Media

Click here to see how MLT has been covered in local and international press!

MLT Media Training and Engagement

Having built a network of talented, diverse leaders through the MLT conferences, ASMA Society and Cordoba Initiative have begun to tap their ability to speak eloquently on behalf of a progressive, tolerant Islam as a way of countering the negative portrayal of Muslims in Western media.

Following the London bombings of 2005, many in the American public feared that young Muslims would perpetrate similar acts of terror in the U.S. Taking action, a group of MLTs immediately contacted CNN and helped create a TV program addressing the anxieties of young Muslim men in the United States. Furthering the values that were affirmed at the 2004 conference, the MLTs succeeded in defining the issues facing their community and expressing these concerns to the larger public.

Since the 2006 conference, MLTs have appeared often in major news outlets as eloquent spokespeople for the proactive change envisioned by the MLT program. After the release of the 2007 Pew Research Center poll indicating that younger Muslims in the U.S. hold that suicide bombing can sometimes be justified in defense of Islam, ASMA trained three MLTs to respond in a segment that aired on CNN’s American Morning. In September of the same year, MLTs also appeared in CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Then, as CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was reporting on youth extremism in the United Kingdom, she profiled the work of a British MLT imam who works with British Muslim youth to provide alternative channels of empowerment.

MLTs have also been well represented in print media. In 2007, Newsweek magazine published a feature story on the practice of veiling within Western countries. Taking action once more, MLTs connected Newsweek with one of the program’s members, a British journalist who wears the veil. Not only did the magazine decide to let this young leader write the article from her perspective, but they also made it the cover story of the issue, raising the visibility of her balanced comments in the face of growing suspicion.

To request an interview with an MLT, visit the “Request” form here

To view previous media coverage of MLT events, visit the “Press Clippings” page here