From Nora Fakim…
During these past ten years, there has been a growing media campaign aimed at inciting prejudice against Muslims. Since 9/11, and especially since the London Tube bombing in July 2005, many Asians and Muslims have been harassed and racially attacked because of the negative image Islam has.
But the question is does Islamophobia actually exist? The trouble with the idea is that it confuses hatred of, and discrimination against, Muslims on the one hand with criticism of Islam on the other. The connotation of “Islamophobia” is all too often used not to highlight racism but to silence critics of Islam, or even Muslims fighting for reform of their communities.
With Channel 4 being the first station public-service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom to win favourable support from the British ethnic minorities, does this also mean that it is more Islam friendly compared to other media stations?
According to the School of Journalism in Cardiff, the fact remains that the reason as to why the media coverage on British Muslims has significantly increased, is due to 36% of stories on British Muslims is in relation to terrorism. Furthermore, in many newspapers like the Sun, they are known to use negative language when referring to Islam.
But what is extraordinary about Channel 4, is that it seems to show Islam in a different light. One in which it aims to reach out to everybody no matter what ethnicity or religion and tries to make people aware that British Muslims are suffering too. With the negative image of Islam in the U.K, many Muslims live in fear of practicing their own religion and find that the negative stigma around their religion creates a barrier between them and the rest of the British community.
According to the 2003 Communication Act, ‘Channel 4 is a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society.’ This is the reason as to why the channel was efficient at tackling the problems of Islamophobia by being aware that it was and still is a serious matter and so they made every effort to help decrease tensions between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
In 2008’s most watch interviews, Jon Snow challenges Salman Rushide about the Western and Easter conflicts. Although Salman Rushdie is talking about his new book which describes similarities between Eastern and Western cultures, Jon Snow questions him further about the modern day issues of Western and Eastern cultural conflicts.
He states to Rushdie that the ‘West needs to also be involved in building a bridge with the East.’ Mr Rushdie is unable to even answer some of Snows questions because many are questions which the British media refuses to acknowledge and which the public would never dare to bring up as they are questions which give the Western World a negative image such as; ‘Many people think of the East that we think nothing of their culture… the West has no culture… the East has culture’ (Snow). Although Salam Rushdie is trying to refer each time to his book which is set in the past, Jon Snow is trying to put this cultural conflict at forefront in our present day society, which is highly important in making people understand the Western and Eastern cultural conflicts whether it being in Britain and the rest of the world.
Channel 4’s dispatches showed the documentary which was presented by Peter Oborne; ‘It should not even happen to a Muslim’. This documentary aimed to make people aware of the difficulties many British Muslims face; whilst living and growing up in Great Britain.
The documentary found that 61 % of hostility increased towards the Muslim community since the 2005 London bombings. Mr Oborne even managed to interview the Muslim MP Shahid Malik; about his life as a British Muslim. Malik quoted that he often receives ‘hate mail’ about being Muslim and anger towards the Muslim community.
He also said in the interview that the media play a role in misinterpreting issues dealing with people of his religion. Another programme on channel 4 which was targeted in educating the non-Muslim community about Islam was the weekly programme; ‘Make me a Muslim’. The idea was to give non-Muslims an idea of what it was like to live as a Muslim in Britain. After the series, all the contestants had a more positive image about the Islamic faith then when they first arrived at the beginning of the show. This show was another effective way of trying to build an understanding between both cultures.
Channel 4’s website publicises several Muslim organistations such as, ‘The Muslim Association of Britain’ and ‘F.A.I.R.’ Whilst interviewing Karima Sbitri, who is a member of F.A.I.R she confessed that Channel 4 was the ‘best un-biased channel’ when it came to talking about Islam. I interviewed several Muslims from City University and I asked them what their favourite British channel was and eight out of ten replied Channel 4.
From this article we can see that there have been many showings on Channel 4 to tackle the problem of Islamophobia in Britain and this is a reason as to why it is favoured by many Muslims and ethnic minorities living here in the U.K. Its recent multicultural diversity statement was that, ‘Multicultural programmes remain at the heart of Channel 4’.
Let us hope that it carries on helping to resolve the problems of Islamophobia and other cultural issues here in Great Britain!
Do you ever feel afraid? Being alone in the dark freak you out? Whether it’s the fear of small spaces or even the number thirteen, it would be safe to say we’re all afraid of something. To be afraid of certain things is part of being human. Some fears, however, became obsessive and debilitating, interfering with how those who have them live their daily lives. Forget claustrophobia, people who suffer from the fears below have their lives halted in their tracks every single day. You would have to feel these fears on a daily basis to qualify, so don’t worry! Or maybe you should… This list left half of RELATIVITY OnLine’s staff wondering if they needed therapy! 
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