This web package was found in the Washington Post about an American Muslim who is trying to pursue a career as an “imam,” or one who leads the Islamic prayers. His communications skills and fluency in English can help Adeel Zeb be a stronger community leader than many of the spiritual leaders now. This web package includes a photo gallery to emphasize Zeb’s role in the community and his capability of being an efficient imam. The photos allow readers to see how active Zeb is in the community. Throughout the three-page story, author Michelle Boorstein has embedded links that may be of interest to readers. The first link was a piece written by Zeb in the On Faith section of the Post regarding the movie “My Name is Khan.” The following link leads to the Islamic Society of North America web site because Boorstein included a quote from the ISNA president regarding the development of imams. Even as a Muslim student, I probably would have never click the linked to follow this web page. Because religion is such a sensitive subject as is, leading your readers to a website solely about the Islamic religion may turn readers off, and even offend certain readers. While this article is heavily religion based, I believe staying as neutral as possible is the most efficient way to address religious issues. The only positive to keeping the ISNA link embedded in this article is the curiosity that may stem from readers asking exactly what ISNA is and what they do to benefit society, more specifically the Muslim society. Workhalal.com was a link included in this web package to show readers the steps Zeb has taken to move to a profession as an imam. I have never heard about this site nor has it ever been referenced to me so it was interesting to look around the site. This link however, was not necessary for the web package. The workhalal.com reference was very minor and not important to readers. Workhalal.com is not a prominent site that you hear about in the news everyday, and I definitely would not have checked it out if it weren’t for this assignment. Zeb references a personal story about his journey to mecca, the holy meeting site in Islam. This anecdote should have been laterally reported, either with footage from mecca or a map to show readers where mecca is or a video to display how Muslims pay their pilgrimage there and the traditions of mecca. This web package focused primarily on embedded links. While most of the links were educating and interesting, there were a few that could have been eliminated and Boorstein could have been a little more creative with her package (i.e include a video of an imam at work, a map displaying mecca or a map showing the highest Muslim occupancy, etc.) Though this web package was not the most interesting, it followed the criteria and laterally reported the issue Zeb was addressing about imams in the United States.
You have good information here, but this is tough to read — use short, journalistic paragraphs, please! 4/5