Muslim Men in Journalism: The World's Last Hope Against Fake News

Becoming the Alpha Muslim

Late last year, I had the chance to sit down to talk to Hussein Kesvani about his work as a Muslim journalist.

A lot happened between then and now that led to me not publishing this podcast episode soon after I recorded it.

I figure now's as good a time as any.

Hussein Kesvani is the UK/Europe editor for Mel Magazine, a publication ostensibly about men and masculinity (though I would argue it's perpetuating modern degeneracy and promoting men being Soyboys.)

This is most certainly a black mark against Hussein, who is otherwise a fine fellow and an accomplished, non-hacky journalist.

He's also written for Buzzfeed, Vice, The Independent, The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Shortlist, and Refinery29.

He's a co-host of the No Country For Brown Men Podcast and also the Trash Future podcast.

Here's what we talked about during our short chat:

• The relationship between a writer and his editor, and why journalists publish pieces that can seem "editorialized" [4:55]
• What journalists and copywriters have in common when writing about "subjects" and clients [8:42]
• The challenge of writing on topics involving Muslims in a non-Muslim publication [13:05]
• How BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) people can get their foot in the door of fast-changing world of modern journalism [17:20]
• Where does Hussein place crowd-funded, independent citizen journalists like Mike Cernovich, Tim Pool, and Lauren Southern in the ecosystem of journalism as a whole [23:58]
• How the definition of "journalism" has changed in recent years [27:18]
• On the journalistic value of what many citizen journalists think passes for journalism [30:09]
• Do mainstream media publications have a responsibility to be impartial and objective? [35:26]
• How can Muslim men get their start in journalism? Hussein gives us practical advice. (Hint: copywriting is an important skill) [39:56]