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Just a few days ago, a jury convicted an Arizona man of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident. Faleh Hassan Almaleki’s main victim was his daughter. This crime was an “honor killing.” No one disputes that the daughter was targeted for becoming too “Westernized.” In fact, the phrase “honor killing” is everywhere in the media coverage.
Exciting news from the Pew Research Center today: religion coverage doubled from 2009 to 2010 in the mainstream media. Unfortunately, religion still remains just 2 percent of the overall coverage, with elections, foreign policy and the economy dominating the news cycle. Still, it did barely top science, education, immigration and race/gender issues.
We’ve had quite a few reader submissions of stories covering the murder of four Americans by Somali pirates. The coverage is really all over the map. Much of it is good, some is a bit weak. This New York Times story, for instance, has six reporters but is unable to give anything other than the slightest passing reference to the religion angle. That failure led to confusion as the very first comment to the piece — and many others — asked what in the world they were doing in pirate-infested waters.
Scott and Jean Adam (pictured here) had their yacht Quest hijacked by Somali pirates last Friday. Also on board were Phyllis MacKay and Bob Riggle. (Recent reports say that all four were killed.) Piracy is a major problem in the unstable waters near Somalia and many people are following the story with interest. The U.S. Navy is even involved. Part of that may have to do with the recent sentencing of Somali pirate Abduwali Abukhadir Muse. When he received 34 years in prison last week, calls for retaliation were made.
Sometimes I think back to August and September when most mainstream media outlets were obsessed about the construction of an Islamic Center near Ground Zero and/or the planned (but never realized) burning of a Koran by a leader of a small church in Florida. Everywhere the media looked, they saw Islamophobia and it became the overarching narrative adopted by many figures in the media.
The latest trend in American Muslim matrimony? How about speed dating to find an arranged mate? Or something like that …
I spent much of the week on a reporting trip to Sin City. When my wife and 11-year-old daughter picked me up at the Oklahoma City airport Friday, my little girl wanted to talk about the big news of the day.
Have you seen those “I’m a Mormon” ads that are, well, everywhere I seem to go on the internet? They’re always the “recommended” YouTube video that pops up when I sign on to show my children pictures of cats or whatever.
Events in Egypt roll on and, of course, journalists and diplomats are all trying to figure out what is up with the Muslim Brotherhood and it’s potential role in the new secular or Islamic state of Egypt. In other words, will a democratic process lead to an Islamic republic?
