<div>A recent Opinion L.A. blog post ran into some misunderstanding with readers over the accompanying photo. The post noted the quiet opening of an Islamic community center near the ground zero site in New York and said the lack of outcry "may indicate a lull in Islam-bashing in political discourse."
The post was headlined "Is anti-Islamic sentiment subsiding?" and featured a photo (above) of a group of men attending the opening of the center.
The problem came with the juxtaposition of the headline about anti-Islamic sentiment and the photo of the men, who are Sikhs. Several readers interpreted this to mean that editors didn't know the difference between Muslims and Sikhs.
"It absolutely confounds me to think that no one at L.A. Times caught sight of the fact that although the article is related to the anti-Muslim sentiment, Sikh gentlemen are pictured next to it. Are we so ignorant that we are still perceiving a Sikh as a Muslim?" reader G. Singh emailed.
Likewise, reader Dolly Sidhu emailed: "The media has done it again. Showing Sikhs and talking about Muslims. I am disappointed that people that write the stories are educated and knowledgeable, but they don't know the difference between Sikh and a Muslim."
Several others left similar comments on the post itself.
Web producer Alexandra Le Tellier was concerned about the comments and said, "We didn't intend to offend anyone." And she explained the photo's selection. "The photo is from the opening of NYC's Islamic center, which is what the post is about, and the photo caption doesn
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The post was headlined "Is anti-Islamic sentiment subsiding?" and featured a photo (above) of a group of men attending the opening of the center.
The problem came with the juxtaposition of the headline about anti-Islamic sentiment and the photo of the men, who are Sikhs. Several readers interpreted this to mean that editors didn't know the difference between Muslims and Sikhs.
"It absolutely confounds me to think that no one at L.A. Times caught sight of the fact that although the article is related to the anti-Muslim sentiment, Sikh gentlemen are pictured next to it. Are we so ignorant that we are still perceiving a Sikh as a Muslim?" reader G. Singh emailed.
Likewise, reader Dolly Sidhu emailed: "The media has done it again. Showing Sikhs and talking about Muslims. I am disappointed that people that write the stories are educated and knowledgeable, but they don't know the difference between Sikh and a Muslim."
Several others left similar comments on the post itself.
Web producer Alexandra Le Tellier was concerned about the comments and said, "We didn't intend to offend anyone." And she explained the photo's selection. "The photo is from the opening of NYC's Islamic center, which is what the post is about, and the photo caption doesn
More...