Maple Shade, NJ -- October 22, 2007 -- As the war in Iraq continues, along with President Bush’s war on terror and ongoing tensions with Iran, the American media news consumer has never been so overwhelmed with stories about Muslim people, and that is causing the Muslim-American journalists to engage in that national discourse as a result.

The last Gallup poll on the subject, dated in 2006, shows that 45 percent of Americans have a unfavorable opinion of Muslims, and many people believe that another statistic from a study done by Zogby International in 2000 helps to explain the reason for the Muslim people’s lack of popularity: the least common field that Muslim-Americans enter are journalism and law. Now, 6 years after the 9/11 attacks, Muslim Americans have never been more inspired and galvanized to change the balance of voices offered in the media.

“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the vast majority of Muslim-Americans entered the engineering and medical fields, the result of the influence they received from their immigrant parents,” said Ahmed Soliman, a Muslim-American journalist who recently served for two years as the senior anchor and producer of the nationally televised daily world news on Bridges TV. “The result was that Muslim-Americans, now numbering over 7 million according to the Zogby poll, never had much influence on public opinion or policy. Now, after the 9/11 attack, the few of us who did enter the journalism field are trying to keep the dialogue and coverage in the media more balanced and insightful.”

Soliman has recently published a new book titled Born in the USA: Reflections of an Arab & Muslim-American Journalist, which examines various international and domestic issues of the post 911 world, as he has covered them in his roles as anchor of the daily world news, and print journalist prior to that. The book is now available nationwide.

“There have been post 9/11 books written with the Muslim Americans perspective before. And there have been books written by journalists who covered such stories as the war in Iraq and domestic surveillance. But I thought that it was important to offer the point of view of someone who has both,” said Soliman.

Not only is Soliman’s story a poignant and eye-opening look at such issues as the media, war on terror, and racism, it’s also a fascinating portrayal of what it’s like to be a Muslim in the United States of America today. Soliman shares his reflections and insights by bringing together such diverse perspectives as international foreign ministers, comedians, and U.S. congressmen at a time in American history when mutual understanding and knowledge between the West and East is of paramount importance.

“No reasonably minded person would disagree with anything [Soliman] has said in this book,” said Ambassador Richard Parker, former U.S. representative in the Middle East.

Prior to working at Bridges TV, Soliman produced and directed a post-911 documentary for a PBS affiliate titled Born in the USA: Muslim Americans. The film followed a Muslim American doctor and teacher in the months following the September 11th Attack, and received positive reviews and press from WCBS – TV in New York, The Star Ledger Newspaper in New Jersey, and The Home News Tribune. Soliman started his career as the Managing Editor of the Gazette-Leader, a weekly newspaper for the towns of Elizabeth and Hillside in New Jersey, where he covered crime, education, and government related stories. He also interned for WNBC-TV in New York.

But Soliman is only one part of a new movement to influence the level of diversity in news rooms across the country, and the stories they produce.

“If you look at the Muslim-Americans who are now in college, or recently graduated, more of them are going into the journalism fields. Likewise, many Arab and Muslim-American organizations are focusing on this issue. But we’re not approaching this with an agenda or bias. We just believe that, to be truly balanced and objective, the variety of voices you hear from in the media has to be as diverse as the community and issues they are covering,” said Soliman.

Next month Soliman will be speaking about the issue of Muslim-Americans and the media at the national conference for the Network of Arab American Professionals in New York, along with keynote speaker Jack Shaheen, an Arab-American who consulted for CBS News.  

“As I explain in Born in the USA, it’s not always easy being an Arab American journalist, a lot of people in this industry throw obstacles in your way,” said Soliman. “But I believe that when your argument is for more objective and balanced coverage, by way of including more diverse voices in the perspectives offered in the media, eventually people will realize that it can only be a good thing. Writing Born in the USA was just the next domino in the set that will be falling on this issue.”

Media Contact: For more information about Born in the USA: Reflections of an Arab and Muslim-American Journalist, contact Ahmed Soliman at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , or call 732-715-9775.