The missing man’s story, as it appeared on issue #1564

It was madness. Members of our own community unfairly attacked, threatened and bashed The Arab American News over the weekend.

After one of our reporters wrote a story about a missing local man, the family responded by falsely accusing the newspaper of smearing their son’s image.

The family of Sajjad Almayali, who went missing on Jan. 5, wrote a statement claiming that the newspaper falsified the information they gave us.

After a gossip Facebook page shared the family’s bewildering message, it started spreading through social media at an alarming rate.

Every single sentence in our story was factual. It was empathetic to the family members, who were the only sources quoted in the article. At press time, we still do not know the exact parts the family alleges were false.

Without reading the 988-word piece, dozens of community members joined the mob-like tirade against The Arab American News.

The few social media users who read the article indicated that there is nothing wrong with it.

When our staff members tried to engage those commenting about the story by providing a link to the article, many admitted that they have no interest in what we wrote.

Asked if he read the story, one Facebook user wrote, “No, I did not, but I’m sure what offends the family offends all of us.”

Progress in the community is not possible if we disable critical thinking.

Read before you comment. Think before you speak.

The holy Quran says, “O you who have believed, if there comes to you a corrupt one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.”

We have pledged repeatedly to make the communication between the newspaper and the community a two-way street. Our office doors are never locked in the face of readers. Calls are always answered. If you have a grievance, bring it to us; our writers and publisher will address it.

But we will not tolerate threats and name-calling. 

The Almayalis and those who blindly sympathized with them contacted us about their unhappiness with the story; we listened. Our publisher and several of our staff members tried to ask about the specific parts of the story that they find problematic. But the conversation always stopped there.

What followed were violent threats, profanity-laden insults and frantic madness.

How could one fix the problem without knowing what it is?

The page that shared the family’s message eventually deleted it. We thank its admins for correcting that mistake.

We stand by every word in that story, the purpose of which was to help bring Sajjad safely back home.