Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, will be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame Sunday, April 21 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in Lansing along with longtime Detroit Metro Times editor W. Kim Heron, who recently stepped down, investigative journalist Nancy McCauley, journalism educator Betsy Pollard Rau and former Detroit Free Press photojournalist Hugh Grannum, who passed away this year. The Hall of Fame honors reporters, editors, publishers, owners,  photographers, broadcasters, educators, and others who have made outstanding contributions to the profession. 

It has very few members from ethnic and minority media, making Siblani’s nomination more notable. 

“Mr. Siblani’s nomination is unique because he’s not the usual nominee.  Yet his nomination into the grand palace of journalism history in Michigan will not only send a strong message of journalism inclusion to all communities but also adds a different and an exciting feature to this longstanding  journalistic tradition of Michigan’s finest in the media,” writes Michigan Chronicle senior editor Bankole Thompson in a letter supporting Siblani’s nomination. 

Joe Grimm, former recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press from 1983-2008, and current visiting editor in residence at Michigan State University, spearheaded the effort to get Siblani inducted by reaching out to people in the profession who all made cases through letters on why Siblani is worthy of the recognition. 

Eleven letters including one from Grimm were sent to the Hall of Fame’s selection committee for review. Grimm, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, says in some cases people are nominated more than once before they actually get inducted. This was Siblani’s first time getting nominated. 

Other media figures who’ve been inducted in the past include legendary White House Correspondent and Arab American Helen Thomas, WXYZ Channel 7 anchor and reporter Diana Lewis and Neal Shine, former publisher of the Detroit Free Press.

In nearly all the letters Siblani’s colleagues note that his work extends far beyond TAAN. “He wears many hats, he’s not just a publisher,” Chuck Stokes, editorial/public affairs director, WXYZ TV said in a phone interview. 

Osama Siblani, Publisher of The Arab American News.

Stokes said he’s known Siblani for more than 20 years, and called him a crusading advocate, and political analyst who’s been sought out by many.  

Siblani’s work was also critical to the establishment of the Arab American Political Action Committee, and Congress of Arab American Organizations.  

“By every account, the Arab American community in southeast Michigan, would not be in the front row of issues today without the trumpet role of Mr. Siblani, who is the glue that brings that community’s brightest and courageous minds together to bear on the most important issues of the day,” Thompson said.    

To members of the local, national and international media he’s been a vital source used to help better understand metro Detroit’s Arab community and the Arab World. 

The letters also highlight Siblani’s work as a businessman, and how despite immense financial challenges he’s managed to keep the paper thriving.  

Before starting the paper Siblani was an engineer, and while he’s never taken one journalism class he has taught international reporting seminars at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. 

Siblani started the paper in 1984 with its co-founder Kay Siblani, who served as its executive editor since the paper’s inception until Jan. 1 this year when she succumbed to cancer.

To purchase tickets to attend the April 21 ceremony, call MSU’s journalism school at 517.353.6430 or email Margie Anderson at ander186@msu.edu to reserve a seat.  

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The following information was compiled by phone interviews and excerpts from some of the letters submitted on Siblani’s behalf to the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.  

“Osama represents to me the best in journalism: honesty, integrity and an unrelenting pursuit of the truth,” Crim writes. Siblani often called Crim to inform him about breaking news. 

Crim said he was impressed with Siblani’s sources and keen journalistic instincts.  “In his view, if he couldn’t be the first to release it, some incredible news organization simply had to have the story.” He says Siblani reported when U.S. Operation Desert Storm was about to happen hours before the wire services. Some thought the information came out of the Middle East, but Siblani had learned it from sources in Washington, D.C. 

Huber’s father tried to dissuade her from journalism, while Siblani encouraged her. “He said, ‘Zahra, I am so proud of you for accomplishing what you have accomplished; I never had a doubt. And I know you can go do anything if you put your mind to it.’ Even remembering those words brings tears to my eyes,” she wrote. 

Grimm teaches journalism to middle school students in Dearborn, and almost all the students are Lebanese, Syrian or Yemeni American Muslims. He says the students have taken trips into the offices of several Detroit newspapers and television stations, but Siblani has actually gone to the school and visited the students in their classroom, taken photos with them, sat down to be interviewed, and encouraged their journalistic aspirations and schoolwork.  

“Only one top news executive has taken the time to meet and encourage these children. That is Osama Siblani,” Grimm writes.  “We can help get students started on journalism, but we need to see that kind of personal involvement.”   

“Over the 19 years I reported in Detroit he was always available to me, clearing up my confusion and offering guidance on issues involving Palestinian rights to help me better report accurately with objectivity,” writes King. 

Elias Gutierrez, Publisher of the Latino News: Gutierrez says operating an ethnic newspaper can be difficult, especially covering a community often ignored by the mainstream media. “It’s a job that few people do or understand…It’s a hard job and if you don’t have the courage, the strength and the will, it would be impossible.” 

Kruppa says The Arab American News provides a voice for the voiceless in a country where the other side of the story in the Middle East is often given short shrift or no publicity at all. “Without its voice the months and years since 9/11 would have been darker for a community that is both the victims of terrorists, and stereotyped with the bigotry of millions who believe all Arabs and Muslims to be a threat,” he writes.  

Chow worked with Siblani when the 2010 Asian American Journalists Association’s annual convention was held in Detroit. Siblani hosted the opening ceremony for it in Dearborn. It was well attended by journalists from some of the nation’s leading publications and media outlets. “This educational experience impressed many of our members and news executives that work in media outlets such as the New York Times, Gannett, NBC, etc…” 

“Living in one of the world’s largest Arab communities outside the Middle East, Siblani’s work and newspaper became what all newspapers aspire to be-the connector for a community.” 

In a letter Perkins discussed Siblani’s work in defending Arab and Muslim Americans in the face of discrimination. “He warned us not to label every Arab and every Muslim as an enemy of freedom…Although his comments sometimes made him the target of hatred and death threats, he refused to keep silent. ”

Horwitz has known Siblani for 26 years, and said in a letter that he has been a consistent champion of the role of ethnic/minority media and insistent that it receive greater visibility and respect. 

“Let’s clear the air right away…on certain topics, Osama Siblani and I are unlikely to ever agree. Our communities have their own narratives, often competing, about religion and geo-politics in the Middle East. But they have similar agendas when it comes to the economic, social and political capital needed to strengthen Detroit and southeast Michigan,” Horwitz writes. 

Siblani is a board member of New Michigan Media which is a network that includes more than 100 ethnic and minority media outlets in Michigan. Oshagan says he commends the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame’s selection committee for its decision to induct Siblani. Oshagan has described some of the publishers of ethnic media as the unelected mayors of their communities because people seek them out often for help solving a problem, finding a job, or accessing the right people in the greater community.  Over the years the significance of ethnic and minority media has become more visible to mainstream media outlets. The partnership launched between NMM and WXYZ Channel 7 in 2011 shows the momentum ethnic media continues to gain. “I’m really truly proud to have Osama inducted…He’s a great journalist, activist and voice for his community,” Oshagan said. 

“Osama Siblani’s name is synonymous with the words courage, leadership, and achievement. He earned his highly respected reputation through great perseverance and trailblazing journalism,” writes Stokes. 

Bankole Thompson, Senior Editor, the Michigan Chronicle: 

“His embrace of other communities outside the Arab American community evidenced by my work with him in New Michigan Media shows his penchant for transcending leadership understanding that there is a common thread that binds all communities together,” Thompson said.