LANSING — Nearly 50 community members traveled to East Lansing last Sunday, April 21, for the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Kellogg Center to support Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News.  Siblani was inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with four other professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the profession.

Siblani thanked his staff, family, friends, and more at the event.

Community leaders from organizations, including the Lebanese American Heritage Club, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Arab American Political Action Committee, the Yemeni-American Benevolent Association, the Arab-American Civil Rights League and other professionals attended the ceremony, along with Lebanese Consul General Bilal Kabalan and Chairman of New Michigan Media Hayg Oshagan.

The team of supporters arrived on a chartered bus, featuring a banner with Siblani’s photo and a quoted statement that he made after learning he would be inducted, which read:  “This is my humble gift to the community that I love and continue to serve.”

Siblani was surprised by the bus banner and an additional billboard that was erected for him last week on Greenfield Road in Dearborn, which congratulated him on his induction.

Siblani surrounded by family, friends and community leaders.

“We are very proud as Arab Americans,” stated community member Ali Sabra.  “His award is for us; the whole community.  Our voice has been heard through this paper.”

 “Most of the people who are here, have been around metro-Detroit for a long time, and they feel like they too are a part of the newspaper. I am honored that he is receiving this award, and I am honored to be a part of this.  I feel like I am receiving it myself,” said Allie Berry, Vice President of Armada Oil and Gas Company.

Kabalan called Siblani a “beacon” for the community, and said that when the community needed leadership, or guidance on issues to help share the challenges that Arab Americans face, he was there.

“He is driven by the love of service to humanity and to the community. Osama, I would say, rises to the level, not of a regular citizen, but of a great leader,” stated Kabalan. “Osama is doing a great job for this nation, when it comes to dialogue and mutual understanding between different ethnic groups.  This is what we need in these times of fear.”

Detroit Free Press columnist, Rochelle Riley, who served as the event’s moderator, said that this year’s inductees were one of the most diverse that the Hall of Fame has had.

Brian Mosallam, a member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, who is also an Arab American, sent a message, congratulating Siblani, which was shared with the audience and read by Ms. Riley.

Mosallam’s statement read: “You have been a friend and a mentor to me for many years. The foundation you have laid for future generations will not be forgotten. Regrettably, I am not able to attend tonight’s festivities, but I take tremendous pride in the fact that you are being honored by my alma mater…It is an honor well deserved, and you have made us all proud.”

Ali Hammoud (right) and Mazen Hammoud with Siblani.

Dr. Kallil Kazan, a local chiropractor, who was born and raised in the community, and who also traveled to Lansing on the chartered bus, said that the Arab American News, which is bilingual, has served as an important news source to local Arab immigrants. “That’s all they have,” he explained.

Joe Grimm, former recruiting and development editor for the Detroit Free Press and current visiting editor in residence at Michigan State University, added, “It is so wonderful to be here with inductees from the State’s oldest newspapers, one of the State’s most well respected television stations, the alternative press, the scholastic press and, now, a representative from ethnic media. Tonight, the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame is home to all.”

Grimm led the effort to get Siblani inducted, by reaching out to people in the profession, who all made cases, through letters, as to why Siblani was worthy of receiving the honor.

Osama Siblani with Joe Grimm, a former inductee to the Hall of Fame who nominated The Arab American News publisher for 2013.

In his introduction of Siblani, Grimm discussed the challenges that the publisher has faced over the years. He stated that, as a journalist and advocate, Siblani’s life has been threatened more than once. Grimm explained how Siblani once faced a man who asked whether he was a patriot, while holding a knife.

The Paper has seen its fair share of challenges over the years. At one point, it forced Siblani to file bankruptcy, and has also been the subject of an advertising boycott by the CIA. In addition, the Paper’s offices were also once the target of an attempted firebombing.

In his acceptance speech, Siblani thanked Grimm for leading the effort to get him inducted.  “Joe, thank you very much for believing in me and for recognizing what I have done over the last 28 years.”

Siblani says that he is proud to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which includes other distinguished members of the press, like late Detroit Free Press Publisher Neal Shine, legendary White House Correspondent Helen Thomas and also Joe Grimm, among others.

He recognized and thanked the 11 distinguished journalists and media representatives who wrote letters in support of his induction.   “I want to thank Mort Crim, Devin Scillian, Emery King, Chuck Stokes, Bankole Thompson, Huel Perkins, Greg Krupa, Elias Gutierrez, Arthur Horowitz, Zahra Huber and Joe Grimm.

Siblani said that when he started the paper over 28 years ago, he would have never guessed that he would one day be inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame. “In fact I didn’t even know that such a Hall existed,” he said. “I just wanted to tell our story.”

Siblani expressed his appreciation to the committee that made the decision to induct him by thanking them for supporting “freedom of speech” and “refusing to accept the stifling of debate.”  “As a leading country in the world, it is vital that this debate continue in the U.S.,” he pointed out.

Siblani recalled words of wisdom, spoken by the late President Ronald Reagan, during his U.S. naturalization ceremony in1984.  During his address to the 125 newly naturalized citizens, Reagan urged them to “not forget where they came from; to preserve their culture and enrich their country, by making us a better nation.”

“I am being inducted into the Hall of Fame, although I should be at the bottom of the list of people who should be recognized.  I have a very good team at The Arab American News. I want to thank those who have made it happen every week for the last 28 years, whether they are here today, or not,” he stated.

Siblani became emotional when he thanked M. Kay Siblani, the late executive editor of the Paper, who had worked alongside him since the Paper’s creation in 1984.  She succumbed to cancer on January 1 of this year. “She worked so hard.  She was not an Arab.  She was just a fine human being. This one is for you too,” he said.

He also dedicated the honor to his late mother.  Jokingly he mentioned that when she used to ask about him, she would say, “Have you heard from my son the journalist?” Siblani says he left his mother to come to the United States in 1976, and she died in 2005 in Lebanon. “She’s here somewhere looking down at me and smiling.  Thank you mom,” he said.

Siblani with his wife Raja and son Adrien.

Siblani thanked his wife Raja and son Adrien for their continuous support and understanding while he spends most of his time on the job and in the community and away from home.

He also thanked his nephews Ali, Ahmad and Majed “I have someone who always has my back, Ali. I am very proud of your accomplishments. I also have Ahmed, who has always been there for me at night, and leaves only five minutes before I do; and Majed of course.”

Siblani also recognized the community leaders and friends who traveled from Detroit to attend the ceremony.

“I wanted to thank the leaders of our community who are here today; who insisted on coming all the way from Detroit to be here with me.”

Other inductees this year included Hugh Grannum, who passed away earlier this year. His wife, Carolyn Grannum, accepted the award on his behalf.  Known as a prolific image maker and mentor to young photo journalists, his artistic talents captured the essence of life in his photos. As he put it: “I learned to tell a story with a camera.” For 37 years his photojournalism covered the pages of the Detroit Free Press and spanned the globe in Museums and galleries in New York, Japan, Senegal, Toronto, Chicago and Detroit.
Inductee W. Kim Heron has led Michigan’s largest and most successful alternative newspaper for nearly half of its lifespan. For 16 years he was an editor of the Metro Times. Despite declining resources, he managed a newspaper that promoted arts and culture in Metro Detroit, while asking the hard questions that captured, in a different light, the issues of the day. Under his watchful eye, the Metro Times made a case for a mass transit system and investigated controversies around the operations of Detroit’s waste to energy incinerator.

Inductee Nancy McCauley, a four-time Emmy Award Wining journalist, has interviewed every US President, from Jimmy Carter to George Bush, along with notables such as Henry Ford II and Mother Theresa. Over the course of her career, she was stalked more than once, engulfed by tear gas, and burned by the cigarette of an angry protestor. She also accompanied police on numerous drug raids.

Inductee Betsy Pollard Rau’s influence on scholastic journalism in Michigan and across the country is tremendous. She has been called a “brilliant teacher of all things journalism.”  As a high school and middle school adviser for 31 years, her publications and her students have received hundreds of awards and honors.