Beyond “Angry Muslims”? Reporting Muslim Voices in the British Press

Abstract

In this article we discuss the significance of how a variety of self-consciously Muslim actors have become increasingly discernable in public and media discourses in Britain. We show how within news reporting itself there is an observable variety of Muslim perspectives and that this marks a positive contrast with the more limited range of argumentation (publicly reported at least) at an earlier period in the emergence of British Muslim identities in the late 1980s at the time of the Rushdie affair. We maintain that a discussion of these developments would benefit from a vocabulary that can analytically describe the boundaries between, and content within, a variety of Muslim voices, as well as evaluate what their inclusion in mainstream public discourses implies for an understanding of more macro concerns around citizenship and nationhood. This article makes a tentative contribution to this goal by critically evaluating the inclusion and representation in the national press of British Muslim voices. We wish to draw attention to the ways in which the British case illustrates how relational notions of Muslim “fundamentalism” and “moderation” are present within the inclusion and representation of Muslim voices within news reporting. This can be illustrated by how Muslim actors are characterized as angry, ambiguous, and approving. What is crucial to note is that this amounts to more than simply including Muslim voices of fundamentalist anger.

Notes

¹Throughout the article and subsequent interviews, Straw continually distinguished between the full face veil or niqab and other types of Muslim coverings such as the headscarf or hijab.

²Such charges are largely circumstantial owing to the links between the MCB members and the Islamist organisation Jamat-e-Islami which was founded in northern India in the 1930s by Abu A'la Mawdudi.

³Though interestingly, its regional affiliates such as the Muslim Council of Wales (MCW) have not faced such criticism.

⁴Including the headscarf or hijab, full face veil or niqab, or full body garments such as the jilbab.

⁵See Meer and Modood's (2009a) critique of Joppke (2004) on this point.

⁶Meer, Dwyer, and Modood (2010) explore the Leaders and Comment separately.

⁷During a BBC Radio Lancashire interview that followed his newspaper article, Straw said: “Communities are bound together partly by informal chance relations between strangers people being able to acknowledge each other in the street or being able to pass the time of day. That's made more difficult if people are wearing a veil. That's just a fact of life. I understand the concerns but I hope there can be a mature debate.” When asked if he would rather that veils be discarded, he replied: “Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all caveats, yes, I would rather” (October 6, 2006, available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5410472.stm).