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April 2, 2004/Nisan 11 5764, Vol. 56, No. 28
Encountering Muslim journalists
Commentary
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Imagine journalists from more than 10 Middle Eastern nations convening at Jewish News of Greater Phoenix to discuss international geo-political and cultural affairs.
On March 12, such a gathering happened, with representatives from Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and the Gaza Strip.
The meeting took place under the auspices of the World Affairs Council of Arizona and the United States Department of State. The group also visited the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, local newspapers and television network affiliates.
Crammed into the conference room were the journalists; Jennifer Goldberg, staff writer; Flo Eckstein, publisher; and me. Everyone had earpieces, linked to an interpreter who translated English to Arabic or Arabic to English.
They asked a variety of questions, some informational and others with a hidden agenda: How do you report on Jews in North Africa? Do you cover internal Israeli politics? Do you ever disagree with Israeli foreign or domestic policy? Is Ariel Sharon a peacemaker? How do you influence White House policy and national public opinion concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Do you support George Bush or John Kerry? Do you report on anything non-Jewish?
Each of my answers had to be interpreted, and who knows whether I was accurately translated.
An ongoing challenge was that they asked me to speak for "American Jewry" - as if one editor of one Jewish newspaper of one city could speak for us all.
"I am not speaking for the American Jewish community or even as editor of Jewish News, but rather only for myself," I prefaced a number of my answers.
I doubt they were satisfied.
The dialogue got testy at times. The burly editor of Al-Ayyam Daily Newspaper in Gaza described himself as "living in occupied Palestine" and labeled the IDF as thugs. The Tunisian representative not-so-subtly compared Palestinians under "Israeli occupation" to Jews in Nazi Germany.
The journalists clearly had an inaccurate and inflated conception of Jewish News. Based upon their questions and reactions to my answers, some thought we could influence President Bush's foreign policy and could change U.S. public opinion about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Others thought we were ghettoized and only reported on Jewish issues.
The hour we spent in dialogue was eye-opening. But despite our differences, we crowded around a table, smiled, occasionally laughed and engaged in a fair, and at times heated, exchange of opinions.
While we expressed our ideas without resorting to violence - an encouraging development - I depressingly discovered how wide a journalistic gap exists between the Middle East and the West. I could only conclude they lack an understanding of the ideal of journalistic objectivity we in the United States strive to pursue.
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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