THE WORDS "Raise awareness" are two of my least favorite words in a newspaper. Why? Besides the fact that the phrase is jargon, the words are usually used in an article about an event, protest or movement too short to do anything toward raising awareness, too short to educate.
Sarah Hasan, publicity chair of the Muslim Student Association, told The Cavalier Daily that by bringing a prominent imam to campus, her group wanted to raise awareness about Muslim issues ("Imam addresses Islam and the media," March 21).
While the people who attended the event likely learned something, I'm sure Hasan would have wished the enlightenment continued onto the pages of the newspaper, available to those who did not come.
Unfortunately, that article and another about Islam that appeared Tuesday missed a chance to educate readers, if only ever so slightly more.
Newspapers can be a great educational tool, and that service is one of the reasons I want to be a part of this profession. When you read or watch the news, you might be lucky enough to learn something about history, geography or culture; current events, too, one would hope.
See, sometimes Joe Average will only start paying attention to a story after it has been in the news for several weeks. Often, once he starts paying attention, the stories he hears will give snippets of context, not enough for him to fully understand the issues or their ramifications.
The educational role is one of the first to go when a paper is trying to cram as much information into the limited space the paper has to run an article.
The focal point for the article about the imam's visit is the "controversial Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad." That's all the background the readers get. Joe Average might be familiar with the concept, but he might not understand why there was a controversy or when it happened.
He would have been greatly served had these two sentences been included: On Sept. 30, a Danish newspaper printed editorial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed. Some Muslims considered this an insult punishable by death for one or both of two reasons: some Islamic sects forbid making an idol or depiction of Muhammed, and others simply found the cartoons offensive.
In the same vein, the feature article "Inside Islam" touched on some subjects but didn't give explanations, especially regarding Islamic dietary practices.
I liked the article overall, and it did give a description of Muslims' practices during the holy month Ramadan, which I must commend.
Muslim Student Association president Umair Javed mentioned that his group tries to bring "Halaal" food to dining halls, and first-year College student, Nazia Chowdhury said she was scared she'd "have to be stuck on a crazy vegetarian diet or something."
These two mentions are worthy of further explanation. I'm betting that the majority of students on grounds don't know what the two students mean, but they can get the gist. In fact, Javed helps strengthen my argument:
"Overall, we found that non-Muslim students don't have a basic knowledge of what Islam is," Javed said. "U.Va. students did have an impressive knowledge of the politics surrounding Islam and had strong opinions about what Muslim countries should be doing, but they had no knowledge of the religion itself."
I expect that includes the meaning of Halaal. Analogous to the Jewish Kosher, Muslims following Halaal don't eat pork, drink alcohol, and sometimes follow more rigorous standards such as only eating meat slaughtered in a specific way and not eating sea creatures without scales.
Consider, next time, swapping out a student quote that, while interesting, might not be as necessary to the article and as helpful to readers. For example, I'd rather lose the last two lines of the Inside Islam article: Third-year College student Ali Hafiz, another member of the Muslim Students Association, agreed. "My personal hope for this week is that if one or two people can learn something, they can further dialogue and misconceptions can be erased," Hafiz said.
Instead, include information that would help one or two people learn something, further dialogue and erase misconceptions.
Lisa Fleisher is The Cavalier Daily's ombudsman. She can be reached at ombud@cavalerdaily.com
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