Mansour Tadros (left) joins Daily Herald Newspaper Columnist Burt Constable, American Arab journalist Amani Ghouleh, and WBBM TV Reporter Jay Levin in receiving Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Chicago Chapter of ADC in 2010Mansour Tadros (left) joins Daily Herald Newspaper Columnist Burt Constable, American Arab journalist Amani Ghouleh, and WBBM TV Reporter Jay Levin in receiving Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Chicago Chapter of ADC in 2010

Arab Journalists hold conference in Dearborn, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                 
MARCH 19, 2011                                                                             
Ray Hanania
[email protected]

Laila alhusinni
[email protected]

Chicago/Detroit – Speakers at this year’s annual convention hosted by the National American Arab Journalists Association will address the sweeping pro-Democracy changes in the Middle East, American foreign policy towards the Arab and Islamic Worlds and the impact of Sept. 11th 2001 nearly 10 years later.

The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn and will feature panel speakers from a wide range of Arab media both from the American Arab community and the Arab World.

“There are many issues we will be discussing from the dramatic changes unfolding in the Middle East to the challenges facing American Arab and Middle East journalists right here in this country,” said Ray Hanania, a veteran Palestinian American journalist and conference co-coordinator.

“NAAJA is a non-political organization but our members write about and discuss everything including politics. Their insight in to the events around the world are important. NAAJA’s purpose is to bring everyone together to network and create a powerful voice for American Arabs of all faiths.”

Mansour Tadros (left) joins Daily Herald Newspaper Columnist Burt Constable, American Arab journalist Amani Ghouleh, and WBBM TV Reporter Jay Levin in receiving Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Chicago Chapter of ADC in 2010
Mansour Tadros (left) joins Daily Herald Newspaper Columnist Burt Constable, American Arab journalist Amani Ghouleh, and WBBM TV Reporter Jay Levin in receiving Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Chicago Chapter of ADC in 2010

 

Hanania, who co-hosts the weekly morning American Arab radio show “Radio Baladi” with host and journalist Laila al-Husinni, said that speakers have been invited from the White House and will include officials of the U.S. State Department, Arab journalists from publications in the United States and the Middle East, and activists and communicators.

 

“American Arab journalists are under siege,” observed alhusinni. “From Helen Thomas to Octavia Nasr, we are being targeted because of what we represent. And, what we represent is a determination to insure that the mainstream news media is fair, accurate and includes the voices of American Arabs and Muslims in their daily reporting. That doesn’t always happen.”

The conference goals are to strengthen NAAJA and launch more chapter networks in other cities. Currently, NAAJA has more than 300 members – there is no fee to join – and five chapters.

NAAJA is also hoping to launch a scholarship program for young American Arabs to help them pursue careers in journalism, and to fund the new Arab American News Wire (www.ArabAmericanNewsWire.com) which will be used to pay freelance writers to provide news and feature stories about American Arab and Muslim communities.

“We’re very good at expressing our opinions but sometimes we don’t fully document the many great things that are accomplished by members of our community,” Hanania said.

“NAAJA is hoping the Arab American News Wire will create a platform in which writers will be paid to write news and feature stories about Arabs in their communities and those stories will then be distributed free of charge to any media. The goal is to get our story out there to mainstream Americans and to our own community.”

Registration is only $75 per person and includes lunch and dinner plus full access to all panels on Saturday and the Saturday night Gala Banquet. To register online or to get more information, please visit the official web page of NAAJA at www.NAAJA-US.com. A link to the Dearborn conference, and past conferences, will direct you to registration.

By rayhananianaaja

Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian American author, radio talk show host, syndicated columnist and former Chicago City Hall reporter (1976 -92) who writes on mainstream U.S. politics for the Southwest News Newspaper group, and Middle East issues for the Arab News Newspaper as U.S. Special Correspondent and columnist. A former WLS AM Radio talk show host, Hanania hosts a live radio talk show every Wednesday on WNZK AM 690 in Detroit and WDMV AM 700 in Washington D.C. A Vietnam Era US Air Force veteran, Hanania was an early organizer for ADC in 1980, serving on the Chicago board and later National board. He is the recipient of the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi award for column writing, was named Best Ethnic Columnist in America in November 2006 by the New America media, and is the recipient of four Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club. He is the author of several books, the humor book “I’m Glad I Look Like a Terrorist: Growing Up Arab In America” (1996), “Arabs of Chicagoland” (2005), and “Power PR: Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications” (2015). His professional website hub is www.Hanania.com After serving Active Duty in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War debating Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban on national U.S. TV in 1976 and served as the National President of the Palestinian American Congress in 1995. He wrote weekly Op-Ed columns for the Orlando Sentinel, Newsday in New York, the Houston Chronicle, the Jerusalem Post, Yedioth Ahronoth’s YNetNews, The Times of Israel, and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. His columns were syndicated by Creators Syndicate (2002-2012, 2015-2016). Hanania interviewed many leaders including former President Bill Clinton, Palestine President Yasser Arafat, Lebanese legislator Michel Aoun, and was the only Palestinian journalist to cover the “Peace to Prosperity” Conference held in Bahrain in 2019. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Hanania launched a standup comedy performance using humor to help Americans better understand the Arab people and lampooning his unique marriage to his Jewish wife, Alison. In August 2002, Hanania was banned from a Chicago comedy stage by Jewish Comedian Jackie Mason, but went on to launch the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour performing in Israel, Palestine, Dubai, London, Dublin, Toronto and dozens of American universities.