Chapter 8 - Towards An Australian Framework For Best Practice In Reporting News Involving Muslims and Islam

Summary

Overview of the Project/Problem

It is well established within the research that both in Australia and internationally there have been significant problems with news media coverage of Muslims (Saeed 2003, 2007; Manning 2003; Nacos and Torres- Reyna 2003; Aly 2007; Manning 2006a, 2006b; Richardson 2001). Hussein Tahiri and Michele Grossman (2013) in their study of factors contributing to radicalization found that mainstream news media coverage of Muslims contributed to community tensions, social division and isolation. However, much less attention has been paid to ways in which the stereotypical and generalized reportage of Muslims can be addressed. There are three exceptions to this, including two reports and an edited handbook which tackled the issue from various perspectives. A report commissioned by the International Federation of Journalists entitled Getting the Facts Right: Reporting Ethnicity and Religion(Rupar 2012) identified the need for journalists to report factually and accurately, in particular on stories about acts of racism and intolerance, and when reporting stories that involve ethnic and religious groups. In addition, Verica Rupar (2012) identified that reports about tensions between communities should be covered sensitively, while avoiding negative stereotypical portrayals of members of religious groups. Importantly, they identified that news media reports about culturally and religious diverse groups should challenge those news sources who made intolerant remarks, and that journalists need to explore and challenge the assumptions that inspire such comments. The report called The Search for Common Ground: Muslims, non- Muslims and the UK media, produced by the Greater London Authority (Greater London Authority 2007), provided a series of professional style and conduct guides for journalists reporting on stories involving Muslims, while also suggesting that news media personnel should review their coverage of stories involving Muslims. That report also advised news organizations to hire journalists of Muslim heritage. In the United States, in a project funded by the US Social Science Research Council, Lawrence Pintak and Stephen Franklin (2013) produced an edited digital handbook, Islam for Journalists: A Primer on Covering Muslim Communities in America(Pintak and Franklin 2013). The edited compilation provided research and reporting techniques designed to facilitate more detailed and inclusive news media reportage of Muslims. The two reports and the handbook all emphasized the need for improved news media coverage of Muslims as well as the imperative for education and training for journalists covering such stories.