture often they do not question it or study and explore it. I think that there is much to learn for all of us by increasing our knowledge of our faith.
Also, Muslims may want to discern the differences between their faith and indigenous cultures. These two challenges are opportunities for Muslims to address all around the world including those of us in the USA.
Name
Zaki
-
Profession
Question
What advice would you give to young muslims who are interested in taking up journalism as a profession?
Answer
Hone up you writing and listening skills. Get a degree in journalism.
Take internships at a local newspaper or television station. Become a specialist in a subject area like environment or urban studies so that you can offer that area as a specialty to cover. I recommend that you be fluent in at least two languages. Spanish is particularly useful in the USA. Arabic can be very useful for foreign reporting.
We here a lot about big money that some journalists make, don't expect a lot of money. If you want money this is not the field to go into. You need to have an internal passion for telling other peoples stories. That is why you need to be able to listen so well.
Look for seminars on journalism and public relations at many of the Arab and muslim conventions. These are good places to learn and meet people who are into the field. Bring a story idea with you. You have to be Gutsy and polite to work in this field.
Name
Mansoor
-
Profession
Question
Asalaamu Alaykum...with the west dominating world media per se how do you cope with getting the "truth" out when you constently have people/organisations wanting to supress or alter the truth?
Answer
I do the best that I can. As a journalist I keep demanding accuracy from the people I work with. You have to know the facts and provide credible sources and thoroughly scrutinize how language is used in news stories. I find often that accuracy and the truth coincide. I am not in this business to push a particular point of view. I am in this profession to report honestly, openly and factually. Sometimes I am over-written by management. Often the information I put forward prevails.
Name
Mary
-
Profession
student/ accounting assistant
Question
Assalaamu alaikum
What, in your opinion, is the best way for an American muslim or a muslim in any non-muslim country to find unbiased news? What sources do you suggest?
Answer
I don't think there is unbiased news. I go to as many different sources I could find including The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, The Nation, Nightline, Islam Online, and Washington Report on Middle East Report. Also read Foreign media in English. For example read what English Iranian newspapers are saying about Iran.
Name
Abbas
-
Profession
Worker
Question
Dear Mahdi,
Which are the main obstacles that hinder the Islamic world to join up to West? and what do you think of the dichotomy "West and Islamic World"?
Answer
I would say that I appreciate your raising the classification of the West and the Islamic World, but I interpret your question from a socio-political point of view. In that sense, I don't think there is an Islamic World. I don't think there are Muslim countries. There are countries with majority Muslim populations but that is different from a country that runs itself on Islamic principles. I think it is a hindrance to international understanding for people to classify them as Islamic or the West. It would be far more useful to look at international relations in terms of economics, the exploitation of natural resources, power struggle, and imbalances in economic distribution. There are things that Muslim majority countries have in common with nations in Africa and Latin America. There may have been up till 500 years ago an Islamic World, but there isn't one right now.
Name
Anass
-
Profession
Question
Can you advise me on how to get funds to produce an independent documentary?
Answer
I wish I had an easy answer for you. You must have a solid proposal and a reasonable budget as well as an extraordinary amount of patience and perseverance. You also have to bring your idea to many different foundations both private and corporate. Think of ways the project may be divided so different foundations can support different aspects of it.
Name
Asif
-
Profession
Question
Assalaam-u-alaikum,
In one of the questions you replied that everyone you interviewed for your program wanted to know how it was for Muslims in the U.S. Could you please elaborate on this? What aspects were they interested about? And do you think this level of interest was always there before 9-11 or did just appear after 9-11?
Answer
I think the interest was there before 9/11 and people wanted to know what it is like to be Muslim in this country and other countries. People have lots of misconception about what life is like in America just as we have misconceptions of what life is like in other places. So they are curious.
Name
Salahedin
-
Profession
Question
One thing Muslim media professionals in the US lack is some sort of organization/association to promote the field to the younger generation of Muslims so that we may enter the mainstream media field. Although this is a microcosm of the larger lack of unified organization amongst American Muslims, do you think it may be a possibility in the near future?
Answer
Yes. There are attempts being made to organize journalists here. There is already an annual national conference of Arab and Muslim journalists, writers, and communicators. For details go to www.arabamericanview.net . There is also an annual M.T. Mehdi courage in journalism award which is presented to outstanding reporters who demonstrated courageous work on a variety of subjects. You can find out more about this at www.hanania.com
Name
Mansoor
- South Africa
Profession
Question
with regards to sourcing "true" news, some1 once said...dont believe anything you hear and believe half of what you see. its very difficult to read/see/hear the truth...any advice....?
