Friday, April 20, 2007

Reporter falls short in hijab sauna story

Via Rolled up Trousers by way of Sunni Sister


Yet that's not how the journalist at the local newspaper in Oxford, the Oxford Mail, decided to approach the issue. Her article was titled "Row over fully dressed woman in sauna". The main interview in the article was with Ian Caldwell, the man who verbally attacked me in the lobby. There was no attempt to find out the full story. A so-called "Muslim community leader" called Taj Hargey called it "political correctness gone crazy".

At no point had the journalist contacted me. She seemed to have decided to take a similar approach to the man in the swimming pool - talking about me, not to me. As did David Lloyd's, which had backed up his story without consulting me. At no point did they bother to inform me, a paying member, that such an article was being written. I contacted the Oxford Mail, offering them my side of the story. I never heard back.

Of course, that would have destroyed the theme of the article. Nobody in Oxford would be interested in new swimming suits with hi-tech material, but a crazy Muslim woman jumping into a pool fully clothed and potentially suffocating in the sauna was much more interesting. Since when have facts been important to journalists covering stories involving Muslims?

Alhamdulilah, I haven't had any international sensation news stories written about me when I go swimming at the local Y. Maybe someone will write one when I finish a marathon (currently training for a half, planning on a full in 2009), but I would hope they would have the decency to interview me. Heck, I hope they interview me.

I think I"m going to use the sauna this weekend at the gym...

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