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Media and Identity Analysis

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Media and Identity Analysis
Media and Identity Analysis

People are not born with identities – rather, they have identities crafted for them by the society to which they ‘belong '. All forms of media, from television to radio to newspapers etc. can collectively encapsulate certain groups of people and ‘label ' them with any given identity, or merely infer a certain identity, by their specific portrayal of the subject covered, and the way in which they display/compose the story. Identity is spawned from difference – without cultural/political/social differences one cannot have an identity. Unfortunately, sometimes these differences are amplified and a strive for a unified nationalistic identity is forfeited when certain groups, such as the Muslim members of society, are subjectified and ‘labelled ' through certain media forms, newspapers particularly.

A critically evaluative, and hopefully non-bias, study of Muslim national identity – very much the ‘image ' which I 'm sure the Daily Telegraph wishes us to see – reveals that,
"this identity has been undergoing a process of constant evolution in Australia 's constantly changing multicultural society".
The Daily Telegraph is a national Australian paper predominantly written by white, non-Muslim Australians. The presence of differing affiliations and hostile provocation by the newspaper towards Muslims may give testimony to the constant changing state of Muslim identity, and hence the identity of the pictured Sheik Mohammed, rather than providing a static, and perhaps less audience-engaging media outlet. This quality – largely dynamic and at times controversial – means, however, that Muslims in the Australian society may perhaps not succeed in their struggle to achieve complete assimilation, both politically and socially, into Australian society, and more importantly, into the ‘Australian identity '.

Successful assimilation by key Muslim representative figures, such as the cleric Sheik Mohammed, is the key



Bibliography: Ahsan, A. 1992, Ummah or nation?: Identity crisis in contemporary Muslim society, Islamic Foundation, Leicester, pp 4, 15-16, 62-67. Ang, I. Brand, J. Noble, G. wilding, D. 2002, Identity and Belonging from Living Diversity: Australia 's Multicultural Future, Special Broadcasting Services Corporation, Sydney, pp 39-50. Bloul, R. 15/3/2002, Being Muslim in the West: The Case of Australian Muslims [Online]. [Accessed 3/9/2005]. Available from World Wide Web: During, S. 2005, Debating Identities from Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, London, pp 145-152. Goodhall, H; Jacubowicz, A; Martin, J. 1994, Racism, Ethnicity and the Media (Australian Cultural Studies), Allen & Unwin Academic, Australia, pp 7-12, 41-43, 117, 204. Kohn, R. 10/4/2005, Muslims in Australia [Online]. [Accessed 4/9/2005]. Available from World Wide Web: Marshall, I. and Kingsbury, D. 1996, Media realities: The news media and power in Australian society, Addison Wesley Longman, South Melbourne, pp 17-25. Saeed, A. 2003, Islam in Australia, Allen & Unwin Academic, Australia, pp 24-36, 112-130. Tomlinson, J. 2003, Globalisation and Cultural Identity from The Global Transformations Reader, Second Edition, Eds D. Held A. McGrew, Cambridge, UK, pp 269-277.

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