Muslims in Kenya are demanding comprehensive changes in the way mainstream media in the country covers terror news, warning that current unprofessional practices are fueling prejudice and Islamophobia in the east African nation.
“Why is that when people of other religions commit criminal acts, we do not see their religion being prefixed to their actions,” Sheikh Abdallah Kheir, a Muslim scholar who also lecturers in a public university in Kenya, told OnIslam.net.
“Recently a church preacher was caught with bomb making material in Kenya, but the media never called him a Christian terrorist suspect? This is double-standard that needs to end,” he added.
Sheikh Kheir’s concerns were in response to a recent report by Media Council of Kenya, the official agency that regulates the practice of journalism, which delivered a damning indictment against the Kenyan media with regard to the coverage of terrorism issues, terming them unfair to Muslims.
Entitled, “Deconstructing Terror: Assessing Media’s Role in Religious Intolerance and Radicalisation” the report concluded that narratives in the media often cast Muslims as terrorists or potential terrorists.
The Sheikh questioned the common practice in the Kenyan media of using words and phrases that suggest an association between terrorist actions with Islam and Muslims.
He added that words such as “Islamic terrorism,” “radical Islam,” “Islamists” and “Muslim extremist” often serve to promote Islamophobia by linking crime with Islam and Muslims.
The report also found that the war between the Kenya government and Al Shabaab is incorrectly being portrayed by some media houses as a religious one between Christians and Muslims, thereby exacerbating interreligious and communal tensions and conflict.
“The media has been propagating the dominant narrative that borders on stereotypical labelling of Muslims. Some of the narratives monitored include: all Muslims are potential terrorists and the war on terrorism is a war between Muslims and Christians.”
The council made the conclusion after analysing the coverage of terrorism issues by Kenya’s mainstream print and electronic media.
Muslim leaders have accused media of amplifying hard-line and reckless voices within the Muslim community while ignoring moderate and responsible voices.
“The media may find the hard-line voices more dramatic and appealing to them but they paint the wrong impression that such voices represent Muslims when in fact the majority of Muslims in Kenya do not subscribe to extreme and irresponsible views,” Sheikh Abdul Rahman Wandati, the Executive Director of the Muslim Consultative Council, told OnIslam.net.
“Such an approach only fuels interreligious tensions in the country,” he said.
Sheikh Abdullatif Ali, a Muslim interfaith preacher who travels around Kenya to preach Islam, called on the media to end the habit of collective blaming of Muslims in Kenya whenever there are attacks like those which happened in Kenya recently in which 68 people were killed by Al Shabaab militant group
“The narrative of collective blame against Muslims is very common in the media. What we need to see more of is the narrative of individual responsibility which has not enjoyed much publicity. This collective blaming is unfair to Muslims,” he said.
The 52-page report documented many subtle and indirect prejudices in the media coverage of terrorism which may reinforce ethnic and religious intolerance against Muslims.
The report said that the Kenyan media often carries stories and commentary which may incite Kenyans against the Muslim community. The report established that media has exacerbated interreligious tension and intolerance and increasing the wedge between Muslims and Christians.
The Media Council’s Research and Monitoring Officer Amos Kibet told OnIslam.net that there is critical need for education of media practitioners in Kenya with regard to coverage of terrorism issues.
He indicated that his organisation has lined up a series of trainings for journalists and editors across the country on how best to cover terrorism issues without enhancing prejudice and intolerance against the Muslim community in Kenya.
“Issues of terrorism are relatively new in Kenya and the media has a lot to learn to improve their professionalism. I believe that most of the mistakes being made by the media will be overcome in the near future,” he said
He added: “We are in the process of preparing a training manual and we are ready to include the many valuable suggestions that we have received so far from Muslim leaders as well as other stakeholders,” he said.
The report called on mainstream media in Kenya to moderate comments and feedback to their stories especially in the social media and online platforms to sift out hateful and incendiary views that promote religious tension and intolerance.
“The media should instead promote healthy dialogue on the issue of terrorism and provide a platform for different religious and ethnic groups, government agencies, civil society and members of the public can debate,” asserted the report.
Since the Kenya government sent its soldiers to neighbouring Somalia to pursue Al Shabaab rebel group, bomb and gun attacks have heightened inside Kenya from supporters of that group.
The attacks have fuelled increasing Islamophobia which the Muslim community is seeking to manage.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
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