Arab journalist looks for more depth from U.S. media
By Robert McCoppin
December 6, 2005
Daily Herald Staff Writer
As a female journalist in Saudi Arabia, Abeer Mishkhas was not allowed to drive a car or vote. She was required to wear a long black coat and scarf in public. Despite government censorship of the media, she wrote a newspaper column that pushed, politely but persistently, to expand women's rights.
Mishkhas wrote for Arab News, the first English daily paper in Saudi Arabia. This year, she moved to London to help edit Asharq Alawsat, an international Arabic-language newspaper, published in 12 cities on four continents.
The recipient of an Eisenhower fellowship to study in the U.S., Mishkhas came to Chicago recently to see how local media handle online news, layout and design, and coverage of the Middle East.
The daughter of a Saudi diplomat with degrees in American drama and English literature, the 41-year-old journalist lives in the intellectual intersection of the Middle East and the West.
While in Chicago, she wore a turtleneck sweater and blue jeans to stay comfortable during a hectic schedule. Her visit was arranged by the International Visitors Center of Chicago.
From her cross-cultural vantage point, Mishkhas shared her thoughts on a range of timely topics: women's rights in the Middle East, the war in Iraq and the shortcomings of Western and Arabic media.
Q. What do you think of U.S. coverage of the Middle East?
A. It's not enough - it's not good enough. It concentrates on headlines, without explaining the background of how things came to be this way, or the culture behind the headlines. ... Maybe they don't have the time, or people are not interested, but it's not enough and it's not fair.
We have a completely different CNN in the Middle East - it's much more complete. If people (here) saw CNN International, that might give them a much wider view.
Q. Do you see bias in the Western media?
A. There's bias everywhere, but much more misunderstanding and lack of information. Some people take sides - it's just human - but I expect journalists to be much more objective. I don't see American journalists in the area a lot, or if they are, it's for a brief time, six months or a year. You need to understand the context. The Saudis have a different set of values, so the way you do something there would be completely different.
Q. Can you give an example?
A. In Kuwait we had parliamentary elections and women were allowed to vote. One story said democracy Kuwaiti-style was not very good because women did not get to go into the streets to dance and sing.
That was completely not the point. Women there would not celebrate publicly like that. (The writer) saw it from her own view, not as a Kuwaiti woman would see it.
Q. What about U.S. coverage of the war in Iraq?
A. Sticking to one side of the story is not good. To say these people are attacking, that's only one side. Maybe they were provoked or trying to prove a point. I'm not defending anything but ... they (the media) take the easy way out ... sometimes they're not really trying to see the other side of the story, because there's always another side, and I don't see that much in American coverage.
Q. What about Middle Eastern coverage of the war?
A. It's the same problem. Most of the time it's biased and one-sided.
Even (Arabic cable news network) Al-Jazeera - their news coverage is really good for us in the Arab world. We've never had that before.
They give you the news as it really is. But in commentaries you feel there's only one side taking place there. Most of the Arab world is one-sided, but some people are trying to reach out and understand.
Q. What is the status and future of U.S.-Saudi relations?
A. That's a huge one. The way the U.S. is pressing Saudi Arabia to change is really working for lots of people. Women are asking for more rights. Some people are not very happy with the U.S. pressure, but you feel a push for political change because the newspaper people are being very brave to push things to be different. On the political side, I think relations are OK. But people are not very happy with the U.S. over Israel-Palestinian issues, the Iraq war - all over the Arab world, there's a lot of frustration.
Q. What do you see for the future of Saudi Arabia?
A. I try to be optimistic, but it's a huge battle that's going to take place. We feel it more now after 9-11 (terrorist attacks carried out primarily by Saudis). Those people are living with us. It's a problem with our society that has made people like that. There was a lot of soul-searching - how come our own people are so violent - what makes a young man so violent? We're a very, very peaceful country most of the time. The crime rate is low. But when you have (terrorist) explosions in (Saudi) shopping malls, we need to know, what is it we're doing? So people are trying to stand up to these extremists now. We stayed silent before, but there's sort of a confrontation.
The government is trying to launch an anti-terrorist campaign. I don't know how it's going to end, because it's really a tough one. We just hope we can let people know ... they've been misled.