Bina’a A’-Jusour − Bridging the Gap
Misunderstandings and Misinformation in the Arab and U.S. Media
November 29 − December 1, 2005

In the aftermath of 9/11, the American media started covering the Arab world and the Islamic faith with an unprecedented fervor. Many Muslim leaders saw this coverage as a potentially good opportunity for them to explain the Muslim world to the American public. Soon afterwards, however, the American media started being criticized for portraying the Arab world and the Muslim faith in a negative light. Whether prompted by ignorance or bias, this coverage has contributed to the increase of misperceptions and of anti-Muslim feelings in the United States. On the other hand, America has repeatedly criticized the Arab media for fostering a hostile, anti-American environment in the Middle East, and for misrepresenting what the United States and democracy really stand for.

− Dan Rather, CBS: “I'm going to do my job as a journalist, but (…) I want to be a patriotic American without apology.”

− Ahmad Mansour, Al-Jazeera: “I am an Arab first, and I present the news from an Arab perspective.”

Fact- versus opinion-based reporting was one of the topics covered by the conference. Serge Schmemann, Editorial Page Editor of the International Herald Tribune and Hisham Melhem, bureau chief of the Lebanese daily An Nahar in Washington D.C. moderated the discussions among the 20 participants from U.S. and Arab print and broadcast newsrooms. Plenary and break-out sessions covered a range of topics, including press freedom differences between the two regions (Arab world freedoms limited by state control; U.S. freedoms sometimes limited by business interests of media owners), principles that define the media in each region, as well media coverage of major events and issues: the Iraq war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorism, religion. Special sessions focused on conflict resolution and on outlining goals for improving coverage in the United States and the Arab world of the issues addressed during the conference. Participants worked toward strategies that they can take back to their newsrooms and explored ways in which understanding between journalists of the two cultures can be improved.

Misperceptions in the United States and in the Arab world about the other’s culture and beliefs stem, in large part, from failures in media coverage. A key goal of this conference was the identification of sources of misperception, misinformation and bias in reporting, as well as of strategies for overcoming these problems, and possibly eliminating these sources of miscommunication. A publication outlining causes of misinformation and the strategies and best practices to overcome the bias and misperception will be produced at the end of the conference and distributed to media organizations, journalism schools and public agencies both in the U.S. and in the Middle East.

The conference was organized by the International Center for Journalists with support from the Carnegie Corporation, Thomas S. Ewing, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Johnson Foundation and the Saudi Committee for the Development of International Trade. For more information contact ICFJ Program Director Vjollca Shtylla at vshtylla@icfj.org, 202-349-7604, International Center for Journalists, 1616 H St. NW 20006, Washington, D.C. USA.