One more piece has fallen into place for the creation of the
Michigan State University (MSU)
School of Journalism and
Muslim Studies Program’s virtual hub — a 30-minute documentary called “
Arabs, Jews and the News.”
Armed with an $88,000
Social Science Research Council grant shared with three other programs, the School of Journalism and the Muslim Studies Program are amassing materials for the pending website to be launched next spring.
The multi-media site’s purpose is to foster accurate and balanced reporting of the religion and its followers.
Interviews for the documentary, made by Jeri Alumit Zeldes, assistant professor in the School of Journalism, will be posted on the site.
The film explores the often tense relationship between the Arab and Jewish communities of both the Middle East and metro Detroit since the July 2006 war in Lebanon, and how the media have represented them.
“I’ve always been interested in how the media portray people of color, because the media, as we know, is very powerful,” Alumit Zeldes says.
After almost two and a half years of working on the documentary, she recently entered it in several film festivals. It will premiere on MSU’s campus at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 21 in Room 147 of the Communication Arts and Sciences building.
“Islam and how it intersects Detroit, Middle East and international politics is a complicated story to tell,” says Alumit Zeldes. “The website will offer examples of ideal and poor reporting on stories and a list of best practices on reporting on Islam to help journalists make sense of this subject matter before trying to inform their masses.”
Also as part of the project, Alumit Zeldes is developing a new master's level course, "Reporting on Islam," which will incorporate elements of the site. The course will be offered beginning fall 2009 semester.
Source: MSU
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached
here.
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