Article 1
Headline: Top doc 'sexually abused women during abortions'
Section: Front page
Written by: Mike Silingsby
Page: Front Page and continued on page 2
Outline: This article is about a doctor, Narendra Sharma, who has been accused of sexually abusing patients. Although not a Muslim I have decided to include this story to see how news about another minority group is presented by the M.E.N.
Thr first thing to note is that there is no reference made to Dr Sharma's ethnic or religious background in the text of the article although there is a photo of him on the front page and there is some commentary on page 2 that alludes to the fact that allegations against Dr Sharma by his former colleagues may have been driven on racial grounds.
However the story itself is factual in nature with no attempt to address Dr Sharma according to his ethnicity or religious background. He is treated as an individual who is alleged to have committed these acts. A 'not applicable' rating is given as this story as it does not relate to reporting about Muslims or Islam but has been featured to present a point of contrast should a similar story ever be featured about a Muslim person in a similar situation.
Article Verdict: Not Applicable
Article 2
Headline: Teenager held over bouncer killing
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: Page 2
Article Verdict: Neutral
Article 3
Headline: Mum who called for a holy war is spared jail
Section: News
Written by: Lucy Collins
Page: Page 13
Article Verdict: Negative
Metro
Article 1
Headline: '19 dead' in eight-hour gunfight at police school
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 15
Article Verdict: Negative
Article 2
Headline: Drawing on the horror of war
Section: Metrolife
Written by: Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
Page: 24
Article Verdict: Positive
Thr first thing to note is that there is no reference made to Dr Sharma's ethnic or religious background in the text of the article although there is a photo of him on the front page and there is some commentary on page 2 that alludes to the fact that allegations against Dr Sharma by his former colleagues may have been driven on racial grounds.
However the story itself is factual in nature with no attempt to address Dr Sharma according to his ethnicity or religious background. He is treated as an individual who is alleged to have committed these acts. A 'not applicable' rating is given as this story as it does not relate to reporting about Muslims or Islam but has been featured to present a point of contrast should a similar story ever be featured about a Muslim person in a similar situation.
Article Verdict: Not Applicable
Article 2
Headline: Teenager held over bouncer killing
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: Page 2
Outline: This story is about a doorman, Mohamed Kaleem Rafeek, who was killed in Manchester.
The story describes the circumstances that may have led up to the attack, which appears to have been a revenge attack for an earlier altercation when Mr Rafeek refused to allow entry to a group of people.
The article is written in a factual manner and there is no mention of Mr Rafeek's ethnicity or religious background hence it is given a 'neutral' rating
The story describes the circumstances that may have led up to the attack, which appears to have been a revenge attack for an earlier altercation when Mr Rafeek refused to allow entry to a group of people.
The article is written in a factual manner and there is no mention of Mr Rafeek's ethnicity or religious background hence it is given a 'neutral' rating
Article Verdict: Neutral
Article 3
Headline: Mum who called for a holy war is spared jail
Section: News
Written by: Lucy Collins
Page: Page 13
Outline: This article occupies alomst three quarters of a page and the photo of the "Mum" takes almost half of the space allocated to the article.
There are 2 sub headings to the headline, the second of which reads;
This story is about Shella Roma who is accused of distributing leaflets inciting people to commit acts of terrorism.
Whilst the article makes reference to Jihad and presents its interpretation as holy war, Ms Roma is not identified by her religious background although anyone reading the article will be able to guess fairly easily that she is Muslim given the content of the article.
A description of the alleged activities that have led to Ms Roma's conviction are presented in the story, including that Ms Roma gave her husband 200 copies to dsitribute outside a Mosque.
Interestingly the presiding Judge's comments are also presented including the following comment by QC Clement Goldstone
"You sought to distribute them (the leaflets) in two ways, by leaving them in your home.....and, more significantly, to distribute outside a Mosque to which normal, practicing Muslims had gone to pray"
This was a sympathetic comment directed towards the wider Muslim community by Judge Goldstone, which sought to disassociate Ms Roma's actions from the wider Muslim community. Carrying it in the article was a positive move however Lucy Collins should have also obtained a comment from the Management Committee of the Mosque outside which copies of the leaflets were distributed to present a view from the community.
Given that the content of the article is related to terrorism and there is mention of the words Jihad and Mosque the article presents a negative view of Islam to the readers although there doesn't appear to be any willful intent on part of the author, Lucy Collins thus this is given a 'negative' rating.
There are 2 sub headings to the headline, the second of which reads;
- "Muslims urged to go abroad and fight a jihad"
This story is about Shella Roma who is accused of distributing leaflets inciting people to commit acts of terrorism.
Whilst the article makes reference to Jihad and presents its interpretation as holy war, Ms Roma is not identified by her religious background although anyone reading the article will be able to guess fairly easily that she is Muslim given the content of the article.
A description of the alleged activities that have led to Ms Roma's conviction are presented in the story, including that Ms Roma gave her husband 200 copies to dsitribute outside a Mosque.
Interestingly the presiding Judge's comments are also presented including the following comment by QC Clement Goldstone
"You sought to distribute them (the leaflets) in two ways, by leaving them in your home.....and, more significantly, to distribute outside a Mosque to which normal, practicing Muslims had gone to pray"
This was a sympathetic comment directed towards the wider Muslim community by Judge Goldstone, which sought to disassociate Ms Roma's actions from the wider Muslim community. Carrying it in the article was a positive move however Lucy Collins should have also obtained a comment from the Management Committee of the Mosque outside which copies of the leaflets were distributed to present a view from the community.
Given that the content of the article is related to terrorism and there is mention of the words Jihad and Mosque the article presents a negative view of Islam to the readers although there doesn't appear to be any willful intent on part of the author, Lucy Collins thus this is given a 'negative' rating.
Article Verdict: Negative
Metro
Article 1
Headline: '19 dead' in eight-hour gunfight at police school
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 15
Outline: This article covers the terrorist attack on a Police training academy outside Lahore, Pakistan.
The second paragraph uses the words "Islamist militants". There are 3 photos featured in the article, two of which show wounded policemen and the 3rd shows one of the attackers.
Whilst referring to the attackers as "Islamist Militants", Joel Taylor fails to mention that most of the victims of the terrorists were Muslim and that Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim Country. The reason for this is to show readers that acts of terror are not crimes committed solely against Non-Muslim victims, in a lot of instances the victims are in fact Muslim.
This would help readers disassociate acts of terror from Islam and Muslims, in this respect the article presents a negative portrayal of Islam.
The second paragraph uses the words "Islamist militants". There are 3 photos featured in the article, two of which show wounded policemen and the 3rd shows one of the attackers.
Whilst referring to the attackers as "Islamist Militants", Joel Taylor fails to mention that most of the victims of the terrorists were Muslim and that Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim Country. The reason for this is to show readers that acts of terror are not crimes committed solely against Non-Muslim victims, in a lot of instances the victims are in fact Muslim.
This would help readers disassociate acts of terror from Islam and Muslims, in this respect the article presents a negative portrayal of Islam.
Article Verdict: Negative
Article 2
Headline: Drawing on the horror of war
Section: Metrolife
Written by: Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
Page: 24
Outline: This is a review of a DVD called "Waltz with Bashir", an animated documentary by a former Israeli conscript during the Lebanon invasion - Ari Folman.
In the review Larushka Ivan-Zadeh provides commentary which tells readers about the context to the film, a factual and sympathetic narrative is provided as readers are told that the film is set against the backdrop of the "invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli troops stood by as an unknown number of Palestinians were massacred".
This is an important point to make when referring to the massacre of Palestinian Civilians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, which was a horrendous crime that wouldn't have happened had the Israeli soliders not allowed and helped the Christian Militia in carrying out this crime. The language used by Ivan-Zadeh doesn't try to dress up the truth in diplomatic language and leaves readers with a disturbing image of soldiers allowing a massacre to unfold, which unfortunately in this case is the truth.
As this review, rightfully, presents the Israeli action in Lebanon as a negative which included this massacre it encourages the readers to have a sympathetic view towards the Palestinians hence it's given a 'positive' rating.
In the review Larushka Ivan-Zadeh provides commentary which tells readers about the context to the film, a factual and sympathetic narrative is provided as readers are told that the film is set against the backdrop of the "invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli troops stood by as an unknown number of Palestinians were massacred".
This is an important point to make when referring to the massacre of Palestinian Civilians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, which was a horrendous crime that wouldn't have happened had the Israeli soliders not allowed and helped the Christian Militia in carrying out this crime. The language used by Ivan-Zadeh doesn't try to dress up the truth in diplomatic language and leaves readers with a disturbing image of soldiers allowing a massacre to unfold, which unfortunately in this case is the truth.
As this review, rightfully, presents the Israeli action in Lebanon as a negative which included this massacre it encourages the readers to have a sympathetic view towards the Palestinians hence it's given a 'positive' rating.
Article Verdict: Positive
No comments:
Post a Comment