Organized Arab and Muslim groups actively engage media to reshape their own representation

Evidence

Viewers are not the only emergent actors signaling potential change. Arab and Muslim American writers, artists, organizations, and even a few mainstream sitcoms, have sought to challenge dominant images of Arabs and Muslims. For example, Arab and Muslim American organizations have been actively monitoring the media for instances of Islamophobia, promoting Arab and Muslim American political participation, and expanding popular understanding of Arabs and Islam in the United States. Such organizations include the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab American Institute (AAI), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). CAIR has prepared a guide to understanding Islam for journalists, and MPAC opened a Hollywood bureau in April 2007 that offers consulting services, reviews scripts for film and television, hosts film screenings, and also holds an awards ceremony to recognize achievements in challenging stereotypes. Edina Lekovic, the communications director, has stated, “MPAC doesn’t want to be a watchdog… . It wants to be an ally in helping tell better stories about Muslims.” — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1392

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘watchdog vs ally’ — how minority advocacy groups shifted from protesting bad representation to co-producing better stories, a model that could be examined across other marginalized communities.
• XREF: Connects to scholarly work on counterpublics and media advocacy (e.g., Gray’s black public spheres, CBPP work on minority media advocacy, mainstreaming).