Mission statement

Mission statement of Arab West Report

AWR aims at providing objective and independent documentation, reporting, interpretation, analysis and commentary of and on cultural, social and religious issues concerning the Arab world and the West. The objective is to foster greater understanding and tolerance between Arab and Western cultures. AWR believes that this will help reduce tensions - a factor greatly needed to enhance development in the Arab world.

Plan of action:

AWR describes current sentiments, differences and common understanding between the Arab world and the West and studies the origins of misunderstandings, prejudices and tensions between different cultures.

Incorrect and biased perceptions of other people's beliefs, convictions, motivations, and different forms of pressure (social, overpopulation, scarce resources, etc.) are bound to lead to tensions between cultures.

These incorrect and biased perceptions may be the result of a complete lack of understanding of the other's background and motivations.

It also may be the result of political involvement of interest groups and nations but that should not be claimed if they are not self-declared or otherwise proven because unjust claims easily develop into conspiracy theories and could result in counterproductive responses harming a mutual understanding between the Arab world and the West.

The need for an intercultural understanding makes AWR focus on reporting and documentation of culture and beliefs, economy, social issues including human rights, and economic development in the Arab world, including those of Muslims and Eastern Christians, their attitudes towards the West and Western attitudes towards the Arab and Islamic world and disseminating that information to Western and Arab media, community leaders, academics and decision makers.

A primary activity of AWR is to provide translations and summaries from local media in various Arab countries that are needed to gain an understanding of issues that are important for a mutual understanding between the Arab world and the West.

AWR provides a media watch and criticizes articles and reports in both the West and the Arab world that are obviously one-sided or provide distorted information of any kind. It believes that such one-sided reports tend to contribute to polarization between different cultures and thus should be publicly criticized.

One-sided or distorted information includes:
- Conspiracy theories or raising suspicions without providing evidence,
- Lies, exaggerations, distortions, omissions that skew facts,
- Taking information out of context,
- Manipulations and unchallenged assertions,
- The use of obviously unreliable 'sources,'
- Rushing to conclusions unjustified by the facts.

Public criticism will either make media and authors aware that their information is biased, either intentional or unintentional. If it is unintentional it will reduce the number of biased publications. If it is intentional those intentions will become exposed and will influence such publications to be more conscientious with their articles reducing tensions between cultures.

AWR believes that peaceful relations can prevail if concerns are discussed on the basis of facts that are not inflated or minimized. It produces its own analytical reports that need to meet high standards of professionalism.

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