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Islamic Human Rights Commission

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11 January 2007

PRESS RELEASE: Report on Muslims’ responses to the media to be launched 26 January 2007.

Venue: Foreign Press Association, 11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AJ, UK

Date: 26 January 2006

Time: 2pm – 5pm

A report on Muslims’ expectations of the media, including analyses of film, TV news, and literature will be launched on 26 January 2007 in London.

The report entitled ‘The British Media and Muslim Representation: The Ideology of Demonisation’ discusses the findings of IHRC’s quantitative survey on Muslim expectations. The report interrogates those findings through qualitative research which sees Muslims in the UK outline their responses to issues of citizenship and the role of the media. In particular often unconscious structural and inherent bias and prejudice are examined with a view to highlighting human rights obligations on the part of media producers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the view is pessimistic with 87% of respondents seeing the media as Islamophobic. However the level of engagement that respondents have with issues are enlightening and the authors base their recommendations for a more responsible, engaged and free media on basic human rights principles that require acting upon by all public and private institutions.

Previous volumes in the series deal with discrimination, citizenship, faith schools, hijab and law. Review copies in hard copy or PDF format are available from the press office.

Reviews of the volume follow.

This work provides us with an invaluable tool for understanding the place of British Muslims in the world today. It explores the representation of British Muslims in the British media and in the era of the “war on terror”, this is essential reading.

Dr Steve Hewitt,
University of Brimingham

This research addresses British Muslim concerns in relation to the representation of Islam and its followers by the mass media. The aim is to identify the dominant discourse(s) and frames of reference in which the mass media locates Islam and Muslims. The message in this report is clear, media organisations themselves must recognise that Muslims form part of their audience and seek their input at all levels.

Faisal Bodi,
Journalist and commentator for The Guardian

At a vital moment in intercultural relations, when the need to cultivate ethics of pluriversality in a global world press more urgently than ever, this book provides an illuminating critical assessment of the role of mass media in shaping (mis)perceptions and (mis)communication. Brave and inspirational analyses of this kind are key if we are to shift from the currently prevailing religious identity politics marked by denial, denigration, exclusion and subordination to an alternative pattern marked by recognition, promotion, inclusion and equal opportunity.

Professor Jan Aart Scholte,
Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick

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For more information please contact (+44) 20 8904 4222 or (+44) 7958 607475 email info@ihrc.org.[ENDS]

Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom

Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org