Influence of Australian Media Specifically on Muslim Communities - Coursework Example

Influence of Australian Media Specifically on Muslim Communities Influence of AustralianMedia Specifically on Muslim Communities Background to Context: Migration is a traditional practice that gives a way or an opportunity to people to move from their native lands to other regions, in search of better facilities and improved standard of life. All types of people belonging to different nations migrate to desirable places and spend their whole lives in other countries, if they have get satisfactory outcome from their decision of migrating to a particular place. Muslims have also been migrating since the advent of Islam in the Arab land. Muslims are living in every continent of the world mainly because they have a high population and also economic conditions in majority of Muslim dominated countries are not very attractive. Muslims have spread all over the world including developed countries like America, Canada, and England. Additionally, Australia has not been exception from the Muslim concentration. Problem Statement In this current era, it is the most common fact that media has a great influence on the people all over the world. Illustrations and persuasive tools of the media work as magic bullets in people`s minds. Similar to other developed countries, media of Australia is also very advanced and vast in every sense. In this paper, we shall discuss the impact of the Australian media on different communities, but focus of this study is that to highlight the intense influence of the Australian media on the Muslim communities. Equal Rights in Australia: In modern communities, equality and justice are considered as basic rights of all citizens. The notion of offering equal opportunities to all is irrespective of the facts like cast, gender, race, or religious ethnicity (Yasmeen and Al Khudairi 2006). Similar laws have also been implemented in the Australia by the Australian government to ensure promotion of equal opportunities for every citizen and to avoid discrimination between people belonging to different cultural or religious backgrounds (Stout 2007). Education is the foremost need of every citizen; a research report on social and economical conditions of Muslims in Australia showed that Muslim students including both male and female are performing better in education as compared to non-Muslim Australian youth (Hassan 2008). However, the same report showed that when it comes to home ownership a vast difference has been observed between Muslims and non-Muslims because only 15% of the total Muslim population own homes in Australia, while rest of the Australian Muslims live in rented houses (Hassan 2008). Muslims in Australia: Muslim community forms a small part of the Australian population. In Australia, non-Muslims do not know much about the religion Islam and traditional values of Muslims through direct interactions with Muslims. However, media is the basic source of spreading cultural or religious values among masses (Arnstein 1969). Thus, native Non-Muslim Australians also get chance to learn about Muslim religious practices through media. Researchers have used the term mass media to effectively illustrate the image of Muslims created by media on people`s mind and the strategy through which media has greatly influenced Muslim communities of Australia (Rane, Ewart and Ewart 2010, p.232). Most of the researchers have found that media of Australia has created a distorted viewpoint of the audiences regarding values of Islam and Muslims along with the introduction of various misconceptions among masses. Research reports have shown that the bond between Muslims and other communities has been badly influenced that has resulted in weak relationships for very long time (Rane, Ewart and Ewart 2010). Overall, it is considered that wherever media reflects images of Muslims or the religion Islam, non-Muslims working behind the media sources intend to create negativity in the audience`s mind. As in the Western societies like the US, UK, and Australia non-Muslim population do not have any first hand source to learn about the ethical value of the religion Islam therefore, in such communities the media performs as the primary source of spreading knowledge about the religion Islam and its followers - the Muslims (Akbarzadeh and Saeed 2001). Australian Media and Islam: The 2006 census statistics of Australia disclosed that despite considerable Muslim population living in the country, still native citizens, and other non-Muslims individuals rarely get chance to interact with them. Researchers have reported that media has diverted its attention towards the concepts of Islam and practices of Muslims soon after the Gulf War in 1991 (Brand, Archbold and Rane 2001). However, some other intellectuals have written that media has been attracted towards Muslims since Iranian Revolution in 1979. Researchers have observed that every time media sources have aimed to illustrate Muslims and Islam both in negative terms (Brand, Archbold and Rane 2001). The reflection of negative images of Islam and Muslims by media went more intense after the incident of 9/11. Here, we cannot say that media is responsible for promoting violence against women, terrorism, and child abuse among Muslim communities, but these are some of the bitter realities, which have been observed in most underdeveloped Muslim communities. Media is expected to portray images of Muslims, Islam or any other thing clearly and with full responsibility. It means the media is responsible to show all pros and cons of the situations and events along with the ground realities. However, for the matter of Islam and Muslims it has observed that the media performs as a window and it only allows audience to view images of Islam from the vision of media controllers (Akbarzadeh and Saeed 2001). In short, media has narrowed the vision to observe and understand the ethical practices of Islam. It has been observed that media does not intend to illustrate something positive about Islam or Muslims, but if a minor act of terrorism took place even in the remote area, media gives hype to the issue (Poole and Richardson 2006, p.47). Australian media has no exception from such approaches and practices against the Muslim communities. It is not an intentional aim of the Australian media to specifically destroys Muslims` images, but after some major global incidents that have been proven to be most devastating in the world`s history have compelled the Western media to start such practices against the religion Islam (Poole and Richardson 2006, p. 35). Effects of Media: In the general, the potential aim of media sources is to centralize their attention on the events that are controversial, unusual, and extremely sensational in nature. When audiences want to know about any culture or religion then people want to observe and understand a certain phenomenon through broader spectrum (Mansouri and Wood 2008). However, in the matter of Islam and Muslim`s images it has observed that the media always alters its location, size, and direction to demonstrate only one side of the picture. Undoubtedly, media is very influencing source and it directly hits people`s cognition, also in Australia Non-Muslims have only one source to know about the Muslims, thus they are force to believe information solely provided to them through media sources. Nevertheless, on other hand, it could be understood that media has contributed to popularize the term Islam across the globe and now everyone has become familiar with the word Islam, however Non-Muslims are still unaware of the fundamental teachings and basic norms of Islam. Western Media and Islam: In the research, related to Muslims and Islam within the Western communities of Australia and discussion over inter-community bonds has been the major issue of attention along with the participation of Muslims in the Media. It has observed that being a part of the Western Media, Australian media sources have also described and showed similar Muslims` images since long time, like in the media channels of UK and the US (Brand, Archbold and Rane 2001). Thus, as a result when the Australian Muslims` view such images on media, they feel depressed and ashamed of those who are spoiling overall images of the Muslim community. Whereas, various content studies of the demonstration of Muslims and Islam in the media aim to spotlight on the factual representation, mainly through sources like TV, radio or newspaper. However, these sources have transformed factual representation into fictional representation (Brand, Archbold and Rane 2001). One main reason behind this practice is that people want to know what is more controversial and fictional about others however they should have mainly focused to gain knowledge about realities. Australian and Other Western Media: The Australian media is behind that of the US and UK, but it is equally contributing to propagate negative images of Muslims. A research report showed that after 9/11 more than 1,000 articles have been published about Muslims, Islam, and Islamic practices in The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, and The West Australian. Further, it has been elaborated in the research that the Australian media has a focus on the Middle East issues i.e. 29% of the news are related to them. However, 52% of the news covered with the crisis and conflicts against Non-Muslims. Additionally, the incidents of killings by the Muslims were given more coverage within the last decade (Brand, Archbold and Rane 2001, p. 270). While demonstration of human welfare services by Muslims have been illustrated only 4%. Such demonstrations of Islam and Muslims have made people Islam-phobic and not only Non-Muslims, but also Muslims themselves have become scared from authoritative powers of some Muslim groups (Akbarzadeh 2006, p. 43). As a result, today diversity has been observed in the perceptions of the Australian Muslims and other native Non-Muslim communities. Reaction of Audience: Undoubtedly, media has intense effect on people as illustrations of media forms a passive perception of the people and force them to think about the issues that could bring changes in their lives on permanent basis. The issue of Muslims` or Islam`s representation through media sources after 9/11 has been a serious topic of discussion among scholars (Kabir 2007). It is mainly because it has observed that media has transformed attitude of Non-Muslims aggressive towards Muslims. Participation of citizens and equal rights opportunity strategy has been badly influenced after the great act of terrorism in the US by the Muslim group (Kabir 2007). A clear racial discrimination has been observed in Australia with the Muslims living there, additionally Sikhs have also been victimized by verbal and physical attacks because of their similar appearance. In fact, everyone who looked like Muslims with their physical appearance faced discrimination, wherever they go after viewing Muslims` images on media soon after 9/11 (Vahed 2008, p.36). As a result, a racist violence took place and it still exists, Non-Muslims started considering Muslims only as Muslims not as the legal citizens of Australia. Media demonstration raised serious controversial problems of the Australian Muslims. Some other researchers have also reported that Muslims changed their names and physical appearances in order to hide their identity and secure themselves from the racial discrimination that has spread all over the society. People of Australia considered presence of Muslims in their state as a threat to the country. However, these people solely depend on the information and images reflected by the Australian media. On other hand, it has observed that those native Australian who stay in interaction with the Muslims for longer period possess relatively different perception than other groups of their community (Hassan 2008). Additionally, they admit that individuals and groups of individuals are different from each other and all Muslims are like that as illustrated on the TV. Furthermore, despite such developments in the media sources, there is still one-fifth population of Australians, who are neither in interaction with media sources nor with the Muslim communities, so they possess no knowledge about Islam (Poole and Richardson 2006). Thus, they are neutral because they are unaware about the Muslims` and Islam`s images throughout the world. At one hand, Muslims` appearances create barriers for the Muslim communities in Australia, at the same time depiction of the Western glamorous culture has caused distances between Australian Muslims` practices and ethical obligations of their religion Islam. At first place, the Australian Muslims hide their identity for the sake of security, while secondly they have replaced their traditional practices with those of westernized culture and values (Rane, Ewart, and Ewart 2010, p. 230). Specifically, if we consider an example of women, researchers have observed a prominent change in their appearance clothing because of the Australian media effect. However, critics view this impact of media as less realistic for the Muslims living in the Non-Muslims` state. It is because Muslims can also alter their actions and views by observing people around them, and then at this point impact of the media gets weak (Rane, Ewart, and Ewart 2010, p. 235). Thus, the most influential and controversial aspect of Australian media effects on Australian Muslims, relate with the negative reflection of Islam mostly in terms of terrorism. Conclusion: Concisely, it could be understood that Australian media is equally advanced and similar to the Western media of the world in terms of its diversified impacts, and the Australian Muslims have been affected in the same manner as in other western countries. We have observed that Muslims faced discrimination and racial violence because of media`s negative illustration of Islam and Muslims most specifically after 9/11. However, depiction of Islam in a negative manner has been a traditional practice of the Australian media, but the great terrorist attack made Muslims` issues more controversial and sensational for the people created various problems for the Muslims all over the world. List of References Akbarzadeh, S. 2006, Is the Australian media Islamophobic?, Viewed 2012 24-February Akbarzadeh, S., and Saeed, A. 2001, Muslim communities in Australia, Sydney: UNSW Press. Arnstein, S. 1969, A Ladder of Citizen Participation, JAIP, 216-224. Brand, J., Archbold, D., and Rane, H. 2001, Stage Two: The Audience”, Sources of News and Current Affairs, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Authority, 259-396. Hassan, R. 2008, Social and Economic Conditions of Australian Muslims:Implications for Social Inclusion, Challenges to Social Inclusion in Australia: The Muslim Experience, Melbourne University, 1-15. Kabir, N. 2007, Muslims in Australia: The Double Edge of Terrorism, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1277-1297. Mansouri, F., and Wood, S. 2008, Identity, Youth and Belonging: Arab and Muslim Youth in Contemporary Australia. Melbourne: Academic Monographs. Poole, E., and Richardson, J. 2006, Muslims and the News Media. New York: I.B.Tauris. Rane, H., Ewart, J., and Ewart, J. 2010, Islam and the Australian News Media, Melbourne: Academic Monographs. Stout, M. 2007, Climbing the Ladder of Participation: Establishing Local Practices for Participatory Practice. Public Administration and Management, 46-97. Vahed, G. 2008,Young Muslims in Brisbane: Negotiating Cultural Identity and Alienation, Journal of Social Sciences Special, 35-52 . Yasmeen, S., and Al Khudairi, S., 2006., A Gender Based Need Assessment Study of Muslims Living in Perth Metropolitan Area, Nedlands: Department of Political Science. Read More