Arab American TV Online launches

Arab American TV Online launches web access to documentaries and films

Arab American culture is the focus

Chicago -- Documentaries and films on Arab American and Arab World culture are now available on-demand on the Internet through a new web page called Arab American TV Online.

The web page is:

http://www.ArabAmericanTVOnline.com

The first films to be posted are interviews hosted by award winning Arab American journalist Ray Hanania on his monthly Comcast Cable TV program "30 Minutes." Now playing is a 30 minute interview with former Jordanian legislator and Civil Rights activist Ms. Toujan Faisal.

Also posted are 30 minute documentaries on A Walk Through Arab East Jerusalem, a tour of war-ravaged Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and a walk through an Israeli military checkpoint/examination of the apartheid Wall erected by Israel as a means of confiscating Palestinian-owned land as a part of Israel's illegal land and settlement expansion.

"The American media is driven by an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias. Most American can't even tell the difference between Palestinians and Pakistanis, a racism that drives this bias that is also reflected in the mainstream news media. The ignorance of most Americans is tragic and a reflection of their lack of education about Middle East issues and the Arab American community," says Hanania, a 30-year veteran of American journalism and twice winner of the Soictey of Professional Journalists/Chicago Headline Club Lisagor Column Writing Awards.

"The Internet gives Arab Americans the opportunity to confront this media bias and help educate Americans about the truth of the Middle East conflict, Arab culture and the Muslim religion. The fact is that most Americans don't even know that the majority of Arabs in America are in fact Christians, and that the Christian population in Palestine is suffering along with Muslims as a result of Israeli oppression and the military occupation."

Hanania says that the web portal Arab American TV Online will present films and documentaries that challenge the biases in the American media and in the greater media of Hollywood films, television and broadcast cable TV.

"Arab Americans only have a limited presence in the media, mainly because of bias that prohibits them from participating fully. They are intentionally excluded by bigots and racists and by unprofessional journalism that pervades the mainstream American media system," Hanania says.

"My objective is to change this and help make journalism the profession of fairness and objectivity that it should be and is not in this country."

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