1. Ray Hanania gets kudos for the only coverage on Memorial Day of Arab Americans in the military with his interview of Jamal S. Baadani, President & Founder 1stSgt (Retired), USMC, APAAM.
2: Gaza flotilla coverage: Once again, enduringamerica.com is providing great realtime aggregation, particularly with video, as they did some months ago in the Iran crisis, where they are also still monitoring. Muslim Matters.org is also providing some blog and news aggregation here.A good brief backgrounder is on altmuslim.com.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Rima Fakih, media coverage, and cultural identity
The shoulder seems to have recuperated enough to resume some activity here, though I've also sustained an injury to the left middle finger, that hampered some musical activity for a while. That, fortunately, is on the mend as well.
The first of some random odds and ends to note as I bring myself up to speed:
Kudos and congrats to Rima Fakih on her Miss USA win, the first Arab -American to do so. She seems to have set up an Arabic-language blog, but hasn't really launched it - something to watch for.
Pundits left and right have deconstructed the win, but the very fact that her ethnicity itself would generate so much press is too indicative of the currently charged racial climate in this country. For the media, it apparently was not enough to let her simply be an American who won a pageant. We're a long way from that kind of color-blindness, still.
It was also interesting the way various media played the win and especially the subsequent photos from the pole-dancing class non-controversy. The radio station who ran the contest and the photos were pretty clear on their own web site about their take on it, bolds mine:
Interestingly enough, one of the more tawdry but subtle efforts in a misleading article goes to the increasingly tabloid Huffington Post (whom I'm having less respect for):
"Rima Fakih Stripper PHOTOS: Miss USA's Pole Dancing Past Revealed; Pageant Officials Investigate (PICTURE, POLL)", blares their headline, immediately followed by SEO keywords masquerading as 'tags' - including some questionable ones, considering she actually didn't strip, such as Stripper, Miss Usa Stripper Photo, Miss Usa Stripper Photos, Rima Fakih Stripper, Rima Fakih Stripper Photos, Stripping.
The Huff Po article itself deftly skirts some of the context that Mojo itself points out, though HP does link to the Mojo post.
Two articles from the Detroit Free Press captured some community nuance that I found interesting and would have liked to have seen getting wider play. One article, "Metro Detroit celebrates Miss USA's Arab-American winner," had this telling description of a hometown celebration:
A woman at Sunday's celebration sang about beauty in Arabic, but the overall theme was heavily American, with red, white and blue decorations around the banquet hall that read "USA."
I also found the article about the Dearborn community's diversity very interesting, covering an essential dimension of the Arab American picture.
Last but not least in the Fakih media coverage roundup is this riotously funny tongue-in-cheek piece by Wajahat Ali, positing Fakih as the instrument of choice in a world domination
plot.
The first of some random odds and ends to note as I bring myself up to speed:
Kudos and congrats to Rima Fakih on her Miss USA win, the first Arab -American to do so. She seems to have set up an Arabic-language blog, but hasn't really launched it - something to watch for.
Pundits left and right have deconstructed the win, but the very fact that her ethnicity itself would generate so much press is too indicative of the currently charged racial climate in this country. For the media, it apparently was not enough to let her simply be an American who won a pageant. We're a long way from that kind of color-blindness, still.
It was also interesting the way various media played the win and especially the subsequent photos from the pole-dancing class non-controversy. The radio station who ran the contest and the photos were pretty clear on their own web site about their take on it, bolds mine:
Three years ago, Fakih attended our annual event in which adult entertainers teach our listeners new moves to spice up their romance at home. The class is for women only and the women do not remove their clothes. But that didn't stop FOX News, The New York Post and Access Hollywood from calling Fakih a "former stripper" and suggesting that she may lose the crown for her "scandalous past."Of course, if you do a Google search for that story, you'll find numerous headlines and articles that gloss over those facts or bury them.
Mojo In The Morning has put a link to the photos below to show you they are not worth the national attention they are receiving. We also included a black & white photo of Rima from the Miss USA website to show that they offer far more revealing and sexy images on their own website. Only one photo shows cleavage, garters, underwear, stiletto heels and fishnets... and it's not ours!
...
The tabloid media will continue to dig for dirt but here's the facts: Rima didn't "strip." Mojo did not sell these photos to the news networks. And most importantly, Miss USA Rima Fakih is one smart, beautiful girl!
Interestingly enough, one of the more tawdry but subtle efforts in a misleading article goes to the increasingly tabloid Huffington Post (whom I'm having less respect for):
"Rima Fakih Stripper PHOTOS: Miss USA's Pole Dancing Past Revealed; Pageant Officials Investigate (PICTURE, POLL)", blares their headline, immediately followed by SEO keywords masquerading as 'tags' - including some questionable ones, considering she actually didn't strip, such as Stripper, Miss Usa Stripper Photo, Miss Usa Stripper Photos, Rima Fakih Stripper, Rima Fakih Stripper Photos, Stripping.
The Huff Po article itself deftly skirts some of the context that Mojo itself points out, though HP does link to the Mojo post.
Two articles from the Detroit Free Press captured some community nuance that I found interesting and would have liked to have seen getting wider play. One article, "Metro Detroit celebrates Miss USA's Arab-American winner," had this telling description of a hometown celebration:
A woman at Sunday's celebration sang about beauty in Arabic, but the overall theme was heavily American, with red, white and blue decorations around the banquet hall that read "USA."
I also found the article about the Dearborn community's diversity very interesting, covering an essential dimension of the Arab American picture.
Last but not least in the Fakih media coverage roundup is this riotously funny tongue-in-cheek piece by Wajahat Ali, positing Fakih as the instrument of choice in a world domination
plot.
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