Author Chips Away at Hollywood Stereotypes of Arabs, Muslims

March 5, 2008

Author: Maureen Simpson

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/55822/author-chips-away-at-hollywood-stereotypes-of-arabs-muslims/

George Clooney asked him to work as a consultant on two films - including “Syriana” - and national news programs and networks such as “The Today Show,” “Nightline” and CNN have featured the Hilton Head author on a regular basis.

But retired communications professor Jack Shaheen said it’s a lonely job taking Hollywood to task for the ethnic stereotypes it portrays. He’s ready for more company on library bookshelves and lecture circuits.

“I don’t talk about my work with most people, because it gets one of those `Oh’ responses and the subject changes,” said Shaheen, an internationally-acclaimed author and media critic whose work focuses on identifying the negative portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in movies and on television.

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas once described him as “a one-man anti-defamation league,” according to a press release.