Muslim American Journalists Association

Categorize this under, “so ya’ know.”

The next time you read your news, check the author. Now, more than ever before, what is passed off as “news”  and “journalism” is tainted with with the biases of those who write the articles. Even if ever so subtle.

Examples abound, but we stumbled across an organization that could be quite useful. The Muslim American Journalists Association. The group website states they’ll even have bylaws, “*Coming soon, insha’Allah*.”

“It is our goal to transform MAJA into an organization that meets the needs of Muslim American journalists in an evolving media landscape.”

The useful tool is the member directory, in the event you want to check up on a journalist, via Muslim American Journalists Association – Members List.

Separate but related, The Society of Professional Journalists was exposed for their longstanding bias earlier this year by Atlas Shrugs at Big Journalism. Excerpt below.

The Society of Professional Journalists: Why We Never Get the Straight Story on Islamic Jihad:

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) issued this directive a couple of weeks after 9/11; for sheer propaganda, their “Diversity Guidelines” are hard to beat. In fact, the enemy who attacked our country in an attempt to bring it down may just as well have been writing the narrative.

The “guidelines,” adopted at the Society’s national convention on October 6, 2001, urges journalists to “take steps against racial profiling in their coverage of the war on terrorism and to reaffirm their commitment to use language that is informative and not inflammatory.”

Above all, don’t talk about the Islamic aspect of terror attacks, especially right after they happen:

Avoid using terms such as ‘jihad’ unless you are certain of their precise meaning and include the context when they are used in quotations. The basic meaning of ‘jihad’ is to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself…Avoid using word combinations such as ‘Islamic terrorist’ or ‘Muslim extremist’ that are misleading because they link whole religions to criminal activity. Be specific: Alternate choices, depending on context, include ‘Al Qaeda terrorists’ or, to describe the broad range of groups involved in Islamic politics, ‘political Islamists.’ Do not use religious characterizations as shorthand when geographic, political, socioeconomic or other distinctions might be more accurate.”

Evolving media landscape, eh?

Advertisement