Examining the Issue of Islam and Muslims in the Media: A Perspective of Malaysian Media Practitioners (original) (raw)
Related papers
‘Abqari Journal, 2020
The idea to embark this study on Islam and Muslim issues is still relevant due to there are many reportings from the Western media especially about Middle East. On that account, the purpose of this study is to find out the solution to encourage more positive reporting about Islam and Muslim issues. Eight Malaysian media practitioners have been interviewed to share their experiences and ideas in finding an answer to formulate a new, fair and balanced guideline to be practiced. All of them were interviewed via face-to-face methods and phone calls. From the interview, the researchers found out the important tips with regards to assisting students, journalists and individuals to become more expert in writing news accurately. The researchers found out how a journalist played the role of an Islamic journalist and anchor the meaning of Islamic journalism. In addition, the results of this study also managed to formulate a guideline in writing reports or news related to Islam and Muslim com...
Islamic News Coverage By The International News Agencies In The Star And Sunday Star 2010
The study examined how the news of Islam and Muslims were portrayed in The Star and Sunday Star newspapers in year 2010. The study used quantitative content analysis method and a total of 249 news associated to Islam and Muslims in year 2010 were analysed. The result showed that criminality or violence had dominated the news theme which constituted 91 (36.5%). In terms of tone of the news, 175 (70.3%) were negative and only 47 (18.9%) were perceived as positive and the remaining were perceived as neutral. In summary, the issue on religion and faith (Islam) in the media still continuous in negative way and it needs a tremendous transformation to change the image of Islam and Muslims in the eyes of people over the world.
Journalism and Islam (Reflection on the Role of Journalists in the issue of Religious Moderation)
2020
Islam is the majority religion in the country of Indonesia, with the existence of multicultural culture then Islam metamorphosed into a religion that was infiltrated by the views of several groups. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the role of journalists in reporting the issue of religious moderation. The approach used in this research is Robert Entman's framing analysis model with qualitative analysis research type. The data in this study are news stories related to religious moderation in Republika Online Media. The results of the research show that Republika Online media as information media has reported informative and balanced, but it has not been maximized in carrying out the function of media as a Watchdog in the community, as well as the lack of carefulness of Republika journalists in conducting in-depth tracing of informant statements to prevent the habit of information being loaded in the media. Keywords: Framing ; Religion Moderation ; Online Media .
A Content Analysis of Islam-related News Coverage in Selected Malaysian Online Newspapers
Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, 2021
The media-generated misconception of Islam is not a new phenomenon. However, a huge amount of media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially after the 9/11 attacks, resulted in a widespread awareness of the religion and its adherents. Several studies have explored how Islam is reported in western media. Therefore, this study focuses on how non-western media cover Islam-related news. The study aims to identify the most common type of news used in covering Islam and determine the extent of Islam-related news coverage in selected Malaysian online newspapers. The Star and New Straits Times were chosen based on readership and online popularity. News articles related to Islam were gathered from the digital archives of the selected newspapers from November 2015 to September 2016 using "Islam" and "Muslims" as keywords. A total of 352 news articles were gathered and subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that a large majority (90.9%) of the Islam-related articles published in the selected newspapers contained straight news stories while only 9.1% contained feature stories. Additionally, more than half (57.7%) of the Islam-related news articles covered global news, and more than onethird (37.2%) of the articles covered national news, while only 5.1% covered local news. These findings imply that the selected newspapers tend to create the image of Islam globally. Further analysis of the findings revealed that the selected newspapers covered Islam in the context of conflict. It was envisaged that this study would be beneficial, especially to journalists, by providing information that could be used to improve news coverage of Islam.
Framing Islam in News Reporting: A Comparative Content Analysis
The emergence of modern communication technology suggests that the society as a whole is now a simple hostage at the hands of the media. However, the time has come to ask whether the people are being managed, manipulated, massaged or brainwashed by the media. Media contents are unjustifiably dominated by expressions that create negative impressions of Islam. As a result, the media accentuate anti-Muslim bias and bigotry. This study aims to comparatively examine how Nigerian and Malaysian newspapers frame Islam-related events in news reporting. Using purposive sampling, Punch and Vanguard were chosen from Nigeria while The Star and New Straits Times were chosen from Malaysia based on their popularity and readership. Relevant news articles that focus upon reports about Islam or Muslims were collected from the selected newspapers using internet-based search from November 2015 until September 2016. The newspapers produced 599 different Islam-related news articles within this period. The study found that out of 599 news articles published in the selected newspapers, 228 portrayed Islam in conflict situation by using conflict frame. For the rest, 60 news articles used consequence frame, 32 used crime frame, 11 used responsibility frame, 19 used morality frame, and 249 portrayed Islam using human interest frame. Nigerian newspapers used more conflict frames in reporting Islam than Malaysian newspapers. Collective efforts of journalists, editors, and corporate ownership of the newspapers should be directed toward suppressing the negative media portrayal of Islam.
Exposure of Media Reports on Islam among Malaysian Non-Muslims
Various studies have proven the leverage of the media exposure in exerting their power on the mindset of the audiences. Therefore, this study illustrates exposure of media reports to understand if exposing to media’s reports paves the way for changes in perception. The main objective of the study is to identify perception of non-Muslim Malaysians towards information concerning Islam and Muslims in the media. The media contains misleading and unreliable contents, which can lead to destabilization by generating negative depictions on the perceptions. Significantly, in a multicultural country like Malaysia where various races are living together in harmony and peace, small portion of negative beliefs or reports on any religions or sect could jeopardizes the peace process in the nation. The major results concludes that mass media in general are all pervasive in their reports but not particularly pervasive. This statement summarizes most of the significant in currently accepted perceived facts about mass media in Malaysia. Non-Muslims in Malaysia hold positive perceptions towards their fellow Muslims. As non-Muslims in Malaysia are well aware of the media hegemony, one’s ideology could not be simply breached by negative reports. Significantly, non-Muslims respect Islam as the official religion of people in Malaysia.
Influences on Islam-related News Content: Media Experts’ Perspectives
e-Bangi Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
Islam is often portrayed negatively through manipulation of news content. Thus, a growing number of scholars have expressed concern over how Islam-related news is constructed. Therefore, this study aims to address the question of what influences Islam-related news content from the media experts' perspectives. The study employed a qualitative approach in which interviews were used as a data-gathering instrument. The participants consist of experts in the field of media and communication. Altogether, six experts were selected based on their intellectual ability and willingness to respond to the interview questions. The interview data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings revealed that journalists' prejudices, inadequate training, as well as media ownership are critical in the process of Islam-related news formation. These influences represent a serious problem that constitutes an obstacle to a good reporting of religion. It was envisaged that this study would be useful to journalists, media owners, governments, media policymakers, and other responsible bodies particularly in the process of news gathering, production, and dissemination. This study could also advance our understanding of the complex factors shaping Islam-related news content.
Justice and journalism: Islam and journalistic values in Indonesia and Malaysia
As the Global War on Terror has prompted new interest in Islam in Southeast Asia, western governments have scrambled to engage with Muslim journalists in Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite this attention, surprisingly little is known about how journalists in these two majority Muslim countries actually think about the work they do. This article draws on a series of semi-structured interviews with elite journalists in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Kuala Lumpur to provide some preliminary explorations of the relationship between Islam and journalism in Southeast Asia. It argues that Muslim journalists in both Indonesia and Malaysia express the universal values of journalism, but do so within an Islamic idiom. It concludes with a discussion of justice as the overarching ideology of journalism in Islam, and a comment on how western diplomats might use the language of Islam to reach out to journalists in these two majority Muslim countries.
Covering Islam: Challenges & Opportunities for Media in the Global Village
It cannot be denied that the events of the last few years in both the global and local arenas have had some impact on tensions between Muslims and non- Muslims. The 9-11 incident, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rise of global terrorism have all posed inevitable challenges. The media plays a very important role in analyzing and reporting these events given that they shape public opinion, which, subsequently, translates into reactions in the various sections of society. The media must, therefore, be sufficiently engaged so that biased reporting and prejudicial views are minimized as the realities of the day are presented to the public.
Asian Social Science, 2012
The most important roles of the media are agenda-setting and representation. The media, particularly from the West, seems to feature Islam constantly in the negative light. The portrayal of the negative image of Islam takes place by constructing an image of Islam with terrorism, violence, extremism and antipathy to the West. A more recent phenomenon of Western media towards Islam is the fanning of 'Islamophobia' a form of concerted efforts directed to frighten the world of the hostility and enmity imposed by Islam. The Muslim world needs to respond to such striking negative representation of Islam. Contrary to what is generally perceived by the West, Islam in its real essence means 'submission' and 'peace,' a religion that calls for resignation to Allah and promotes and defends peace in the person. As much as the media can disrepute the general Muslim population and Islam, it can also restore and further inform the public of the true image of the religion. Thus, the primary aim of this paper is to explore the utilization of a variety of media to disseminate information and news to Muslims as well as non-Muslims on the true teachings of Islam. Through the media, the proper propagation and understanding of Islam can be enhanced by highlighting the universal values of the teachings of Islam. The media is a very important tool for effective communication and dissemination about Islam which the Muslim world could utilize.