rachelwoodlock.com

Barney Zwartz, the Age’s religion editor has posted the text of his speech on Islam and the Australian news media, which he presented on Saturday 2/4 at the National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies. It provides a good insight into the difficulties facing journalists in reporting on Islam and Muslims, particularly the problem of needing to report newsworthy items, whilst avoiding the problem of slant and bias.

But the media, especially at the lower end, has played a powerful part in creating an atmosphere of suspicion about Australian Muslims. I want to acknowledge that, while also saying it is not entirely our fault, and that any solution cannot ignore the media.

Well worth a read!