Edinburgh: Broadcasters defend themselves against claims of ‘institutionalised racism’

Posted by Colin Crummy on 24 August 2007 at 16:58
Tags: BBC, Edinburgh 2007, Edinburgh International Television Festival

Broadcasters have been defending their coverage of Islam and Muslims in the face of accusations of “institutional racism” and a failure to show “context”.

In a panel debate at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Channel 4’s deputy head of news and current affairs, Kevin Sutcliffe, said the channel was attempting to provide a rounded approach in reporting on stories or issues surrounding the Muslim community and Islam.

Sutcliffe was responding to accusations by Arz Merali of the Islamic Human Rights Commission who said there was “a structure of Islamophobia in the media in UK”. She said even if it was “not deliberately malicious” it still took the form of “institutionalised racism”.

Inayat Bunglawala, vice chair of the Muslim Council of Britain, singled out a Panorama documentary presented by journalist John Ware for criticism, claiming it only quoted in part the philosophy of a Islamic scholar Maulana Mawdudi and in doing so giving a different impression from that intended.

Responding to the charge of institutionalised racism, the BBC’s head of television news, Peter Horrocks said he didn’t understand the charge when the corporation was reporting on incidents such as arrests and attempted to speak to all sides in the debate.

“We’re doing our job of reporting the facts. If some of those listening aren’t understanding the facts or misinterpreting the facts – could be having an affect on your communities but I don’t think that’s a result of the reporting – it’s a result of what’s happening.”

Maryam Namazie, spokeswoman for the council of ex-Muslims in Britain said the media was too soft on Islam and was not covering the realities of it at all. “We have a duty to criticise Islam,” she said.