Dear Editor/Reporter:

To improve or further develop your agency's coverage of Islam and Muslims, consider the seminar entitled:

"Orientation on American Muslims"

Offered free of charge, the seminar can be tailored to last one to two hours. The format is a combination of a presentation by two Muslim speakers and a "question and answer" session. A typical seminar covers the following topics:

1. Who is a Muslim: beliefs & practices
World wide population

2. Demographics & composition of the local Muslim community.

3. Typical media coverage relating to Islam, and its

4. impact on Muslims in America

5. Editorial guidelines for coverage relating to Islam & Muslims

6. Human Interest Story Ideas

7. Muslim Experts, contacts, and resources - locally & nationally

Seminars can also be tailored to focus on specific areas of the Muslim world. Local Muslim leaders can be invited to join the seminar.

Benefits:

Accuracy in reporting, which is a hallmark of professional journalism.

Increased resources and new ideas for articles.

Improved relations between your agency and the local Muslim community. A dialogue between you and the Muslim community begins or improves through the seminar, where Muslim leaders and presenters meet reporters and editors, and vise versa, thereby challenging commonly held perceptions about one other.

Improved media coverage of Islam & the Muslim world directly has an effect in reducing discrimination and hate crimes. Recurring, one-dimensional images of Islam in the national & local media, compounded by stereotypical characterizations of Muslims in Hollywood movies, has made the community of Muslims in the United States one of the most misunderstood and stereotyped. Quality, well-balanced, and in-depth coverage can have quite the opposite effect.