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A THREAD on: media coverage on Muslims, France and the questions we aren’t asking enough.
Today’s episode of NYT’s The Daily about Islam/France/ Laïcite was incredibly unsettling.
Today’s episode of NYT’s The Daily about Islam/France/ Laïcite was incredibly unsettling.
1/ This is a clear example of how in an attempt to be “objective” — you are hurting + contributing to the oppression of the community you are talking about.
2/ I’ll share 2 different trains of thought. 1. What I believe they got wrong. 2. What it is like to be a Muslim journalist listening to this kind of reporting.
3/ The story is about the concept of “Laïcite” or France’s version of “secularism” which has led to several laws in place targeting French Muslims’ freedom of religion/expression.
4/ There were 0 Muslim voices in the piece, repeated acknowledgement of “terror attacks” and emphasis on “Muslim terrorists” but 0 mention of the constant and horrifying Islamophobia perpetuated by the French government or clearly separating actual Islam from extremism.
5/ Repeated mention of the increasing number of Muslim immigrants to the country but no mention of colonization and France’s harm in the countries Muslims are coming from.
6/ AND justification of pushing for the French version of “integration and assimilation” which is another way to colonize their bodies after their land.
According to this episode, assimilating is “having people look similar, have the same culture, same HISTORICAL REFERENCES.”
According to this episode, assimilating is “having people look similar, have the same culture, same HISTORICAL REFERENCES.”
7/ It isn’t until the end of the episode where Barbaro starts posing *hypothetical* questions about if France has considered embracing and celebrating the diversity of culture and beliefs immigrants in the country.
8/ Listening to this angle of reporting is difficult. It feels like being in a glass box looking out to people controlling narratives of others and trying to get their attention because they’re feeding a harmful narrative.
9/ The lack of empathy as a tool of “objectivity” is harmful not only to the people the media is misrepresenting but to the rest of us who are consuming these stories to better understand one another.
10/ Every time there are non-Muslims in conversation about what Muslims are “thinking and feeling” — I, like many others, hold my breath.
11/ We can hear the subtleties of bias. We can hear when your language choice reveals when you agree with the oppressor, or at least “see their point.”
12/ There’s emotional work involved in this too. Getting triggered by news stories and then walking myself out of the thought loop that focuses on the harm that will come from this story and actually pay close attention to exactly how the story is being reported.
13/ Then, asking myself the question of, what context is missing in this story for a non Muslim to truly understand this. I’ve trained myself to know both sides of these stories, so I can get through the bias to understand the reporting.
14/ If you work in media, some ?s to consider when reporting on a community that isn’t your own (source @CAIRNational)
-why am I using this description?
-what does this description say about this individual?
-what relevance does this individual have to the story I am telling?
-why am I using this description?
-what does this description say about this individual?
-what relevance does this individual have to the story I am telling?
15/
-what background can I offer that increases the public understanding of this individual/their relationship to the story?
-what context am I providing about the people and events I am covering?
-does this description advance the story in any significant, substantive way?
-what background can I offer that increases the public understanding of this individual/their relationship to the story?
-what context am I providing about the people and events I am covering?
-does this description advance the story in any significant, substantive way?
16/
-how would this description sound if I were describing someone who looked like me?
And what I have always ask myself before working on a story: how is the way I am covering this going to impact the people involved?
-how would this description sound if I were describing someone who looked like me?
And what I have always ask myself before working on a story: how is the way I am covering this going to impact the people involved?
17/ The first time I went to France in 2015, I appeared on a @CanalPlus talk show called Le Grand Journal.
18s When I tweeted letting people know to tune into the segment and I was immediately asked to take the tweet down and was told it was the first time the network was having a Muslim woman in a hijab on and if higher ups knew, they would pull the plug.
19/ I went on and was asked about my hijab. I said something along the lines of “I don’t care if you go out naked or fully covered, I don’t think the government should be telling people how to dress.
20/ I had a translator in my ear piece to lmk in English what the panelist’s were saying. I remember a French woman there making fun of me on live TV. I was confused.
21/ The next day, at Versailles, I had swarms of people come up to me. Students, professors, tourists, they were all thanking me for what I said on the show.
It was the first time they had seen a Muslim woman in hijab speak up about her choice on French TV.
It was the first time they had seen a Muslim woman in hijab speak up about her choice on French TV.
22/ That night, I had to give an acceptance speech for an award. For my speech, I decided to read several emails I had received from French hijab-wearing women who were aspiring journalists.
23/ I’ll attach some here because I don’t need to speak for them:
24/ These women are my heroes. They are women who chose to fight for themselves and their dreams even if it meant leaving their home country behind because their country, a “free” country, oppressed their identity and silences their expression.
25/ Media leaders choose which stories are worth reporting about, the language used to report, and the images we attach to them.
26/ It is not possible to make these choices without bias because we are humans with different experiences and perspectives and we can never truly shut that off. Nor should we.
27/ While diversity is always a strength, the unfortunate reality is that most newsrooms and studios are still overwhelmingly white and it is typically white leaders of newsrooms who decide the narratives.
28/ This is changing -- but not rapidly enough to catch up with the dangers of misrepresentation and misinformation.
I ask if you are reading this even if you aren’t in media, to keep those questions I listed above in mind when you consume or share stories and news.
I ask if you are reading this even if you aren’t in media, to keep those questions I listed above in mind when you consume or share stories and news.
And of course, remember, your best source of info is directly from people living these experiences themselves. No one owes you their story, there are plenty of ppl who share their stories and truths.
Seek those stories out and if you’re going to report on them, do the work.
Seek those stories out and if you’re going to report on them, do the work.
