was an Iraqi Kurdish refugee and respected imam living in Albany, New York, when as part of a controversial FBI sting operation in 2004. Though critics argued that the government failed to provide evidence of Aref’s guilt, he was before to Iraq.

What role did media coverage play in Aref’s story? That was the focus of a research project sponsored by the and conducted by and five Lender Student Fellows.

Their findings, which will be presented at a symposium, “: The American War On Terror,” on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, showed how local and regional news coverage shaped public understanding in ways that supported prosecution narratives and made conviction more likely.

The findings are also being showcased as an exhibition on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 at . That event is sponsored by the Lender Center with support from the New York Humanities Center, Coalition for Civil Freedoms, Muslim Counterpublics Lab and Syracuse Peace Council.

The research team’s comprehensive examination of news coverage around the case found the following themes and patterns.

Over-Reliance on Official Law Enforcement Sources

• Reporting contained official government narratives and cited law enforcement and government officials more frequently than any other source, an imbalance that presented readers with primarily one perspective on the case.
• Coverage failed to question the legitimacy of the sting operation via independent experts.
• Alleged connections to terrorist organizations in news reports were based on weak or unverified evidence.

• Most media misreported, and then failed to correct, a claim by federal government translators that Aref’s name was found with a Kurdish word meaning “commander” in front of it; the word actually means “brother.”

Uncritical Framing of Sting Operations as a National Security Necessity

• 60% of articles portrayed terrorism stings as essential to national security and helped normalize controversial law enforcement practices.
• Coverage celebrated the sting as a counterterrorism success before the trial had concluded.
• Articles linked the arrest to heightened terror alerts, even when officials said cases were unrelated.

Direct Impact on Public Perception

• An emphasis on potential terrorist connections influenced how the public viewed Aref’s credibility.
• News coverage emphasized Aref’s identity as a Muslim more than any other identity he held.
• Most reporting was incomplete and did not include the voices of his family, community or even his lawyer.

Gauging Fair Reporting

Husain, an assistant professor of magazine, news and digital journalism in the Newhouse School, examines and reports on the ongoing “war on terror,” including the impacts of its news coverage. She believes that newsrooms have the potential to use their resources to assure more accuracy in reporting, and that the public has the ability to assess the reliability of news coverage they see.

“One of the big solutions is to give journalists enough time to properly report a story using objective and investigative methods,” she says. “It’s Journalism 101, but reporters speaking to many and varied sources about a situation is an important step in getting as close to the truth as you can.”

News outlets can also guard against poorly reported stories and assure better accountability to their audiences “by making sure their reporting is driven not by those in power, but by the people who are most affected by the decisions of those in power,” she says.

Journalists can also audit their own systems to make sure their reporting is not harming communities, she says. “When newsroom leadership fails to do this, it falls upon individual journalists to take responsibility. Reporters have always been able to push editors and higher-ups to change coverage or to pursue certain stories.” Husain also cites the resource  and its as a tool for news consumers.

The student fellows for the project are:

• Mohammad Ebad Athar (College of Arts and Sciences/history); and Azadeh Ghanizadeh (College of Visual and Performing Arts/writing studies, rhetoric, and composition); both current doctoral candidates
• Olivia Boyer ’26 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications/magazine, news and digital journalism)
• Mary Hanrahan ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Tia Poquette ’25 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs)

A standing room audience gathered in the community room at the Salt City Market in the City of Syracuse on a recent evening for the first public screening of a new documentary film written and directed by Maxwell School sociologist Gretchen Purser.

The 53-minute film, “Raise the Roof: Building Tenant Power in Syracuse,” depicts the formation and activism of the Syracuse Tenants Union (STU), a grassroots organization that advocates for tenants’ rights and legislative change. Purser, associate professor of sociology, partnered with the STU on the project in collaboration with Franklin Thompson of August Fifth Productions, who served as director of photography and producer.

“The film seeks to reveal how, due to the imbalance of power with their landlords, tenants can make few changes as individuals, sometimes face retaliation for reporting code violations, and often wind up stuck due to the cost of relocation and rent,” says Purser. “We wanted to show how tenants organizing collectively can challenge the uneven power imbalance with landlords.”

The film is a culmination of a through the Interdisciplinary Research Leaders (IRL) program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The IRL program supports action-oriented scholarship undertaken in collaboration with community partners and focuses on equity and health research.

In addition to Purser, the research team included Jamila Michener, professor of government and public policy at Cornell University, and Palmer Harvey, an organizer with STU. The team conducted focus groups throughout the City of Syracuse to better understand tenants’ experiences and introduce them to tenant organizing as a strategy to improve community health. The project was designed to help build STU’s membership base, and data from the focus groups was incorporated into the documentary.

“This is a great example of using social science research to have a real-world impact in our local community,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate dean for research and Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking. “Professor Purser’s work on tenants’ experiences in Syracuse and how they are working together to advocate for policy change can be a valuable resource for other communities facing challenges with power imbalances between renters and landlords and inadequate housing.”

Filming began in October 2023 in numerous locations across the City of Syracuse, including tenants’

homes, at union meetings, in offices and at public protests and rallies. Union organizers and tenants are interviewed in the film, along with city officials and Michener.

The tenants shared their experiences with mold, infestation, large rent increases, lead poisoning, structural and plumbing issues, caved-in ceilings and broken furnaces as well as eviction, sexual harassment and predatory rental arrangements.

Purser says the collective organizing aims to achieve tangible improvements in housing conditions for poor and predominantly Black families in the Syracuse community.

Participants in the film offered various proposals to improve conditions for tenants. For example, Good Cause Eviction legislation would cap rent increases and limit evictions to cases of non-payment or lease violation, prohibiting the kinds of retaliatory evictions that Purser and her colleagues documented throughout their research.

Speakers at the screening at Salt City Market also presented ideas, including an updated rental registry and code enforcement system that would mandate lead inspection, charge additional fees for landlords renting unregistered properties, revoke registry for code violators and allocate funds from penal fees to repair damages. City Auditor Alexander Marion, who participated with organizers in a question-and-answer session, said the eventual goal is to use money from violations, fines, registrations and inspections to better fund code enforcement.

Jocelyn Richards, an STU organizer, hopes the documentary inspires viewers and sparks curiosity about tenant organizing.

“This documentary reveals that nearly every tenant in Syracuse is encountering or has encountered similar issues: we’re not alone,” says Richards. “And it’s normal to be fearful of taking action as an individual, but when we come together, we have both more power and more protection from retaliation.”

Film organizers are planning additional screenings in 2025, starting with a showing at the Maxwell School. Members of the University community are invited to join a at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Dr. Paul and Natalie Strasser Legacy Room. Still other viewing opportunities are planned for New York City and Ithaca, New York. The documentary will eventually be publicly available online and accessible on the STU website.

Purser is director of the Law, Society and Policy Integrated Learning Major, research co-director on Advocacy and Activism at the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration, and a senior research associate at the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry. Her research and teaching focuses on the housing struggles of the urban poor, work and labor market transformation, and the policies and practices of poverty management in the U.S. She has written numerous op-eds and public-facing articles on criminal justice reform, inequality and precarious work in the U.S.

Story by Michael Kelly

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience by sending them directly to ������Ƶ at newsphoto@syr.edu. You might see it featured here.

Coach Fran Brown with his son on the field in the JMA Wireless Dome, surrounded by players and fans, after the Orange upset Miami in their final game of the season over the weekend. (Photo courtesy of Syracuse Athletics)

As part of National Coming Out Day, students and Otto the Orange participated in a Chalk the Quad event. (Photo by Jeremy Brinn)

Representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and University staff members from the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) pose for a photo on the parade ground at the National Veterans Resource Center (NVRC). The SBA representatives were visiting the NVRC to learn more about the IVMF’s entrepreneurship programs, post-program support and research initiatives in support of veteran small business owners. (Photo by Charlie Poag)

attended the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program at Syracuse University’s English Language Institute this summer for four weeks to participate in a variety of workshops, field trips and textual and oral communication courses before matriculating into their degree programs at institutions across the United States. (Photo by Amy McCoy)

New students move into the residence halls with help from orientation leaders, volunteers and the Goon Squad. (Photo by Marilyn Hesler)

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience by filling out a or sending it directly to ������Ƶ at newsphoto@syr.edu. You might see it featured here.

Campus community members enjoy a spring day. (Photo by Hung Phung, a student in the School of Information Studies)

The joint U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force ROTC Color Guard passes by the reviewing stand during the 107th Chancellor’s Review held inside the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday, March 8. (Photo by Charlie Poag)

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