Good afternoon everyone. Im happy to assert of the council for over a decade. We are happy to take off our final and convention 15 session. We come here to culminate with this session before we have our banquet in a few hours. Before we begin this session, i would like to introduce the cofounder and president who will kickoff the unconvention. In the name of god most gracious and merciful. Thank you for joining us. I hope you plan on staying with us for the banquet tonight. It is our 15th annual. We started these events shortly go. But we are growing. You are going to see tonight hopefully how the impact has become a National Voice on some of these issues. Tonight in today this convention has the theme of celebrating our shared humanity. What a timely topic, because it is our shared humanity that will help us overcome the ideology of hate. Whether that hate is manifest in the form of International Terrorism or in the form of xenophobia and hate crimes domestically. We need to have a united front. People have been asking us since in bernadino, first they asked what is it in your religion that causes people to do things like what happened in San Bernardino . Our answer is our religion is telling us to do exactly the opposite. Our religion is about mercy and compassion and justice. Our religion is about, if you save a life, you have saved all of humanity. Is as ifll someone, it you have killed all of humanity. Apparently they are not reading the same text that we are reading. Or it is not being processed. Were actually the nemesis to terrorism. The antidote to terrorism. We can empower mainstream communities to overcome and prevail the ideology. They ask is, why are you not speaking out. Muslimgo to all of the it is obvious we are speaking out. But we cannot make this problem disappear. What is required is civic engagement. We demonstrate our work to the american public. Standardbearer of our religion and we see the front exactly like that. There are french operation like every religious group has. Withimportantly, they see our partnership with Law Enforcement that we are the of peopleshe problem insecurities and fears in america. Our problem with Law Enforcement means we will work on the we will work on the ideological problem. They will work on the criminal investigation of the problem. And we work handinhand in , partnership. That partnership will help us overcome the challenge. Us theproud to have with chief of the lapd. And i see other people from the l. A. Share of department. And, the department of homeland security, they are here to say to american muslims this is the home for all people. Muslim, christian, jew, christian, buddhist. They are here to protect us. Fromare here to protect us anyone who is trying to harm us. The way to overcome the problems of xenophobia is to not be intimidated by shows of the violence. You cannot terrorize us. They want to influence audiences by terrorizing people. We say we will be the turning point in defeating that radical ideology. They want to influence audience by terrorizing people. When we have the stamina and strength of resolve to say you will not terrorize us, they will become frustrated. We were just commenting on terrorism of backlash over and over again. The answer to that is yes and no. Yes there is friction. On, there is heavy weight us. At the same time, this is our light. This is our moment. We are here to change the narrative of the islam in america. That islam in america is part of the pluralism that contributes to civilization where we can and rich society with our contribution. That america will enrich the with muslim input. And so the terrorism that is , coming from the disintegration of the middle east cannot control, but we can control the environment here. Ist is why this panel important. How do we get to our message out so we control our own narrative . With that i thank you and candid back over for the discussion. Edina said it, she started it 10 years ago when she was 10 years old crash we are glad to have her. Shes been on radio and television into the wonderful job. Thank you. We are gathered here today as a combination of a series of event that was held all over california for the past couple of months. When we stepped back and thought about the 15th anniversary, where we gather together to talk about the issues of today, to take stock of where we have been for the year, in and to think of the possibilities that lay ahead, one of the things it came first and foremost into our minds was the change in the nature of the communities. 15 years ago at annual conventions and Convention Halls this was the norm. The space where muslims came together to meet, exchange ideas, go shopping and bazaars, meet old friends in and new ones. Today, conventions are not the way to go. You do not have to go to a Convention Center to interact with the movers and shakers shaping the issues that are impacting our daily lives. You can go instead online. Of places. To a lot we decided to turn our convention on its head. Out to would go instead communities to bridge the gap and listen to communities and also bring to them at the voices that they may not be hearing in their local areas. Thevoices of change leading change we would like to see in public policy, public image media andough hollywood and through new innovative projects both online and in person. They are changing the nature not just in our community, so you you may be seeing the pictures on the screen of some of the five Convention Sent sessions in california. The first one took place of the Islamic Center of san diego valley. We featured upandcoming voices who are leading change in this and innovative areas. The second session we had was at the Islamic Center california where we looked at the question homelessness. The mayor declared a war on homelessness this year and declared he would and homelessness here in los angeles this year. We are close to homelessness because it is one of our core values to help people who need to get back on their feet. Our first session was held and what we did there was a lets be honest forum. We brought together an attorney and a young leader to talk about the taboo issues that do not get discussed in our communities very often. Audience filled with muslim young people who had a great deal in common with social issues and challenges they are facing. A fantastic discussion about everything from relationships and dating to our scriptures to how we make moral decisions and a host of other things. Then we moved to Orange County where we considered muslims on screen. We ask the question, is it getting any better . That is part of what we come to today. What we had there was up and coming up muslims, some of them very well established i should say, to give us a firsthand account of whether things are Getting Better and where the opportunity for change are. A fascinating session. We wrapped it up in west los angeles. We talked about learning lessons through the lens of communities based by marginalization. Including the mormon, catholic, and jewish communities. The lessons we gained there are more valuable than ever particularly considering the events of this week. Era,session is called, new new media. Opportunities for change. There could not be a more appropriate time for us to consider the meaning of this. When we came up with it, the new aero we had in mind was certainly not this one today. But certainly, we are all facing a new era because of what took place in San Bernardino. The intersection of new media, old media, virtual media, and others i have probably not heard of yet, are changing the landscape of what it takes to be an dev citizen. Ian active citizen. The American Muslim Community is changing. But since you are new media challenging old media whether its print newspaper or Television Television network. Networks. Totoday, i am really pleased be able to introduce you to a fantastic panel who will share with you personal insights from their longer careers where they at the leading edge of some of these very questions. You have their bios and the programs are not going to read them in detail. I want to introduce the panelists and jump right into our conversation. To my immediate right to we have senior viceis president of entertainment diversity and communications at Cbs Television. [applause] she has been a longstanding partner with impact. You have heard about our Young Leaders in a hollywood where we are encouraging young people to pursue careers in this arena. Cbs has been a regular stop and an amazing place. We are really happy to have with us may get in, who is one of the deputy managing editors with the los angeles times. It certainly could not be a busier newsday so we are grateful she peeled herself away way to be with us here today. Malehen we have the only on the panel. Which is a nice change. No stranger to this community, he grew up in Southern California and has been a leading new media since before social media even existed. Of a dot ofounder internet startups that started organizing online in in unexpected way. With then he served state department as a Senior Adviser and helped create a program called generation change young sociald entrepreneurs around the world to lead change in their societies. He has since come and started a startup incubator for muslim entrepreneurs. The wayu for coming all from washington, d. C. To be with us. [applause] we are pleased to have an intimate conversation with the brief time that we have. I also want to mention that this is being recorded by cspan and layer later this month hopefully. Please keep an eye out for that. Finally, we are joined by viewers online through periscope. We will need getting questions from our viewers online hopefully. We also ask that you share questions throughout this discussion. Thepe we will start off discussion, but i hope we will at least alternate. The card will be coming around, but we will also ask you to tweet questions. All you need to do is use the 15, so you can do it that way or on cards, whichever you prefer. Please, this conversation is yours. Im just here to kick it off. With that, i turned to her panelists. With all that is going on, were talking about an intersection between old media and new media. Megan and tiffany, you both sit in old media, in the sense of working with a Television News network and one of the largest print news publications in the united states, if not the world. And you have been a pioneer of looking at new media. Start out with is a few minutes from each of you about your broad observations the landscape has changed during your own career. Falling intodia this, and is it real change that we are seeing . Or is it more noise than substance . As opposed to old, i think we are seasoned. Absolutely. Ive been with cbs for 17 years now. Has it changed . Absolutely. Sense ofally, and the social media, obviously. I look into the crowd right now ,nd i see a lot of hands because everyone is on a device. It is almost an extension of our hands. It definitely has changed. Everything is also so immediate and fast. Issue presswould releases, it would take it while. We used typewriters a while ago, and now we are on computers, but everything i would say right now is much more immediate and regardless of it is factually accurate. Sometimes, it doesnt matter if it is true, so many times in media, someone wants to be first. Its a beast that needs to be fed. Like, oh, we have to wait until the 6 00 news or the 11 00 news. I think it is almost the first thing that you look at, the first thing that you check. You cant even watch a film any longer without seeing the screen. I wantto tweet about it, to facebook, i want to tell everyone. I think that is the other thing that has changed remarkably since i started me business i am in. In the has started business i am in. Exponentially. I look out into the primary now i see a lot of or had. Is an immediacy that never used to exist. That goes both ways. Days, you would publish the newspaper, the way you would hear or interact with letters told be just the editor, or even when i was first starting out at the Washington Post a long time ago, they still wrote down messages on a piece of paper and you had to go to the operator to get that message. Now, where i think the new landscape can be exciting is that you can talk to people more directly. You can also find out more about people. But yes, speed is an issue, so you have to make sure that you are accurate. It is good to be first that you are accurate. This week has shown that, sorting through what is true with not true, what is rumored, what is responsible, sensitivity to the repercussions of making a mistake, or overstating or understanding information is a challenge, as is some of the interaction you get. Story from, every the San Bernardino case, we have to make sure it is premoderated, which means we have to be sure of what comments we are going to get, so there is a difference between conversation and hate speech. It just kind of elites what you are trying to respond report responsibly. I remember finding myself in Silicon Valley in the 90s surrounded by this revolution. I remember those people were involved of this idea of this new medium being the one that replaces the old medium. Saying, theis medium was the message, and they used that really as a battleground against traditional media. They wanted to replace it. I think those people do not realize what they were writing on, because it was not just one revolution. It started with multimedia, then it went to the internet and blogs, then it went to social media. After revolution after revolution. I think by the time we come all still trying to grapple with what that means, its just that the internet favors extreme speech. Thats something that we have to its not a level playing field. For example, when people talk about extreme speech versus moderate speech, they have a leg up. Have gonention spans to tweet length, so how do you convey bits of ideas in small pieces of information . We used to call that poetry, actually. Attention spans have gotten so small. , its hardernalism to do that. But what you are finding also is, what are people tweeting . They are posting articles, traditional stuff they used to bash. Of 10 or 15rse years, they have devalued into nothing. They dont want to pay for it. It actually constitutes the content that drives billion dollar valuations of companies. This is the big paradox. Now you are starting to see, as people are trying to figure out how to manage this new medium, you are finding solid journalism coming back, even things like buzz feed, people are starting traditionalore longform journalism again. I feel like it is coming full circle. That we are still in the middle of that revolution. People think we have encountered all of the turbulence. I guarantee you that is not the case now. I think what we need to do is go back to basics. People are really starting to ask ourselves, maybe the medium is not the message, maybe we have to start going back to what is truly moving people. This has now been democratized, where people can tell stories in the tweets. This has been the year of have tags. Of hashtags. We just started down this journey, and collectively as a society, i dont know where we will end up, but i know it will end in a place where we do truly understand each other and know each other better. Itht now, it is hard because is hostility. It is a horrible place to be if you are a woman, if you are somebody people are not familiar with, very difficult if you are a muslim, but i think these things will pass as we mature, as we figure out how to balance this out. As the majority of us realize the opportunity that we have to , i amt on these spaces hopeful. One thing i would like to say, a lot of times, i think when we talk about negative comments or negativity wins, i feel that people are 10 feet tall behind a device. Behind a computer, behind a phone, whatever it is. You dont have to physically be aware of the ramifications of talking facetoface. Another thing when we talk about negativity sometimes winning, not all the time, when you ask someone, how are you doing . They say you know what, im doing great. No one ever asks how great. Its one of those things where, oh, how are you doing . , wehroat hurts and im sick can talk about that all over and over again, similar to what happens online. That Misery Loves Company very easily. Thank you. One of the things that has changed is the meaning of time. So the urgency of now, particularly in breaking news situations. It has certainly impacted decisionmaking. Megan,to start with you, to think about how decisionmaking has 10 has to wear now there is a minute by minute news cycle, particularly where information , anding contributed online how that is impacting decisionmaking at the los angeles times, perhaps even about what constitutes a good source these days, so that we prevent speculation where possible and make good decisions. Biture, i can talk a little about what happened on morning. Wednesdayinterestingly enough, the first sign that something was amiss in San Bernardino was a tweet the Fire Department sent out, saying they were responding to a shooting that had up to 20 victims. He way it works in most newsrooms now, we have people constantly monitoring social media, which might be the first time you hear something. You might hear something incorrect, but you followup. The other night, the Stone Temple Pilots singer was found dead. The first indication of that was from dave navarro. You hear it, and you have to investigate. I thought, could that number be right . I was in my office, i got up and walked to the floor, and we started sending people out. We had confirmed that the fire source of the the information. The Police Scanner is not always again, it is just like social media, kind of more of a tip sheet then it is something you would report directly off of. We sentobably probably five reporters heading to downtown heading to San Bernardino from downtown los angeles. That what happens is, this is actually a good example. The l. A. Times, like many news , really are trying to figure out how to operate in this era. Room, howt ask the many of you i hope some of you still look at print newspaper since thats my salary but how many of you are waiting for your newspaper in the morning to find out what happened in the world . A couple, ok. Im amazed, but good for you. Good for me, actually. Mosti would say is that people are not waiting for the newspaper to get news will stop at first get news. At first, the broader implications were not clear. In this country, we go through Mass Shootings with stunning regularity. This was something that was pretty unusual at one point in my career and now does not feel unusual at all. Fromled up we fired up paris. Its sadly routine. Sadly, in a major new situation, we there responsibilities for separating the fact from fiction or speculation. I think you feel that responsibility. On scott weiland, we are the First Organization to report it. With a source. Other people do not have a source. We tried that with San Bernardino to, to be careful to report everything with him would be true. Did not even connect the chase and the firefight with Police Officers immediately. It seemed pretty clear it was probably related to what happened at inland regional center, but we did not connect them until it was connected. I was at a conference a couple years ago called the future of storytelling, and one of the who workedconference in the music business was talking about how music became Available Online and people can post to youtube and various other sources, a lot of people thought, its been democratized, sort of the taste makers want matter as much because people are just on their own deciding what they like, and he said that an interesting thing happened, djs became more important than they had been in years the does it is difficult to sort through everything out there, so you are still looking for someone to create and understand news just like you are looking to someone to help guide you to the kind of music you might like. This is exactly right. As someone who has been promoting citizen journalism my me. E career, it scares i think there needs to be a role for professionals to just be a part of the conversation. Im not saying they should dominate or control, but the a part of a conversation. Thats the ideal. Absolutely, ok. Tiffany, i want to turn to you. In a situation like san betweenno, the line Entertainment Media and news media is getting kind of blurred. I am curious how the events like San Bernardino impact decisionmaking at the network around sensitive storylines or other things that are going on. Absolutely, i think that people look to television to define social norms. Its for, yes, entertainment. However, sometimes a lot of dramas will feature storylines that might be pertained as insensitive. So we look at those before, look at the storylines, look at the contents, are there too many guns being used . We look at those and make sure we are being sensitive to the climate as well as our audience. Wedefinitely do that, and have done that, i think on supergirl. That is always top of mind. Thank you. With the race for eyeballs, everybody is looking to their screens, it is the new way to be, how does that impact decisionmaking for you, tiffany, and the network . Huluped to have the executive producers here because they are behind the first all latino cast on television, broadly speaking, and i am curious how new media and the changes we are seeing in spaces like netflix and hulu are impacting the kind of decisionmaking in the future of a place like Cbs Television . For cbs, we feel that television rules, obviously. Being the number one, mostwatched network, absolutely , it feels that television is , and very much significant i feel we are utilizing all of the platform, whether you watch traditionally in your living room, kitchen, bedroom, or on your television, it still is the same in that sense. But it has brought in. 16, 15 years ago, yes, there were only three networks. I dont even think you could spend an hour going through all these cable stations, how is this content . But i think that anyone right now who has a phone can be a content creator. Everyone has that voice. I think it is important also when we talk about images, representation, all of that really matters. You want to make sure that is how that goes as well. A followupk you question. You focus on diversity and getting the shows on television to reflect the faces you see on the street. Im fighting the good fight, guys. We know that for sure. And im curious how whether a show like a disease on saris master ofnsaris with peopleng roles of color, is that helping your job at the network to diversify . Absolutely. Empire,t say the word every network once empire on their schedule. Of course. I think any of those shows, but , they a lot of times create those things in a less traditional space, but thats why it is important that people like myself in these roles ask those questions we look at a casting list. Does this really look like our america . Does it really reflect what someone would say . Is this accurate . I know we are not the history channel, i know it does not have to be factual, but we have to make sure that we are actually casting the widest net come a what are these images showing . There is lot of times, a tremendous amount of unconscious bias, as well as conscious bias. Is the senseias of, we see it this way, this is what looks normal to us. I had a great example of this. There was a role for a firefighter. When they came in, there were 30 men, number one, and i say 29 of them were white men. I say, you know what . What if we get an asianamerican female . The casting directors were cut of like, what the hell is she talking about . Its the zeitgeist, right . We are not thinking that way. I said, well, the captain of the Fire Department in San Francisco was an asianamerican female. If we someone if we saw more of those images, it becomes normal. If we saw more muslims in roles were there wasnt, it becomes normal. Thats why master of none helped me tremendously. I sent an email, look at this, look at the great price look at the great press. It definitely helps the more we can see that this is the new normal. Thank you. Megan, i want to turn back to you, because this question of getting eyeballs came to me when cnn and msnbcng going to the apartment of the suspects in San Bernardino, and there are all kinds of ethical questions involved there. I noticed that this morning the front page of the l. A. Times, that photos from the inside of the apartment were splashed across the cover. How did that decisionmaking happened, and to what degree is it influenced by eyeballs versus news value . Feelo what degree do you there is media responsibility towards allowing the investigation to take place . Howdy you grapple with that . I will certify a couple of things. Wered have reporters who in the apartment. We did not immediately use that material because we wanted to assess what had happened. That scene had actually been cleared by Law Enforcement, so we were not going into an active scene. It was boarded up because the windows had been shattered in the course of the search of the home. And the landlord came out and said, this has been a cleared scene. It was in their purview is the Property Owner to allow people into the property. To showly, we decided images from inside the apartment because there was a news value to try to understand the normalcy in these peoples lives , what was it like . Theree didnt do is go in with a live feed and do things like hold up the mothers drivers drivers license, which had a lot of information about her on it, and photos of other people who may have had no connection anything, other than their photo was in the house. I feel like its a problem that tv has had to grapple with four ,ears, you are in that moment not taking time to assess the value of it. You can hear some of the anchors say, hold on, dont get in that close. That a that was a moment lot of journalists are considering, how was it a teaching moment . Just because you can do it, should you, and what is the news value of something . Its funny, we are not exactly in the same situation as being a live on air and talking, because is vehicle for being live actually written and visual in a way that is archived. I think if you went back and watched most live news broadcasts, all kinds of errors get made and things are said that in that moment same true. True. M but when you are writing on the internet, it is still there. It doesnt go away unless you this regularly disreputably erasing mistakes. Thank you for that. We see media or politicians who make decisions we agree with or disagree with yesterday, there was a mymuslimapartment, which was a characterization of what was taking place. Is social media platform a platform to hold Public Officials and media accountable . I know you have been the force behind some hashtag campaigns for good. Can you add to this . These are one of the examples of true empowerment. How do we use these tools to empower average people, to move the needle on media . Becomehtag campaign has one of those ways, everything from black lives matter. Year, a lot of muslims on social media have been making points, but they have not been moving the needle much. That there is a lot of traction and hashtag campaigns. Why is that . To aelevate the discourse higher level. It was not just about pointing out inconsistencies or fax, it was about telling a story. So when you do mymuslimapartment, you are telling the story of ordinary , neighbors, we have sporting equipment. It was a very human eyes and it is driven by that need to seem human in a social media spirit onre everybody is focusing the suspects, and nobody was focusing on the outer circles, the navy veterans, the people in the community who have grown up in the community who have worked in that same center, all those Different Things. It was a very intelligent way to go about that. Muslimid withith trump. We are putting out all these, i weved in the armed forces, are trying to model by example creative ways to respond that and aregrievance driven uplifting, inspirational. In that we can respond way, it is not just about engaging in the media, it is about engaging with the public. But the thing about social media, you cannot segue your audience and the way other traditional media cam. Wayhave to tailor it in a where everybody gets the intended benefit and nobody gets misdirected. Lacks thank you. I want to start with our first audience question. Please submit your questions if you are tweeting. Our feeders online viewers online, please do the same. The first question we have it seems the world we live in favors immediacy and shock value, what can be done to change the way we communicate to the messages of peace and respect . A greater might reach audience, for an example. This is a great dilemma of the time we are in. To be able to get something out there, its not a skill everybody has. People have to learn to be nuanced quickly. People always asked me, how do you get good on twitter . You just practice tweeting, figuring out what gains traction. How do you condense a big idea into a few words where people want to retweet it . It takes practice. I encourage people to get on twitter not just because you want to get followers, but because it is a great way to convince your thoughts. If you are on a stage, if you can speak or tweet, people will send it out, and it is not just hundreds of people, it is thousands of people. As ae should embrace it training mechanism. This is how you tell stories. Thank you. The next question for the audience is for all of you. As decisionmakers who drive, carry, and disseminate content for mass consumption, what would you recommend to the American Muslim Community i way of getting involved in shaping the message, balancing the inevitable bias in todays world . Cbs, we work mostly with our youth in internships will stop i cant tell you how many times, because once we hire someone, nine tens out of 10 nine times out of 10 it is someone we are more familiar with. Collegeithin their career, apply for internships. That accessibility, being able to become more familiar. My current intern is from the khck community si community. He wants to be a director but for all the employees in my hallway that cm every day and are exposed to someone different, i would for how to become more a part of that conversation, it would be. Nternships getting into the door and making sure your voices heard, that is the one thing we could all utilize, whether it is on print journalism, it is making sure you have a voice and have people really get to know you and not assume they know you just because of what they can see out here. I would say along the same being active in fields and careers that have the influence to shape the story lines is effective. I dont think muslims should go into journalism to cover the muslim community, i think they should go in to cover a range of things. But in our newsroom, there is a number of people who are muslim and practicing, and that influences your daily experience and also is a resource when something happens. Of our photographers actually lives out in the San Bernardino area and has been in that community for years. He is someone you can talk to, how was the Community Feeling about this . What can you tell us about being a muslim in this area . It is important to contextualize and understand what happened beyond just dropping in from the city of l. A. And trying to sort it out. I do want people to take a step back and think about the way things were in the days after 9 11 compared to today. Back then, i would hear people talking about us in a very anthropological way, like we were animals in the zoo or something, no one can interact with us. But now today, when i turn on my tv i see familiar faces, talented people, people in this room i have seen on tv. Muslims are part of the conversation. I get contacted by reporters who are muslims themselves. I see bloggers the coming pundits. Pundits. Ng muslims are increasingly acted in hollywood and creative industries. We have come a long way, and it is moving the needle and tremendous ways. Rising youtube stars, look at people who are a part of those conversations, we are there. And we have the mechanism to keep them moving. Thank you. Shift back to television. We had a huge advance of the emmys when gina king won an emmy at the emmys when regina king won for trying a muslim character. See was a huge shock, to that role for us exist out there. There are also shows like quantico that feature muslim characters in more and more what do you think of the possibilities for better portrayals on television and film for muslim characters . This is one of the most common grievances, criticisms of hollywood, the way we are reduced to such a caricature. The possibilities, i definitely think they are endless. There are so many more people and before anng, actor can ever act, someone has to write it. Thats why when i was talking about internships, informational interviews, it is so important to make sure that that voice where those creators are , that can be seen as four dimensional people, as human beings that own cats and dogs, that he pizza. Eat pizza. Za one of the things we did this year that i am extremely proud of is that we had an event with all of our cast members, and we had a real talk about diversity coming into play. You cant let whatever makes someone diverse supersede their character, do you understand . Of, in the sense of, i need someone who is going to be a doctor, a victim, whoever it might be, dont think that you need someone to fill in just for racial purposes. I say soe things often, i will say this until the day i die, diverse city does not mean black. That is one thing that will be in a room a lot. We have the black guy in the black girl, i think we are done for the week. We are good, we did it our job is done diversity means more than one, so lets make sure that we are really looking for, what does this look like . How can this role be . We are doctors, teachers, firefighters. I said again, we gave this book called the hidden brain which is in my bible, and i think i put his children through school i purchased so many of his books , we give it to every casting director. There is no casting director school, you go to medical school and learn how to operate, but as a casting director you are taking your environment, taking where you are raised, and they definitely play a role in how you see television characters. So i think one of the things i have been so proud of is after they read the book they were like, oh, ok, i see that anyone can play this role, and i think the possibilities are endless. That emmy, winning we also celebrated that day because we want to see more of that. Im not saying we always have to be good, but when do we reach parity . Because we have been this a long damn time. Of diversity, it is not just diversity for diversityss sake, it is what the public wants. If you dont believe that, take the top 30 youtube stars and look at how diverse they are compared to what you would generally expect. Mikes of course. And believe me, i dont want diversity for diversitys sake either. Numbers, diversity is a Smart Business imperative. People are leaving so much money on the table, its ridiculous. Its not just, oh, lets throw when someone of color and we are done, its not that. In my role, do i want the best actor to get the role . Needways hear that one, we diverse clients, but we had to go with the best actor. Well, are we making sure that we are really wide enough . Did you look hard . Do harder. Look better and be smarter. Thank you. Campaigns, the takedown arabia,s on allison there are consultants to help humanize and diversify the kinds of results roles that are out there. Were are some people who say should engage to make roles better. From your perspective, when communities raise issues, particularly on social media or other platforms, their concerns on shows that are still in formation or on the air, what is effective and what is not, what do you hear . How can that work, and how did we be effective consumers . To properly and effectively communicate. That is the first thing. Ienever there is a storyline am not comfortable with, i want to make sure i reach out to impact, the naacp, that particular community where i feel their mighty sensitivities to have a conversation. Back to yourgo writers, directors, producers to express what is being told on social media. A concern . E nine times out of 10, when you actually talk to someone and effectively communicate, you can get the message clear. If we are just doing something to perpetuate a stereotype, the audience does not want that. See authenticity very quickly. Do you want to weigh on this on how social media impacts for trails . On how social media impacts portrayals . There are effective ones and ineffective ones. When you are trying to have a conversation where you collectively make something better, you can achieve something, but often there are campaigns that are confrontational and what complete victory, to shut down something completely. If people are trying to do a show and it has some kind of intersection with an identity that you relate with, if you shut it down, it reduces the chance of Something Like that being done again because they will say it is not worth my time. But, you were with them, even if it is not perfect, and it looks like it works and gets out there, then you increase the appetite, people have to look at the longterm. Not all social media campaigns i tend to favor the ones that are conversational, aspirational, funny, and that touch peoples hearts. Those are the kinds of campaigns that would like to see go forward. I like to save the really harsh for strong circumstances. Ones you simply do want to get someone to shut up. Thank you. Our next audience question is, how do we ensure accurate and honest reporting and journalism in the new era of news and media . How can the audience rely on what they see and hear . I think as consumers of news you have to judge your sources, in part. I think that sometimes what happens is this is maybe more than used to happen you self identify with a community that you agree with. I think you can see this on facebook. I have people on facebook where they dont really think a lot like i do, and then i have the constant sort of decision to make about whether i still see their feeds or not, because sometimes you get really upset that someone has a different opinion from you and then part of me feels like, this is a window into a part of this country that maybe i dont always get exposed to. It could be good for me to hear that. So, i think id say you have to be a smart consumer and decide whether you think that the source is objective. And, i think that that is where there are a lot of citizen journalists, but journalism is a professional career. I have spent a long time learning how to report, how to find sources. How to decide whether someone is being truthful or is someone who should be listened to. Whether something seems suspicious to me. How to find documents that support the story that i am hearing. Somebody says to me that something is true, i dont take their word for it. I check it with someone else. That is why i think there is a real value in the legacy news organization. Where you have that kind of training. Use your common sense. Because you want to believe something, because it fits into your worldview does not make a make it true, so consider the source. Be careful about what you share, because you may be sharing that information because it appeals to you. That happens on all ends of the political spectrum. It is hard. Its hard because theyre used to be a few sources and now there are many. I think we have to be educated consumers of information. The same people that would look at you and say i dont trust that journalist, but i heard a rumor [laughter] they dont see the inconsistency of that. This is where we have a collective conversation about how to properly manage the responsibility that we all have that we can interact with the world now. That has consequences if you Say Something that is destabilizing. Sometimes there is against a tendency because you dont like the information, you believe it is untrue. Information is not the same thing as being false. I think that sometimes we all make that mistake. Thank you. To piggyback off of the point you just made, an audience question says, one of the problems with social media is that people tend to connect mainly with other likeminded individuals or groups. With that in mind, is there hope for building bridges and expanding exposure to different ideas online . How do we best do that . I think some of these black lives matter or other campaigns, im even thinking recently about the backlash to snl for having trump on. People are pointing out that he said a lot of Different Things that probably offend a lot of different communities, but in particular the fact that snl who has been around for 40 something years, has managed to have two or three latino cast members ever. No one else is funny, i guess . I dont know. That is ak consciousness raising of saying, you will have donald trump on, he said all of this stuff, demonstrably not true. Yet this is an organization and a show that has been on for has barelys that managed to diversify beyond black and white people. To me, that is a way to sort of cut across. Even if you love donald trump, i think that factbased question about why snl has failed to find anyone other than white or africanamerican people to be on their show, is something that i think you would pause and think, thats actually a pretty good question. This a country where latinos make up a significant part of the population and are incredibly influential. So, how is that . We will never get very far if we segment ourselves so much that we do not understand other people. Here we are, as muslims trying to tell people that they need to let us into their circles, but we will segment ourselves out. We have to make ourselves uncomfortable. I have plenty of conservative friends who are my friends on facebook, and everything i post, my muslim friends see it and my conservative friends see it and my liberal friends see it. I try to manage that conversation. Just last week, i posted something that hinted at where i stand on gun control. People on my wall were having this very interesting conversation from all different sides. I was trying to elevate it to another place where can we find , Common Ground . This is where the beauty of social media comes out, when you have those diverse conversations. But if you just have an echo chamber, that is when conspiracy theories happen. And destabilizing stuff happens. Thank you. I studied communications and journalism and learned a lot about Agenda Setting. It used to be that you would consider that traditional media, legacy media, had the greatest role in Agenda Setting within society. It was more of the traditional norm. In this day and age, with hashtag campaigns, with social media, how much of that is changing who is setting the agenda in terms of what media covers . I think specifically about the power of hashtag campaigns this year, like the i stand with ahmed campaign about the texas teenage clockmaker, would that have been on the National Media radar . Would it have made this kid famous and made the situation infamous had it not been for social media . So to which degree do you each feel that social media there is a trickle up that may be happening from your viewers or your readers . I think this is no question that sometimes their campaigns are just people reacting to an event. People who misspelled San Bernardino, for example. I think that, to me it is interesting because i used to try to read a lot of the ethnic media. Like newspapers, watch bet news at night, because it was really like seeing a different america. In these sort of segmented communities, what was being covered there was very different on a nightly basis than what you would see on the national news. I think in a way, the value of social media for mainstream journalists, a lot of that conversation, i think, is bubbling up in a way that is in front of you if you are following the right people, active people. Twitter is overwhelming. I remember on the morning that the fifa arrests. Made, i had one channel that was just fifa. It was like a seizure, the whole world was flying by me so fast. I think that in the sense of exposing more people to different viewpoints, i think it is actually quite interesting and certainly has part of our conversation i run a meeting at 7 00 a. M. , we talk about some of the major news events overnight. Then, at the end, one of the things they always ask to our Reader Engagement and social media team is, what have we not talked about that you are seeing in the conversation locally . Theres always something. It is driven by social media. It is driven by trends in social media. Not every day do we cover that, but a lot of the times we do look into it. We find stories that were not have been seen otherwise. It can be quite influential. But, i think it is most influential when it is authentic. I think when it feels canned or it feels like a campaign i mymuslimid, it felt very authentic that people were responding to what was said in a way that felt incredibly real. I think that that becomes newsworthy. I think it terms of people say they want to launch campaigns, but unless youre paying for promoted tweets, a campaign is not going to go anywhere unless people organically attach themselves to it. It is meritocracy this itous in that manner. Going back to the original point, i think one of the Biggest Challenges of our time is trying to figure out how to manage the information overload that we all get. I would love to dive into every single one of these conversations and really try to get where everyone is coming from, but we are talking about thousands of not millions of conversations and millions of points of view. I still dont know how to process that. That is one of the reasons that we retreat into our shells, because it is overwhelming. This is why there is a role for professionals, to help navigate that. Because, i think that a lot of people are struggling with this. In every community, that is why our society is getting so polarized, because i think we just cannot take the overload. I agree with all that. I want to get to my question. Got it. We will move to the next there one. Is a question here about what it means to be a reporter now in the sense that we have seen reporters get suspended or fired for sharing their personal opinions on world events, or sharing personal views on hot button issues. In this day and age, where is that line for reporters . Whether it is specifically at the l. A. Times or in a broader sphere, and what responsibility do they have, but also what rights do they have at the same time . Thats a really fascinating question because it is something in my role, i run the homepage of the website at the l. A. Times. But i started off as a traditional print reporter. I have covered beats, and i have learned a lot about data reporting. So, i think reporters in general have to be much more jack of all trades than they were ever. I know quite a bit of html and all sorts of stuff that you used to have to write down on a notepad and transcribed. If youre are good at writing, bonus. But i have to be in greatly incredibly careful about what i say. I dont share generally personal opinions. I think that it is important not to because even if i have a personal opinion, a strong one, i feel like i could still go and cover i cover the president ial campaign in 2000. This is who i traveled with. I tried with george bush, al gore, i spent six months of my life with dick cheney. And i also spent quite a bit of time in a van with ralph nader. I covered all of those people. Fairly, because whatever my personal feelings are about politics, i think that i could bring in objectivity to it. I think if i was out there saying, my personal feelings, then that takes away from my ability to be seen as someone who is fair. You get called out on it. I joked about something once on facebook, and three people were e, youre in a letter youre an editor at the l. A. Saying you shouldnt be that. To be fair, in my flash of anger, i thought, they have a point. Everything is public. The idea that there is a private facebook channel, or even if you only allowed authorized people to follow your twitter, that woman got fired for the jokes about ebola dacca about ebola. She was an idiot. Really. I would say nothing on social media with the expectation that it would not eventually get out. I hope the sony hack taught a lot of us that even what you say in your email is potentially public. I think it is challenging. You used to have conversations, people would recount what they said. You have to be a lot more careful. I think you should be and usually more thoughtful about how you process your personal feelings and how you portray what is happening in reality. Thank you. One of the things with that, we are in such an over sharing , iulation in the sense that love this water, and here is a picture of what i ate, and these shoes i just bought at the mall are fabulous. We are always saying where we are, someone could go rob your house. You are telling every step of your life. Stop it. The over sharing is unbelievable in that sense. Ill is your someone get up and say they are sorry for what they said, no you are not. You are sorry because you got caught. If you are in doubt and think you should tweet it or write it, tell a friend. Physically, not with a microphone on. Exactly. There you go. Last question for you. Considering you are the founder of the labs, tell us about what the labs are all about and what you hope to do with it, and the audience question is a bit for that, what type of muslim focus startups do you think the muslim market is ready for . The whole idea came about because i had spent 1015 years in what is called the digital islamic economy. I saw vast markets, global markets, 500 million muslims between the ages of 18 and 25 that are upwardly mobile, culturally more alike with each other than like their parents generation. They want they care about their identity and want to spend on it. But very few people actually cater to that market. Did with the labs was try to bring in promising startups that i thought could fit a couple of models. One is buying muslims for everybody, meaning that you create and tap into Islamic Heritage and values and create products with universal appeal. That can transmit that to the masses. Im a founding board member of a frozen entree company. 2 of their market is muslims and the vast majority is everyone else. Part of that is how do you halal in ale all ahl way that is universally acceptable . We are trained to bring in companies that do that. The other thing were trying to do is create innovation by doing thons,f funds hacka bringing people together for a couple of days from different backgrounds to solve a specific challenge. Doing it in the muslim communities that deal with specific challenges with Muslim Identity and life. We have done these around the world and we will start to do them in america. We did one in abu dhabi, we did one in sydney, we are going to be doing future ones, but we just want to try to see the environment. The number one thing we found is that it is not about skill or talent, but confidence. It is about feeling that you can do it. That is the number one barrier for most people. We realize that once we get weple into this situation, find the winners so they can get developed, they can do amazing things. We are hoping in the next couple of years to start spinning out companies and ideas and initiatives. The first couple of apps come out early next year. That shows that there is a lot of talent in this group of people. They have a lot to give the world. I want to show that muslims are not just a source of problems, they are a source of solutions. Absolutely. Thank you. So, i want to ask a closing question for everyone. That has two prongs. The first is, considering new media now, what do you think we have to look forward to a few years from now . What is your prediction of what will continue to impact your industry or your arena in the years to come that people should keep an eye out for . Secondly, we spend a lot of time talking about the points of darkness. I hope that we can in thing end with the points of light. What is one point of light that you see that gives you hope for how this transition from legacy media to new media can be a force for good . What is your prediction for the future, and what is a bright spot that you want to give a little attention to . Prediction for the future, i think that there are so many innovative idea thinkers out there that we have not scratch ed the surface of what we are going to see socially. There are so many people that are now in institutions where coding is becoming available. We will see the next chapter the chapter, the next twitter or facebook. There will be multiple generations of that. I think that that will it will only enhance Television Viewing for us because television is not going anywhere. As much as people say tv is dead, people are watching still. I think that that is definitely going to expand its. I think for the light, because i work in an industry where that is all i see, one of the things that i see tremendously is that i want to continue to provide the access because before anyone can do anything, you need the access. And then gives them an opportunity. Say yes to someone. When someone says yes to you, say yes to someone else. I think that that will really be able to get to know each other more and that will be my light. I know that our communities are resilient. I think youre going to see you already are, rapidly these long time whether it is the l. A. Times or the Washington Post or the new york times, the big names in american journalism make much more substantial pay digital news in a way that is sustainable. A lot of us are grappling with these dual operations. You have what is in real time what is online which i think for a long time with you and as lesser, even though it is informing more people than really what lands in your driveway in the morning. I think that we saw this last week, with San Bernardino. The quality of what we were producing in close to real time with equally better than what we were able to publish in this sort of limited number of pages. I think that that is significant for american journalism because i think that professional journalism does matter and is very important. I think having these organizations make that change in a way that is sustainable is crucial, really, to continuing forward. And i would just say that i think the media is so exciting. I feel like, used to be able to just put something on a piece of paper and print photographs or a flat graphic. That was all that you could do. The reason why i moved into digital is because it was so exciting. You could create databases that lives on that you can explore things on your own and really understand a subject matter. I think different people learn different, so video is incredibly interesting and certainly has existed for a long time outside of print. We were just talking about the video on what a lot of our means. Khbar interestingly, we publish it a few minutes he for everything started happening in San Bernardino. To explain to people that this is not scary, what this means, how people interpret it, in a way that i think it has Something Like 3 million views on facebook now. That is like reaching an audience that in the printed l. A. Times you never could have. Or even, coverage of the syrian refugee crisis, which goes beyond just the moment it would have appeared on the front page of the paper and is still accessible to anyone looking for. So, i see a lot of excitement and a lot of opportunity to really reach more communities and tell stories in ways that are so much more i love writing and i love to write. But that are more nuanced and go beyond just that medium. I know this will be hard for a lot of people to believe, probably a lot of people will not believe this even the events of this week, but, given the success that we have had since 9 11, given the immense amount of talent, muslim talent in the pipeline in every possible field, the most important of the creative fields, and given the resilience that america has shown in the face of what is happening, if you ignore the online hype, if you look at the real world, i would like to think that we are at that kind of worst of it. And that five years from now, we will actually be much more integrated, much more accepted, felt Like Neighbors and we were today. I truly believe that. It is because of the amounts of impact on the social sphere on lots of different spheres, by talented muslims expressing themselves. We have not even scratched the surface of what we will see in 510 years. Thank you all. Please give our panelists a round of applause. [applause] announcer up next on cspan, president ial candidate Chris Christie holds a town hall meeting in new hampshire. Then a look at how the government regulates food and the american diet. And from the Muslim Public Affairs council, a discussion about how muslims are depicted in the medium. Journal,xt washington the author of the four faces of the republican party. And then a talk about the book how the other half banks. Withngton journal is live your phone calls, tweets, and Facebook Comments live at 7 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Days of feature programming this weekend on cspan. Friday evening, Congressional Republican leaders honoring dick cheney at the capital with the unveiling of a marble bust. Atwhen the Vice President his critics going off the deep end, as they often did, he asked it bugs himife if when people call me darth vader. She said no, it humanizes you. [applause] , anuncer saturday night indepth look at policing in minority communities. Include tommy haas he lanier. Respectful, very you know, and reque i