FBI Hosts Town Hall with Arabs and Muslims on Muslim TV Network

April 12, 2006

Source: MSNBC.com

Wire Service: Reuters

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12292799/

On April 12, 2006 Reuters reported, "The FBI will hold its first nationally televised 'town hall' meeting for Muslim and Arab-Americans Thursday in a effort to improve relations and enlist their help in fighting terrorism, an FBI official said. Paul Moskal, chief division counsel for the FBI in Buffalo, N.Y., who will lead the meeting and field questions, said the agency and the Arab and Muslim American communities needed to overcome misconceptions about each other and foster closer cooperation... The meeting will be broadcast on Bridges TV, an independent, commercial U.S. television network broadcasting lifestyle and culture programs around the clock for a primarily Muslim American audience. The televised meeting is also part of efforts to encourage Muslim and Arab Americans to report instances of post-Sept. 11 backlash, intimidation, racism or harassment so the agency can enforce their civil rights, Moskal said... Moskal said the FBI had long conducted local town hall meetings, at which agents make contact with citizens and answer questions about their work, in a broad range of ethnic, religious and other communities throughout the United States. But he said Thursday’s session was the first nationally televised event targeting Muslim and Arab Americans."