Assignment 4 - Annotated Bibliography

Foster, N. Cook, K. Barter-Godfrey, S., & Furneaux, S. (2011). Fractured multiculturalism: Conflicting representations of Arab and Muslim Australians in Australian print media. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 619-629. Doi:10.1177/0163443711399034

Nena Foster, an academic at the University of East London, alongside some of Melbourne’s Deakin University academics, Kay Cook, Sarah Barter-Godfrey and Samantha Furneaux, present four emerging discourses drawn from extensive research (the manual filtering of over 100,000 articles on Factiva and NewsBank which include the words Arab, Muslim and Islam), which outlines the common representation and portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in Australian print media; ‘Arabs and Muslims are different’, ‘Muslims are like us’, ‘I’m an Arab/Muslim, but...’, and ‘A threat from within’. The study found many statements that place the Arab and Muslim communities in a negative light, a significant amount of which are exemplified and cited. It was concluded that the aforementioned discourses contribute to the social divisions that exists between ethnic groups in Australia, and that Arabs and Muslims are seen as the ‘out-group’ to Anglo-Australians (evident in all examples cited by the authors). Thus, the authors argue that whilst Australia sees itself as an accepting, non-discriminatory, multicultural country, the language used by the media to identify what it means to be Arab or Muslim, assimilates xeno-racist notions, contrary to ‘multiculturalism’. This is most evident today in recent media coverage of the September Sydney Riots, sparked by the release of a low budget anti-Islam film.

Tabbaa, M. (2012, September 19). He’s my brother – why angry Muslim youth are protesting in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au

Few days after the 2012 Sydney Riots, PhD candidate in Law and Criminology at the University of Melbourne, Mohamad Tabbaa, extensively searches for the underlying meaning of the youth revolting in Sydney. Tabbaa includes statements made by Muslim leaders, apologizing for the behaviour of a small minority of their community and wish it not to tarnish how Muslims are perceived in the Australian media. The article is opinionated and Tabbaa makes unsupported statements regarding the real motives behind the protests, arguing that the youth are grieving for their ‘brothers and sisters’ (members of their Muslim community, globally), who have lost their lives due to invasions made by the USA. Tabbaa proceeds to accuse the Muslim leaders of not looking after their youth (due to apologizing to the media), as they are “more intent on representing the voice of an exclusive, overly image-conscious minority” (Tabbaa, 2012). Whilst the author is confident and argues a colloquial and opinionated representation of Muslims in Australia, the initial reason for rioting (the anti-Islam video) is not mentioned, thus the author fails to report the entire story, along with cited facts. Instead this article expresses the unreliable generalizations made by the author, and reports only the author’s opinion of the event. Whilst Tabbaa is supporting the Muslim community, or more so the Muslim youth, he is unintentionally labeling them as a group separate to that of Anglo-Australians, thus allowing room for ethnic division. Tabbaa is persuasive and relies on the audience’s sympathy to understand his viewpoint.

Islamic groups condemn violent Sydney protests.  (2012, September 16). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/

The ABC is the author of this article, providing the public with riot statistics, confirmed by the police, as well as the statements made by Mariam Vieszadeh, a lawyer and Muslim community advocate, who spoke to the ABC about the behaviour of fellow Muslims in the riots. The article’s emphasis is upon the outrage that fellow Muslim community members have with the small minority who resorted to violent riots, apprehensive that all Muslims in Australia will now be seen as violent and earn an unpopular reputation in the community. The author included no comments made by anyone outside the Muslim community, aside from police statements and those made by Premier Barry O’Farrell – who simply stated the riots were “unacceptable”. The ABC has reported this event in an unbiased manner, by using the voice of a Muslim community member to advocate the sincerest apologies from the Muslim community, in the hope that the majority is not ‘tarred with the same brush’. The ABC have put the majority of the Muslim community in a positive light, reassuring the Australian public that the minority group is not one to judge and discriminate. Unlike Mohamad Tabbaa’s article – opinionated and unsupported - the ABC have used accurate statistics and written an unbiased report to inform readers of the Sydney Riots in a considerate and indiscriminate way.  

Grewal, J. (2012, September 17). Ugly fall-out after Sydney riots. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au

This article, written by Jessica Grewal of the Sunshine Coast Daily – online publication, simply states the statistics of those who have been arrested since the rioting, generic statements made by NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, Dawson MP George Christensen, and quotes taken directly from The Australian Newspaper. The article shows little originality and research and has a bias slant toward the wrongdoing of the Muslim community. The author concludes with a quote from Christensen saying, “if any of the violent protesters are non-citizens, they should be deported immediately” (Grewal, 2012). The author puts the entirety of the Muslim community in a negative light (clearly labeling them as the out-group), including no such opinion or voice from the perspective of the Muslim community. Grewal has simply taken quotes from other publications of an Anglo-Australian perspective. It is hard to trust this source as reliable as information was not directly sourced, and for an online piece, this publication had very little information. It contained limited facts and a discriminatory bias, therefore the author failed to report the event accurately and fairly. Similarly to Tabbaa’s article, this piece was not extensively researched, and the majority of it was put together with rash, unsupported and biased statements. Tabbaa and Grewal’s articles both label (whether intentional or not) the in-group and out-group in this matter, creating a definite ethical division. The ABC article was the only article that maintained a fair and indiscriminate slant throughout the report.

REFERENCES

Foster, N. Cook, K. Barter-Godfrey, S., & Furneaux, S. (2011). Fractured multiculturalism: Conflicting representations of Arab and Muslim Australians in Australian print media. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 619-629. Doi:10.1177/0163443711399034

Grewal, J. (2012, September 17). Ugly fall-out after Sydney riots. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au

Islamic groups condemn violent Sydney protests.  (2012, September 16). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/

Tabbaa, M. (2012, September 19). He’s my brother – why angry Muslim youth are protesting in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au