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Janet Steele is associate professor of media and public affairs, and international affairs, at George Washington University, USA. She is the author of
Email dari Amerika (
Email from America) and
Wars Within: The Story of Tempo, an Independent Magazine in Soeharto's Indonesia. She has just brought out
Mediating Islam: Cosmopolitan Journalisms in Muslim Southeast Asia.
Mediating Islam asks: what is Islamic journalism? It examines day-to-day journalism as practiced by Muslim professionals at five exemplary news organisations in Malaysia and Indonesia. At
Sabili, established as an underground publication, journalists are hired for their ability at
dakwah, or Islamic propagation. At
Tempo, a news magazine banned during the Soeharto regime, the journalists do not talk much about sharia law; although many are pious and see their work as a manifestation of worship, the Islam they practice is often viewed as progressive or even liberal. At
Harakah reporters support an Islamic political party, while at
Republika they practice a "journalism of the Prophet." Secular news organisations, too, such as
Malaysiakini, employ Muslim journalists.
In her guest post for Asian Books Blog, Janet talks about the generosity of her sources in the world of Islamic journalism, in the years leading up to the recent Malaysian general election.