When Magan Abraham reads coverage of the Somali community in the Star Tribune, he views it not only through the eyes of a Somali, but as a newspaper editor.
Although his main job is supervising the many interpreters who work for Hennepin County Medical Center, Abraham is also among a group of Somalis who publish the African News Journal, a community newspaper for all African immigrants in Minnesota.
What he’s observed in coverage of Somalis in the Star Tribune is that they are often treated as one, large entity. Sweeping generalizations about community reaction to news events are sometimes made based on the views of very few. The coverage doesn’t get at the rich range of views in the Somali community. It’s a complaint I’ve heard regularly over the years from other immigrant and ethnic groups as well.
Abraham called me to ask why that is. It would be hard, he said, for one or two Somalis to represent all the different views that exist.
The answer is easy and inadequate. Reporters working on deadline struggle when they’re catapulted into an unfamiliar culture where there are language barriers. They turn to colleagues for sources or check the library for old stories to find Somalis likely to agree to an interview. Once a name is in source files around the newsroom and in the archives, that person may get calls regularly if he or she is good at adding context to the day’s news.
One name that shows up repeatedly in the Star Tribune is Omar Jamal, the eloquent executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.
Jamal said many Somalis still fear if they speak to the media, they’ll be punished by the government. Although Jamal has collided with federal officials in court when he was convicted last year of lying to immigration officials, he remains confident he can speak out.
Jamal said the rule of law will protect him and that actually “the government behaves well when the lights are on and reporters and cameras are there.” Other Somalis, he said, run when they see the media coming. When Jamal arrives at a news scene, he said, he often sees “reporters running around trying to talk to Somalis who won’t talk.” He ends up in the newspaper, Jamal says, because he stays and talks — and he encouraged other Somalis to do the same. “I know I won’t be executed,” Jamal said. And, he added, “as Americans say, it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.”
Jamal and Abraham agree that the media should do better in understanding the complexities of our immigrant communities and finding the best sources, not just the easiest sources.
Abraham offered to help us fix this. He began laying the groundwork for that in a meeting Wednesday with me; Peter Koeleman, the director of photography, and James Shiffer, metro team leader. He brought along Bashe Said, publisher of the African News Journal, and Abdulahi Mohamed, the photo editor. They gently critiqued our coverage and offered themselves as resources to help us understand Somalis, the full range of issues they face and to find more sources.
Abraham explained that the blue Somali flag features a five-point star in the middle representing five regions of Somalia that are home to many tribes — divides still informing Somali life here in Minnesota. To understand Somalis, he said, reporters need to understand Somalia. He patiently reviewed Somalia’s tumultuous history with us and explained how Somalis have scattered across the globe into refugee enclaves. The stories that appear in the Star Tribune, he said, are quickly shared among those communities and in Somalia via the Internet and can affect people and tensions there.
Beyond their offer to help reporters in breaking news situations, Abraham, Said and Mohamed offered help in covering the other side of the news — the celebrations and holidays, the businesses that open and the achievements of their children in school — the kinds of stories we want to write about all Minnesotans.
The value of a meeting like this with a group of our readers can’t be overstated. A 2004 estimate by the state demographer put the number of Somalis in Minnesota at about 25,000. Somalis say the real number could be triple that. It’s the largest Somali population in the United States — second in North America only to Toronto.
This poses a tremendous challenge for journalists attempting to write about a culture in which they have no personal background.
In short, we’ve got a lot to learn to provide the kind of coverage these newest neighbors deserve, and we appreciate the approach these editors took in letting us know they stand ready to help.
