Reporters talk about covering the Rifqa Bary case

Media coverage of the controversy surrounding a Muslim teen from Central Ohio who ran away to Florida to join a conservative Christian church was the topic of an SPJ diversity event on Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Worthington Inn in Worthington.

The Central Ohio SPJ Chapter sponsored the event which examined reporters’ experiences covering the Rifqa Bary case. Bary is the teen girl who ran off to Orlando, Fla., on July 19. At the time, she said her life was in danger if she remained in Columbus because her father would kill her as a result of her conversion to Christianity.

The Nov. 19 panel included Meredith Heagney of the Columbus Dispatch, who covered the story in Columbus, and Amy Edwards of the Orlando Sentinel, who covered the story in Florida. Dispatch columnist Joe Blundo served as moderator. Their coverage, and the coverage of other media outlets, set off a storm of verbal and many times personal attacks, telephone calls and e-mails from conservative Christians who said they thought reporters were not covering the case fairly.

Blundo said he wrote a column in February about the issue in which he concluded the case was about a confused teenage girl who ran away from her parents – a domestic dispute – more than it was an illustration of the Muslim-Christian divide. To date, the newspaper has printed 17 stories about Bary, Blundo said.

Heagney said the girl was back in Ohio as of Oct. 27 and living with a foster family and attending an online school. She is in the custody of Franklin County Children’s Services.

There are three cases in Franklin County Juvenile Court to determine where the girl will go next. However, a judge’s “gag order” has prevented anyone involved from talking to the media. Until the next hearing Dec. 27, the case is in limbo.

Issues of religion and ethnicity are involved on both sides, Heagney said. Also, Internet bloggers have aggravated the situation. She said the issue is “tailor-made” for an ideological clash at this point in history.

“Muslims versus Christians is already a hot issue,” Heagney said. “Only homosexuality debates draw more responses (to the newspaper).”

Both Edwards and Heagney said they’ve been “assaulted” via e-mail by right-wing bloggers.

Edwards said the coverage in Orlando brought up issues of media credentialing. Both bloggers and legitimate reporters from established newspapers were credentialed for the court hearings. The bloggers held press conferences prior to court hearings to push their side of the story and then proceeded to blog about the court hearings as bona fide journalists, who are not supposed to express bias.

None of the reporters have spoken directly with Bary.

Heagney said the girl appears genuinely frightened and is well aware of how big her story has become.

“She sees herself as a warrior,” Heagney said.