Bismillah,
It’s time to offer a different type of analysis of an already huge story.
As most of you have heard, Why Islam has been under a lot of heat lately because of their attempt to do dawah on New York subways. The goal is to place ads within the subways that provoke thought with those who see the ads thus, drawing them to their website where they can learn more about Islam. The controversy? The controversy arises with the sponsors of the ads and some bigoted republican, Peter King, who is calling on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to take down the ads claiming Sheikh Siraj Wahaj, a supporter of the ads, is “linked to terrorism.”
I thought it was time for me to do my research and analyze the subway controversy.
As I was doing my research the first place I went to look for information was WhyIslam.org. To my surprise they had nothing on their Web site mentioning anything about the controversy.
This in turn, provoked me to write this post offering my advise to both Why Islam and anyone else who may be put in the situation of crisis communication (may Allah protect us from this):
1. Information on Web site*
From a public relations perspective, not having information on the website is not a very good idea. So far, it seems Why Islam has really defended themselves well, mashaAllah. However, in crisis communication you should always provide outsiders with information.
I understand that millions of people must have gone– and are still going– to the Web site. And I also understand the over all goal is to educate the public about Islam. However, know that millions of reporters are also going to the Web site looking for any information about the controversy and looking for any statements from the organization. This is perhaps the first place a reporter looks. So my advice to Why Islam is to place a section on the Web site with a statement about the controversy, and any other information debunking myths surrounding the crisis situation.
If you don’t already have a communications director get a PR person to write the pieces that will go up on your Web site. This is extremely important for the credibility of your company. The way it looks as of now is that there is something shady that no one wants to talk about.
May Allah make it easy on all those involved.
2. Get people to write letters to the editor (opinion pieces), in defense of the ads.
Get public figures to back you up and support you. I saw that the mayor was not against the ads saying that if people wanted to spread Islam, they are protected by free speech. When writing press releases or opinion pieces one should mention these big public figures and their stance with your campaign. It will build your credibility, and get you more public support.
The most important aspect of this is to get people who are well informed and preferably people from your communication/PR department to write any press releases or other statements that will be sent to major media.
3. Always have a calm and collected spokesperson.
The general image of Muslims today is that they are violent and always angry. Having a spokesperson who is both eloquent in speech but not someone who gets angry easily is the way to go. CAIR does a great job of this with their spokesperson, Ibrahim Hooper. He knows when to be tough when he needs to, but he’s also not raging with anger.
The video with Br. Azeem Khan was a great example of this as well:
4. Be proactive, not reactive. Take advantage of the media blitz.
This is hard with crisis communication, only because you have to be reactive to the issue that has just ensued. However, be prepared and minimize the possibility of the situation getting any bigger.
Be prepared for anything they might throw at you. With the media spotlight on you, do more dawah activities and work. Make pseudo events and invite media to your events, give back to the community and during Ramadan give lots of food to the poor. This should all of course be done purely for the sake of Allah, but there is no problem using this opportunity for spreading Islam by inviting the media. This can be done in various communities sponsored by Why Islam. And each locality can invite the media of that area to attend an iftaar or any other event sponsored by Why Islam.
5. Build good relations with reporters, and get contact information.
Not all reporters are out to make you look bad. Be nice and courteous with them and exchange contact information. Let them know that if anything new happens you’ll call them to report on it. That way anytime you have a major event in the future, you build a good relationship and can have a nice story about Islam run in the paper or on the news.
6. Pray istikhara before making any moves.
This is especially important for Muslims because we may think that we will say something that will make the situation better, but wallahu alem things get turned on us very quickly and easily. Seek Allah’s help in everything that you do and put your trust in Him alone.
For anyone in a crisis communication situation, be sure to follow these few guidelines of many.
We ask Allah ‘az wa jal to make it easy on the Muslims everywhere, and to give us success in this life and the hereafter, ameen.
Wallahu ta’ala alem.
—-
*If anyone is wondering why I wrote “Web site” rather than “website”then this is because this is the way it is written in Associated Press style.
Stumble it!
July 29th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I have to agree that when I first heard about the ads controversy (through their email subscription), I went to the site itself to learn more about it. Unfortunately there was nothing there (though briefly touched upon in the discussion forums); but you’d have to dig around for that.
One of the emails was “What New Yorkers are Saying about the Subway Ads?” which was a collection of some comments made by site visitors in support of the campaign. I thought that was really good - and it would have been a great thing to put on the site itself. Allahu’alam.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
my bad - it was from ICNA (NY why-islam chapter) that the emails were from: http://www.icna.org/icna/index.php
July 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Other than istikhara, du’aa before hand is huge:
“Rabbi-’shrah li sadri wa yassirli amri wa-hlul ‘uqdatan min lisani yafqahu qawli.”
“O My Lord! expand my breast for me. And ease my task for me; and loose a knot from my tongue, (That) they may understand my saying. (20:25-2)
July 29th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
very interesting. i think since ICNA is the parent company they opted to put that information on their site. But that still makes things harder for reporters. they should at least put a link on their front page linking to the ICNA page. wallahu alem. but in general most people want to go to the official websites first for information before they go to news articles already published which may be biased.
Zaynab, jazaki Allahu khairun, yes of course! dua is extremely important. barak Allahu feeki for the reminder.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:39 am
This is a good article Shirien, REALLY good, and it’s really needed for us Muslims. You should send this to ICNA if you haven’t already, and maybe put up a javascript link to email this to them with a visitors personal e-mail (gmail this! or something). Sometimes the message doesn’t get through until presented many times.
The other thing i wanted to ask was if , personally, you think that the ICNA site here : http://www.icna.org/icna/index.php made a really bad decision to include all of the media coverage about the WHY ISLAM project in youtube links. Remember this is including the negative ones that make you want to punch a wall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P3X5sh7k5g) that last one at the end of the clip especially got under my skin (American Jihad by Emerson).
Personally, I would’ve atleast posted these as both videos and transcripts, and then debated and and debunked all of the false and erroneous facts therein. Now I know that ICNA didn’t even do that, but theoretically, as PR person, do you think that would be a good idea?
July 30th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Salaam,
Mashallah overall, good tips but here’s some explanations from our end:
I guess the thought process was… we have a site focusing on the campaign itself:
http://www.youdeservetoknow.org
And WhyIslam itself wasn’t organizing but more handling the calls and hits generated to its site. Its almost like that component was being outsourced to WhyIslam. (Internal outsourcing)
The youdeservetoknow site was originally meant to be geared towards Muslims who wanted to support the project. When the youtube video which was made with Muslim audiences in mind came under focus (which linked to that site) we decided to turn that site into the main information site about the campaign itself. So put the press release and donation link on there.
We didn’t do the same on the WhyIslam site because not everyone who goes to that site needs to read about a controversy, the objective of that site is very particular.
The initial press release had to be about the campaign itself and had to be controversy free to reflect this campaign being intentioned well before becoming a focus of negative attention. A second press release if needed (strategically needed) would contain quotes from supporters etc. But at this point the media is coming to us, so why give them what they can get now when they speak to us.
We did have a little bloggers campaign (see haroon moghul, MR, Hahmed, mtakbar, suhaib webbs blogs etc)
We have some action alert ideas in the works will make them known soon.
If bloggers are interested in helping us get some info out. We have a major announcement coming and we want your help.
One major lesson Ive learned if that you CAN NOT have a dichotomy in audience. That era is over, you are never really only speaking to Muslims (not even at Jummuah Khutbah) you have to understand the world that we live in. Every video, website, article, document, or speech you put on youtube should be 100% understandable to the general public as well as the Muslims (esp if you represent an organization). Your message has to be consistent even if that means having to go through pains to explain yourself in a general way that anyone can understand and still achieve your specific objectives in the process.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmitullahi wa barakatuh,
Br. Azeem,
Barak Allahu feek for your explanation. I have a couple of suggestions for you and the campaign in light of what you have stated bi’ithnillahi ta’ala:
I took a look at the first press release. MashaAllah, it was well written and the purpose served. Also having a site just for the campaign is a great idea. My concern comes from the image control side. And I’m not just talking from the side of the reporters but from the general public.
There will be a lot of people going to the main website in order to learn about the campaign. Some of them looking to support it, some of them looking to figure out what all the talk is about, and some of them will be going just so they can convince their bigoted minds that you are linked to “terrorism.”
The point is, having a separate site dedicated JUST to this issue, is a good idea. However, you should make the information about the campaign readily available for them. So, take for instance the WHY ISLAM website, they have a section called “events and press information”
that’s really the second place I looked on the website to find information. There, I would put a link to the official website as well as the link to the “parent organization” ICNA’s website. that way it doesn’t take away from the purpose of the site, but it also looks like you’re not hiding anything. you’re addressing the issue and not shying away from it. The second place I looked for information was not ICNA, but rather i went and did a search for past articles written, most of which are , as you know, not particularly nice– which is unfortunately what people will take since they think you must be hiding something.
Second, you mentioned why give the media something that they already have (since they are constantly coming to you guys) VERY true to an extent and I’ll explain that. It’s about media control.
Sure, reporters are looking for people (or public figures) who take both sides of the issue, one for you guys and against you. but like i said it’s all about being proactive. Find big supporters. and WHEN the media comes to you, tell them so and so is behind our campaign — then let the media interview that person.
Being in news rooms, I know that half of those reporters want to be the ones to “dig up the dirt” the other half just want to try to be objective. keep this in mind when speaking to them.. and remember that nothing is really “off the record” if said publicly.
I realize that you guys probably already know this. However, sometimes from the outside things look differently.
In light of what Br. Usman has said above, he has some good points. But I understand what the purpose of putting up all the media coverage is. In general, people are going to be looking for all of it anyway (you might as well put it all in one place). and usually with campaigns you analyze how much media attention a campaign gets by collecting all videos/news articles (this is especially true for PR people.. they need to do this in order to report back to their client).
But he has a point in saying that there should also be a statement of some sort along with those videos without having to go to another website to see it. wallahu alem. That would be my humble advice.. even if it’s a statement/disclaimer such as, “Due to all the media attention in light of our WHY-ISLAM subway campaign, we have compiled and listed all major media coverage for the convenience of reporters and other media personnel. It should be noted that the views held in some of these videos and articles do not represent the views of ICNA or WHY ISLAM unless directly stated by one of our representatives.”
or something along those lines. Wallahu alem.
So Br. Usman, putting up all the coverage is not necessarily something bad, since people will be looking for all of it anyway. However, putting up a statement or such would be much better. and what you said in terms of debunking everything int eh transcript, there is really no need for that. sometimes saying little is the best thing to do.. especially as muslims when we have to be EXTRA careful about what we say, because it can always be turned against us. I wouldnt necessarily recommend them talk a whole lot.. about everything everyone is saying.. but address the main issue, and take the proper steps to ensure that in the end the bigots dont win.
One thing that I know you (Br. Azeem) probably wouldn’t want to say here, but i’d be curious to know is about the communication between ICNA and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. I’m sure there has to be some communication between you guys. but i think the best thing to do is to keep relations with them good and talk and meet with those in charge stating your rights. but yeah, i’d definitely be curious as to the communication between the two organizations.
I’m also curious if you guys have a media kit designed for this campaign. Wallahi it would make it not only easy on the reporters but much easier on you guys if you had a kit ready to give to all reporters who come to you.
in any case, I have no problem at all if you would like any assistance or help with your PR campaign feel free to email me at shirien(at)minbarmedia.com.
May Allah make it easy on you all. ameen.
Shirien.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
two more points to add for any Muslim who may encounter a crisis communication situation:
6. internal communication is EXTREMELY important.
I’ll give you guys an example. We have a Mass Comm professor who used to be the communications director for governor kathleen blanco of louisiana (during katrina). I did an interview with him for my case studies class and we actually picked PR work during katrina.
What we found was that a LOTTTT of the problems between the 3 levels of government was a lack of communication between the 3. Professor Bob Mann actually said that during the crisis Ray Nagin’s cell phone went out of batteries and that was one of the major causes of the communication disaster that ensued after katrina.
In any case, everyone within the company or organization NEEDS to be informed. and have only few designated people speak to the media. No one else should talk.
7. always apologize for any mistakes.
You actually saw that Sheikh siraj mentioned to the press that he “regrets” calling the FBI and CIA terrorist. of course that would have caused him so much more trouble so it was a smart move to state that publicly.
likewise, take the Mattel situation (the toy company) and the lead paint on their toys. One of the first things they did afterward is put up a video from the CEO of their Mattel on the website apologizing and saying they will take every measure needed to ensure that it never happens again and that the toys will be safe for children, and they recalled all their toys for the safety of children everywhere. or something like that.
so always apologize and never try to justify any mistakes, because that will ruin company image and their credibility will go down the drain.
there are many more.. but these are general rules.. depending on each specific situation there are many more guidelines to follow.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
PS we did get a few emails coming from whyislam.org which were sent through their contact page which were forwarded over.
Reporters didn’t have problems getting in touch with us. Some who called Masjid Taqwa first didn’t get the right contact etc.
Since last monday we have been covered by CNN, BBC Radio, Reuters, AFP, FoxNews, NBC, CBS, Japanese Radio, Columbian Radio, Brazilian TV and a whole lot of smaller news media outlets in between. Media wise alhumdulilah we’ve done well due to:
1. Having someone handling this full time gives media people a specific point of reference. That media person must return calls in a timely fashion and facilitate those reporters by providing them with resources that would be helpful for them to tell a better story. Think of how good the CNN footage was because we provided them Hi-res files.
2. NY Post being in NY putting that J-had Train article on the main page got everyone’s attention in NY. NY is the media hub of the world. So even though the post is trash, headlines grab attention, and they got their 50 cents that day.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Inshallah Sister shirien I will email you soon, appreciate all of your advice and help!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Bismillah
(Shirien, can you email this off to br. Azeem?)
I disagree with Shirien’s assessment…but take her nasiha because you can never have enough nasiha. And thats how the smart play their game!
If I were to rate how Why Islam? handled the media situation…than I would give them a 9/10. Bros were quick to respond on blogs and whatnot and there was good coordination. Also having Azeem here in the blogosphere, delivering the message personally and then on CNN outclassing them (masha Allah!) is another plus because it is a sign of efficiency and a healthy system that actually works. Keep it up!
The one thing that really got me was…the disappointing fact that this was all about some subway ads and in the long run I am wondering how effective these ads are going to be? All of New York knows about it so..isn’t it somewhat redundant to put up the ads when now, you guys are more famous than ever? In other words, you already overshot your goal…so now aim higher.
My nasiha would be, at this point:
-be confident in whatever steps you now take, more people are watching so don’t be afraid to one-up it!
-stick with the campaign BUT put up new ads that are much more “aggressive” in their Dawah, you have every right to do so and you have “earned” it in the eyes of the public by defending yourselves successfully…with this you have a surprise. Go for the GOLD! There is NOTHING wrong with putting up an ad asking people to convert to Islam.
-use this as an opportunity to discuss Imam Siraj Wahaj’s achievements in those advertisements–in other words, say what the media and New Yorkers NEED to hear NOW–talk about the community work and how Muslims have given back to America
-I would even suggest canceling the ad campaign and investing it in a new project, one that aims even higher.
All the best and May Allah reward you for your hard work, Ameen!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Br. Dawud,
I never disagreed with the fact that they have handled it extremely well so far. In fact I believe in several places i’ve applauded the direction that they’ve taken.
However, there is always room for improvement and doing more to avoid problems. Br. Dawud, the enormity of this campaign is not comprehensibly to lay people who are not working on the inside. I’m sure anyone at ICNA can tell you that this is probably one of the most stressful times of their lives.
Also, in terms of the media coverage and the effectiveness of the campaign, subhanallah yes you are right, they gained a lot of attention but that is what will make it even more successful. in truth, the focus has shifted from “the ads should provoke thought.. drawing people into the campaign” to “we need to not let them oppress us take away all of our rights, and us not do anything about it”
sure it’s still about dawah.. but there are HUGE other issues involved right now.
wallahu alem.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Not going through with it would be sending the message that we gave in to pressure.
You would be surprised that even though this has been all over the news there are still many people out there that just don’t pay attention to the news and haven’t heard anything about this. The people who have now unfortunately will see the ads with preconceived notions. OR they might forget the controversy one month from now.
Either way we are doing this for Allah (S) and he has already put barakah in these efforts. So we pray that he will continue to accept our efforts. Our job is just to get the message out. We can’t depend on anyone to represent Islam for us, we have to be spokespeople for our own faith.
August 1st, 2008 at 4:28 am
I just wanted to say something about the respone given to the blogoshere by ICNA. Alhamdulillah it was quick, informational, and well-put - but either way, it can’t really be classified as a way ICNA handled the situation, these all of these Muslim communities and their blogs, already agree with points that ICNA has made. It’s the non-muslims that have seen the stuff on the news that need to be payed attention to. B/c of the media coverage, more people than ever before will have probably gone to the Why Islam site looking for answers to satisfy their curiosity of the controversy. Therefore, I think, on the Why Islam site there should atleast be a link to, if not a page, explaining the truths of the situation so that the non-muslims become more informed, and don’t start spreading the things they saw in the news to others.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:17 am
Seems too many chefs in the kitchen.
It’s not true that “you can never have enough nasiha.”
With the noise of this subway campaign, many Muslim bloggers are jumping their guns and adding their two cents.
WhyIslam are doing well, alhamdulillah.