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The 2000 NAAJA Journalism Conference
Oct. 5, 2000, Hasbrouck Heights Hilton Hotel, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
The 2000 M.T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award
The 2000 MT Mehdi Courage in Writing Award was presented to two journalists on Friday, Oct. 5, 2000 at the Hasbrouck Heights Hilton Hotel, in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey during the 4th Annual Meeting of the Arab American Media Association
The award was presented by co-founders Anisa Mehdi, a PBS Producer, and the Mehdi Family, and Ray Hanania, publisher of the Arab American View in Chicago. The primary award winner received a check for $500 and a MT Mehdi Award.
A secondary MT Mehdi Award was also presented at the meeting.
The two winners are, John Sugg, a freelance writer whose writings have exposed alleged "anti-Terrorism expert" Stephen Emerson as a fraud, and to Mike Monseur,a TV reporter whow as fired from his job at CTV in Chicago because of his Arab American heritage.
John Sugg
The 2000 MT Mehdi Courage in Writing Award goes to John Sugg, a freelance reporter whose exposes on the slander against the Arab community and Muslim community by Stephen Emerson, an alleged anti-Terrorism "expert."
MSA archives my John Sugg's detailing his battle with Stephen Emerson.. They can be found at http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/Sugg/
As far as the suit, Emerson sued John Sugg, the Weekly Planet and former AP reporter
Richard Cole for $11 million each in May 1999 in Washington, D.C. The suit was dismissed
on jurisdictional grounds for the Planet and me, and on statute of limitations grounds for
Cole. Emerson appealed but dropped the appeal against the Planet and me. He then sued all
three of us in Florida state court in May 2000.
Basically, Emerson asserts that Sugg libeled him when Sugg printed a story Emerson told
Congress about a team of radical Islamic assassins tracking him him in Washington could
not be substantiated by the Justice Department. It's a bizarre charge, because his own
exhibits prove that Sugg quoted Justice accurately. And, later, when some unnamed person
in FBI said he had heard of a death threat against Emerson (but no one in Justice or the
FBI endorsed the team of assassins tale), Sugg printed that.
The other count in the suit deals with information provided to Sugg by AP reporter Cole.
Emerson had promised to give Cole and his partner "secret" FBI info on Muslim
conspiracies. Emerson did provide a document, but the reporters concluded it wasn't from
the FBI. In fact, they had the same document, earlier provided by Emerson's assistant (but
that was unknown to Emerson), and the earlier document was clearly Emerson's authorship.
The only changes in the version Emerson supplied was to redact self-references that would
give away his authorship.
Although Sugg is not concerned about Emerson's suits, what Emerson has done effectively
for years is to intimidate the media. Few will risk Emerson and his powerful friends,
although almost all respectable media no longer use him. Sugg has demonstrated in his
reporting that Emerson's goal was never to expose terrorism, but rather to silence Muslim
and Arab voices in America, leaving only a one-sided debate on Middle East issues. In
fact, Sugg hase documented a tight linkage between silencing-opponent initiatives by
Israeli diplomats, Emerson and The Tampa Tribune, which carried Emerson's water.
Emerson has claimed, for example, that the Tampa Muslims orchestrated and commanded
terrorist operations. Yet at the recent INS hearing for Mazen Al-Najjar, the government's
chief agent in the case admitted that there was no "public source" evidence
Al-Najjar had any terrorist connections or activities, and that the Sami Al-Arian had
posed no national security threat. That's sort of hard to reconcile with Emerson's claims
that terrorist operations were controlled by these two men. (Emerson also claimed they
were involved in the World Trade Center bombing, another claim he hasn't and can't produce
the slightest evidence for -- and which if true would have certainly been trumpeted by the
government at Al-Najjar's hearing.)
It is for his refusal to bow to pressure and intimidation from
Stephen Emerson that John Sugg is the principle winner of the 2000 MT Mehdi Courage in
Writing Award.
Mike Monseur
Mike Monseur was a successful journalist for many years when he was hired as reporter and anchor at CLTV in 1995.
For nearly five years, Monseur served as the highest profile reporter at CLTV, a Chicago Tribune Newspaper owned cable TV all-news station that focused on the Chicagoland region.
In early 1998, Monseur participated in an unsuccessful drive to unionize the station. But it wasn't until late 1999 that he found himself in trouble at the station when he agreed to help Arab Americans in Chicago publicize their community activities.
Monseur, a role model forthose wishing to become journalists, participated as a speaker at several Arab American events. In October 1999, Monseur was instrumental in convincing CTV editors to cover the 1999 Arab American Writer's Conference (where the MT Mehdi Award was first presented). In November, 1999, Monseur served as the emcee for an Arab American Heritage Month reception hosted by Illinois Lt. Governor Corinne Wood. And then in late December 1999 (about Dec. 29, 1999), Chicago Sun-Times TV columnist Rob Feder did a column that profiled Monseur. Not everyone is profiled in Feder's column which is well read.
Until that time, Monseur's support of Arab American activities had been low profile and out of the public eye, although some editors harassed him about his always pushing coverage of Arab American events. In the column, which focused on his career and his success, Feder mentioned in thevery last paragraph thatwhile some people thought Monseur was French, he was really Arab and was active in local Arab American organizations. His immediate editor confronted Monseur and demanded to know if it was true. Six weeks later in February, the editor abruptly notified Monseur that he was no longer to serve as the station's news anchor. And, Monseur's image was removed from all in-house promotions which continued to include all of the station's other reporters.
Arab Americans, noticing that Monseur was removed from the high profile anchor spot and also not visible covering any of the major news stories any longer, began inquiring and discovered Monseur had been demoted. The community protested.
Although it seemed that the station was ready to work with the community to improve coverage and redress anti-Arab actions against Monseur, on Sept. 1, 2000, Monseur was suspended indefinitely withoutpay and without any explanation. They questioned him about his serving as emcee of a program hosted by Chicago's Arab American community on August 17 called "A Rally Against Bigotry." Monseur's supervisor, CLTV CEO Denise Palmer had assured Ray Hanania by telephone on August 16 that Monseur could serve as emcee at the event. At the event, Hanania announced that Palmer had expressed an interest in working with the community and would restore Monseur's image to the station's in-house promos.
But, on Sept. 1, Monseur's editors told him they were angry with his serving as emcee, although they admitted that CLTV had no written policy on what employees could do with respect to community appearances. On Sept. 2, they called to inform him that his suspension had turned into a firing, claiming they had obtained an email he had written on his private email account (not the station's) which detailed his long history of confrontations at different stations. They said the email was critical of CLTV.
Although Monseur could have changed his name was requested to do so at a previous job, or turned his back on the interests of the Arab American community, he did not. Instead, he insisted on standing up for the community. Even after his firing, he could have walked away, but he refused, saying that every Arab American must stand up to and confront anti-Arab bigotry.
Today, Monseur's plight is detailed on www.FightBias.com which monitors anti-Arab media reporting.
It is for his courageous stand in defense of the Arab American community, a stand that cost him his job, Mike Monseur is a recipient of the 2000 MT. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award.
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 8, 2000,
Ray Hanania, 708-403-1203
John Sugg and Mike Monseur win
the Year 2000 M. T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey -- John Sugg, whose writings have
exposed
Stephen Emerson's alleged "anti-terrorism" expertise as a fraud, and Mike
Monseur, who was fired from his Chicago television anchor job because of his Arab American
heritage, were both winners of the Second Annual M.T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award
presented on Oct. 5, 2000.
The award was presented at the annual meeting of the Arab American Media
Association (AAMA) held in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, from October 6 - 8. AAMA
President Samir Tahhan, the late Dr. Mehdi's daughter, broadcast journalist Anisa Mehdi,
and Palestinian American journalist and author Ray Hanania gave the award to Sugg in
absentia and to Manseur, who was attending the conference. Ms. Mehdi and Hanania founded
the award, which was first presented at the 1999 Arab American Writer's Conference in
Chicago.
Sugg received the M.T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award for his refusal to bow to legal
threats and lawsuits filed by Emerson to silence him. He is currently engaged in
litigation with Emerson, who filed suit against Sugg.
Monseur was fired by Chicago Tribune-owned cable TV all-news station CLTV on Sept. 2, 2000
when the station discovered that he was an Arab-American, and not French as the editors
believed. Monseur was prominent in the Arab American community. He emceed community town
meetings and suggested coverage of important events. He was fired after his participation
became visible.
Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi, an immigrant from Iraq who earned his Ph.D. at the University of
California at Berkeley, pioneered the fight for justice for Palestinians and for Arab
American and Muslim rights and recognition in the United States. In 1964 he established
the American Arab Relations Committee in an effort to preserve a show-piece mural in the
Jordan Pavilion at the New York World's Fair. The mural depicted the plight of Palestinian
refugees in painting and poetry. World's Fair Commissioner Robert Moses came under
pressure to have it removed. Using a first ammendment arguement, Mehdi prevailed and the
mural remained for the duration of the Fair.
M.T. Mehdi was the first to publish an Arab-issues newspaper, ACTION, in the English
language. ACTION was strongly criticized by many because in it Americans could read about
Palestine. Inspite of continued verbal and physical attacks throughout his career, M.T.
Mehdi encouraged Arab and Muslim Americans to be players in the American political
process. He passed away in February, 1998.
"The M.T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award strives to recognize those individuals and
organizations who demonstrate the courage of their convictions in the face of
establishment media. This carries on the spirit of my father, who dedicated his life to
championing the Arab American cause in this country," said Anisa Mehdi who presented
the award to Sugg and Monseur. "He would have been proud of these journalists for
their independence of thought and their resolve to do what is right." Mehdi is an
independent journalist who is a contributing correspondent to the national PBS program
"Religion and Ethics News Weekly," and who covers the arts for New Jersey's
statewide PBS nightly newscast, the "NJN News."
"M.T. Mehdi was the first publisher of an English language Arab American newspaper
that focused on how Arabs living in the United States could better work to achieve justice
for the Arabs and the Palestinians," said Hanania.
"He was a role model for me and one of the greatest Arab American journalists in the
sense of true professional journalism. His newspaper, ACTION, was often the single most
influential voice in this country challenging the lies and distortions published about
Arabs and Palestinian in America."
Sugg was the principle winner of the award, which carries a $500 prize. He was unable to
attend as he continues his legal battle against Emerson's intimidation.
Monseur was present for the award and accepted it with great pride. He did not hide his
emotion at this important sign of support for his struggles.
The Award was launched in October 1999 to recognize journalists who display courage in the
pursuit of professionalism, accuracy and justice in the American media.
The 1999 Award winners included Salim Muwakkil, whose Chicago Tribune columns exposed
allegations against Israel. Despite heavy criticism, Muwakkil refused to back down and
held his ground.
Calls for Entries for the M.T. Mehdi Courage in Writing Award 2001 will become available
in March of next year.
Details of the award are available by visiting the web page at www.hanania.com or at
www.FightBias.com.NAAJA-US.com
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Main Web Page
Read the Press Release on the Award?
MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award Recipients Washington Report,
Dec. 2000