TUESDAY,APRIL 22,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Media's war coverage bothers some Muslim students
By Cal Creek
ccreek@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As the War in Iraq draws to a close, several Muslim students at the University of Kansas have been left with a variety of emotions and responses to the roles the U.S. government and U.S. media have played in the military action.
"Personally I feel that war is just not necessary when you have other means to solve the situation," said Ariful Huq, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, junior and president of the Muslim Student Association.
Huq said while he thought Saddam Hussein was a tyrant and
should be removed, he also felt sorry for the Iraqi civilians who had to deal with another war.
"The people are suffering so much there,"Huq said.
Other Muslim students were concerned for the loss of life.
"We lost many innocent people," said Shalan Alkarni, Abha, Saudi Arabia, graduate student and association member.
Danielle Brunin, secretary for the KU Muslim Women and Lawrence senior, said she thought the war was illegal and that she didn't like the link between the war on Iraq and the war on terrorism.
"I think if we're trying to prevent terrorism this is the worst possible way." Brunin said.
Muslim students at the University also have concerns about the coverage of the war provided by U.S. media.
She said the war damaged the United States' reputation around the world and made people more angry with America.
"I don't rely on the American media because I don't trust it," said Adnan Chaudhry, Jehlum, Pakistan, senior and association member. "I think it's biased; other people might not."
Chaudhry said he didn't agree with coverage because it was one sided.
"You'll see an American soldier holding an Iraqi boy, but that same soldier has killed hundreds of
Iragis earlier," he said.
Chaudhry also didn't agree with the uproar surrounding the images of American prisoners of war broadcast on Iraqi TV while American media shows dead Iraqis every day.
Brunin said she also thought there was a definite media bias.
Brunin cited anti-war coverage as an area of weakness in the media. She said the media implied anti-war protesters were antitroop protesters.
Brunin said news organizations in other countries, such as the BBC, had less biased coverage.
"They don't look at it as though our anti-war protesters are against our troops," Brunin said.
The U.S. media makes it look like United States won the victories outright, Brunin said. But people around the world, she said, have said there were not such clear cut victories.
Ali Andaila, Doha. Qatar. sophomore and association member, said the portrayal of Iraqi civilians by the U.S. media was inaccurate. He said the media showed how the Iraqi people were happy with the downfall of Hussein's regime, not how they are killed.
Andala said if it weren't for the Arab news organization Al-Jazeera, he would think that the Iraqi people were happy.
Many other Muslim students said they used Al-Jazeera and other
online organizations to receive their information.
"Most people go online and look at some of the international newspapers," Chaudhry said.
Chaudhry found the coverage of at least one American news organization to be acceptable.
"I think C-SPAN's a good channel. They do a good job," he said.
Huq said students should consult media sources other than the United States to make informed decisions.
"Read what other people say about it," Huq said, "Use what you've gathered to draw conclusions."
Auto burglary numbers in city, on campus rise from last year
- Edited by Leah Shaffer
By Erin Ohm eohm@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Tyler Longpine became one of the approximately 125 KU student victims of auto burglary so far this semester.
Lawrence auto burglaries jumped 18 percent since 2001. Last year, Lawrence Police reported that University of Kansas students represented 43 percent of that year's burglaries. Photo illustration by Aaron Showalter.
The Haysville junior had his car stereo, valued at about $215, stolen last month.
Sgt. Mike Patrick said students were often the victims of theft because they commonly live in community situations or apartment complexes where a large number of cars were parked in the same area.
The number of auto burglaries in Lawrence jumped more than 18 percent from 844 in 2001 to 1000 in 2002. If figures for 2003 are comparable to Lawrence Police Department numbers from 2002, KU students have made up about 43 percent of auto burglaries this year. A list of burglarized students vehicles for individual months does not exist for concrete comparison because some students report theft to Lawrence police while others report it to the KU Public Safety Office.
"If a thief is looking to take a large number of things, they don't want to spend a lot of time doing it," he said.
Statistics from the Public Safety Office also showed a small increase in auto burglaries in 2002.
"I was just literally right on other side of the window when it happened, I would have been able to look up and see what happened, but the alarm system just didn't engage," he said.
engaged. Jeff Unseld, Lexington, Ky., senior, was more fortunate than Longpine. Police caught the person who broke into his car after a neighbor noticed and called the police. But the burglar still left damage to Unseld's dashboard.
Thieves also take advantage of carelessness through crimes of opportunity. Patrick said thieves would sometimes go through parking lots and look for visible items and vehicles with unlocked doors.
Longpine said he had left his 1993 Lincoln Mercury — with windows rolled down — parked in an alley behind the 1000 block of Mississippi Street on March 23.
Longpine said his car was an easy target because the windows were down, but he didn't worry because he thought his alarm system would catch anything. He was sitting in his apartment when it happened.
He drives a 1997 Jeep Wrangler, which he had parked the lot at Trailridge apartments, 2500 W. Sixth St. Unseld said he had made the thief's job easy when he left the faceplate on his stereo and the doors and top off the car.
"They didn't treatly have to break in," he said. "They just kind of sat down and ripped it apart."
Unseld kept his original car stereo and recovered the faceplate from Lawrence police. But he had to pay for a new dashboard. The stereo won't eject CDs, he said. Unseld said he would have to buy a
new stereo, which could cost about $300.
The experience will make him more cautious in the future, he
said.
"It makes me more hesitant to take the top off and doors off, and that's the whole reason I bought it,"
he said. "It definitely makes me more paranoid."
— Edited by Lindsay Hanson