The Racial Hatred Act: Case study 1

Introduction:

• two different experiences of the media

Media report:

• 'Renaissance: why women and Christians are embracing Islam', The
  Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Fray, May 1995

Comment:

• Sydney Morning Herald journalist Peter
  Fray on producing a balanced article
• Maha Abdo, President of the
  Australia Muslim Women's Association, on visual cliches and stereotypes

Other:

• Religious tolerance in Australia:
  Australian attitudes to Islam

Please note that none of the reports in the case studies have been the
subject of complaints or queries under the Racial Hatred Act.

While
she says that the Herald series on Islam reflects a depth of understanding
and sensitivity, Maha Abdo cites other reportage which inflames prejudice
and contributes to misinformation in the wider community.

Maha says that during the Gulf War, the media's persistent use of images
of Muslim women to accompany editorials on the crisis played a major part
in an increase in violence and vilification of Australian Muslim women.
Her comments highlight visual clichés and stereotyping.

Maha Abdo:

Everywhere you looked at the time, there were pictures of Muslim women on magazine and newspaper covers and on TV, because we look different and we're highly visible. From our point of view it was as though they were saying to the wider community: "there are aliens all around us, so we have to be careful of them." But we jumped on the bandwagon and used the increase in profile at the time as an opportunity to try to educate the community about the role of Islam in Australia and about Muslim women. We tried to change the negative aspects into positive and I think overall the media's portrayal of Muslim women has improved. But it was frustrating at the time. I only accepted interview invitations from media programs which I knew were live because I was worried about being misrepresented or that my answers would be distorted if the interviews were recorded. But they still found ways of perpetuating the stereotype. On one morning TV show, they ran file footage of the Gulf War violence as I was speaking about Muslim women in Australia. I couldn't see it as I was speaking of course and we all know that TV pictures have more impact than words. There was another time when I was invited to talk about the Association's National Conference - it seems ironic that it was called Bridging the Gap - and, as I was talking to the host who was reacting very positively to what I was saying, they were running years-old footage from violent protests in Sydney when one of the first Sydney Mosques was being built. There's still a long way to go in terms of media reporting of Muslim issues. So often the Australian TV documentaries on Islam use overseas-taped stories or overseas spokespeople. If you really want to educate Australian society about Islam and women, why not show them Islam through the eyes of Muslim Australian women, why not use us as your source?

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