11-20-15 Nationalizing the Arab and Muslim Identity: Media Coverage of terrorism in Paris versus Beirut

Radio Podcast Nov. 20, 2015. How and why does the Western Media discriminate in its coverage of terrorist victims and incidents? Why was the Paris terrorism covered differently than the terrorism in Beirut only the day before? What are the factors that cause this phenomena that takes place in almost every incident, distinguishing acts of terrorism in the Arab and Muslim World from acts of terrorism in the West.

Host Sahar Khamis, professor of Communications interviews veteran journalist Ray Hanania.They discuss the factors that include the need to Nationalize the Arab and Muslim World into one identity; the politicization of terrorism against Arabs versus the humanizing of terrorism against targets in the West; is it driven by racism; what defines this distinction; how Israel's strategy against the Palestinians have become the blueprint for strategies to mis-portray Arab and Muslim rights. The solution? Learning as Arabs and Muslims to be tolerant of differing viewpoints and views in our community and becoming one community rather than 22 Arab national identities and two Muslim religious identity. We need to nationalize our image as Arabs and Muslims.

This podcast is a MUST LISTEN TO EVENT in order to understand the factors influencing this

Award winning radio host and University of Maryland Department of Communications Professor Sahar Khamis interviews veteran American Arab journalist Ray Hanania on the issue of the difference in how the Western Media covered the terrorism in Paris versus the terrorism in Beirut and the Arab and Muslim World

Dr. Sahar Khamis is an expert on Arab and Muslim media, and the former Head of the Mass Communication and Information Science Department in Qatar University. She is a former Mellon Islamic Studies Initiative Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago.

She is the co-author of the books: Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and Egyptian Revolution 2.0: Political Blogging, Civic Engagement and Citizen Journalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Additionally, she authored and co-authored numerous book chapters, journal articles and conference papers, regionally and internationally, in both English and Arabic. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious academic and professional awards, as well as a member of the editorial boards of several journals in the field of communication, in general, and the field of Arab and Muslim media, in particular.

Dr. Khamis is a media commentator and analyst, a public speaker, a human rights commissioner in the Human Rights Commission in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a radio host, who presents a monthly radio show on “U.S. Arab Radio” (the first Arab-American radio station broadcasting in the U.S. and Canada).

Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He writes for al Jazeera English and Creators Syndicate. Hanania is the managing editor of The Arab Daily News at www.TheArabDailyNews.com.

Click here to read Hanania's analysis of the differences between the Western media coverage of the terrorism in Paris versus the terrorism in Beirut which occurred the day before, included the killing of three Americans, and receive dfar less worldwide fanfare than the terrorism the next day in Paris.

The radio show was broadcast on Friday Nov. 20, 2015 on WNZK AM 690 radio in Detroit and AM 700 radio in Washington DC at 8 am EST. Hosted by Dr. Sahar Khamis.