Two Muslim Journalists Walk Into a Podcast - Mehdi and Ayman Mohyeldin on Iran, Gaza, and Media Bias

About this episode

Mehdi and Ayman Mohyeldin discuss their careers in journalism, media bias regarding Gaza and Iran, and the influence of Israel on US foreign policy.

Mehdi and Ayman Mohyeldin have a lot in common: They were both born in the same year, they're both immigrants and naturalized US citizens, they're both Muslim, and they both worked at Al Jazeera and then MSNBC (now MS NOW). As Mehdi says to his former colleague, "I look at you and I feel like I'm looking at a taller, better looking, Arab version of myself." Ayman joins Mehdi in Washington DC for the latest episode of 'We're Not Kidding' to discuss their careers in TV journalism, the failures of Western media on Gaza, and the new US war with Iran. The two discuss Israel's role in instigating the war, Benjamin Netanyahu's decades-long obsession with toppling the Iranian regime, as well as the media's unwillingness to name Israel as an influence on US foreign policy. "Israel has said it wants regime change in Iran for 40 years, but you couldn't say that until Marco Rubio came out and said that," Ayman says. As one of the only American journalists who lived in Gaza during the 2008-09 war, Ayman brings a perspective on the region that few other mainstream journalists are able to. The two talk about Ayman's history of reporting on the conflict, what has changed (and sadly not changed)…

People in this episode

Host: Mehdi

Guest: Ayman Mohyeldin

Topics covered

• journalism
• media bias
• Gaza
• Iran
• Western media
• Muslim journalists

Keywords

• journalism
• media bias
• Gaza
• Iran
• Israel
• Benjamin Netanyahu
• Muslim journalists
• Western media

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Al Jazeera, MSNBC, Israel

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