Nawaz on representation in the newsroom following 9/11

“I think a lot about who gets to ask questions and what questions are asked. And I remember very distinctly, early in my career … in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks there was a prominent national magazine that came out with a cover story and the title, in big block letters across the cover was, ‘Why do they hate us?’ And it featured a sea of angry, Brown, male faces. And I remember thinking, that question went through several layers of people and decision-making before it was agreed upon as the most important to pose to the American and international public … It was such a simple question at the moment, that for me as a Brown American woman, a Pakistani American woman … to be sitting in the newsroom at that moment and say, ‘Oh this is how decisions are made. This is how questions get asked.’ I needed to be a part of that conversation.” - Amna Nawaz