Covering Islam : Challenges & Opportunities For Media In The Global Village

The Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA), Singapore & Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF), Singapore Covering Islam: Challenges & Opportunities for Media in the Global Village Edited by Syed Farid Alatas Copyright © 2005 by the Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF). Editor: Syed Farid Alatas Publisher: Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA) 150 Changi Road #04-06/07 Guthrie Building Singapore 419972 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Singapore 34 Bukit Pasoh Road Singapore 089848 Tel: +65 6227 2001 Fax: +65 6227 8343 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA). The responsibility for facts and opinions expressed in this publication rests exclusively with the contributors, and their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publishers or their supporters. ISBN: 981-05-4872-9 Layout and Design: TimeEdge Publishing Pte Ltd 10 Anson Road 15-14 International Plaza Singapore 079903 www.tepub.com CONTENTS Forewords v-ix Preface SYED FARID ALATAS 1 Four Years after September 11th: The Failure of Western Media STEPHEN SCHWARTZ 5 Globalisation of Media Ethics and Localisation of Media Values JOHN RICHARD GEE 27 Is Objective Reporting on Islam Possible? Contextualizing the “Demon” SYED FARID ALATAS 41 Islamic Imagery and American Policy YUSEF J. PROGLER 53 Right, Left & Wrong: A Comparison of East and West Coverage of Islam SUNNI M. KHALID 89 Religious Ideas: Islam in the Malay Press AHMAD MURAD MERICAN 115 Harnessing Inter-Religious Harmony through Media Agencies HAIDAR BAGIR 133 Notes on Contributors 149 iii Appendices Keynote Speech YAACOB IBRAHIM, Minister for Environment and Water Resources and In-Charge of Muslim Affairs 155 Peace Journalism as a Tool for Rapprochement FRANK LEMKE, Radio Training Centre, DW-AKADEMIE 161 Seminar Programme 173 iv WELCOME ADDRESS by Abdul Razak Chanbasha Chairman, the Centre for Research on Islamic & Malay Affairs (RIMA) One glance at the title of this book will remind one of the landmark work by Edward Said, “Covering Islam: How the Media and Experts Determine How We See The Rest Of The World”. In his book, Edward Said highlighted the media and the experts’ monolithic effect when they interpreted Islam for others’ consumption. The result of this effect was not only a misunderstanding of the subject matter but also a mistrust of the people of this faith. His advice was clear – not to defend Islam per se, but to be critical in one’s understanding of Islam, and of other religions for that matter. In the same spirit, this seminar is the result of two major motivations. One is the need to understand the media as a producer instead of a mere transmitter of news, with the ability to influence views and opinions, and the other is to empower readership to engage media practitioners on the coverage of religious issues, particularly issues on Islam. These two motivations share the underlying sentiment that inter-religious harmony and understanding can be cultivated through the media, provided that each and everyone of us make the extra effort to critically review daily news that have cumulatively shaped our understanding of religious ideology and practices. This seminar is not to redress the grievances that the media have perceivably imposed on