Surveillance video shows the men apparently using a hammer to try to smash a rear glass door around 2:30 AM today at the office in Dearborn, a city with large Arab and Muslim populations.
The men left without getting inside.
Police Chief Ronald Haddad tells the Detroit Free Press the men's motive is unclear but that "the tranquility of the workers was deeply violated."
The Arab American News says staff went to a safe area after hearing the attempted break-in. Publisher Osama Siblani says in a report on the newspaper's website that regardless of motive it "will not deter us from continuing our journalistic mission.