[eccr] Press release: Online/More Colour in the Media Co-organised 'After September 11' Symposium in London

PRESS RELEASE:

ONLINE/MORE COLOUR IN THE MEDIA CO-ORGANISES
AFTER SEPTEMBER 11 SYMPOSIUM IN LONDON

A prestigious three-day European Symposium
entitled After September 11, TV news and
transnational audiences was held in Londons
Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy
Research, last week. A host of speakers,
journalists and NGO representatives reviewed
the results of several research efforts and
projects on news media coverage of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The opening speech by The Independents
Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, on
Monday September 9, marked the beginning of
two days of presentations by researchers and
journalists, followed by a third day of
presenting points of view representative of
ethnic minorities groups.

For Ed Klute, Chair of the European network
Online/More Colour in the Media, and Director
of Mira Media, a non-government organisation
based in the Netherlands, there were many
highlights during the conference.

Ed chaired the round table discussion on
'bringing together NGO's and researchers in
media watch and minority empowerment' on the
third day, 11 September, and himself
presented an example of good practice from
Holland in the day's second session: the
'Perslink' Diversity Database Mira Media
developed in conjunction with the public
broadcasters. He said: There were a mixture
of people at the conference, from all around
the world and this contributed to an overall
positive environment. There were many
discussions and our speakers brought a
different flavour to the talks and to what
many of the academics were expecting.  We
wanted to show people what it was like to
represent the ethnic minority viewpoint.

The Symposium was jointly organised by the
British Film Institute, the Open University's
Pavis Centre for Social and Cultural
research, the Oxford University ESRC Research
Programme on Transnational Communities and
Online/More Colour in the Media, of which
Mira Media is the co-ordinating body. The
conference brought together academics,
journalists, broadcasters and the public to
analyse and debate the TV coverage of
September 11 and afterwards in the wake of
the attacks on the United States.

Robert Fisk opened the symposium with an
emotional speech on the September 11 attacks
and his experiences of the Middle East, where
he has been living for 26 years. Shireen
Mazari, Director General of the Institute of
Strategic Studies in Islamabad, illustrated
how Western media tend to reinforce
stereotypes. Patsy Widakuswara of Metro TV
presented the coverage of Indonesian
television news on September 11. Other topics
covered on the first day included the British
Channel Four's 'British and Muslim' season
and the BFI comparative analysis project on
TV news after September 11th.

The day ended with a prolific debate on
'Making News' with Tony Maddox, CNN
International's senior vice president for
Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Steve
Williams, BBC World's Senior Editor, and
Hafez Al-Mizari, Washington Bureau Chief for
Al-Jazeera, who were critically questioned by
academics and minority representatives alike.

The keynote speech of Professor Thomas
Hylland Eriksen kicked off a diverse agenda
on Tuesday, September 10. Arguing that the
preconceived moulds of explanation of "9/11"
as a struggle between freedom and tyranny, or
global American domination and local
self-determination, simply did not meet the
facts, he playfully introduced the notion of
"the recognition by the other as a scarce
resource in the network society". The global
network of the terrorists here symbolises a
desperate grab for attention by those who
feel unheard in a world of global media
networks. The rest of the day mostly focused
on new audience research among diaspora
communities. Individual presentations
illustrated how Arabic, Pashto, Turkish, Urdu
and Hindi-speakers, as well as white working
class viewers, reacted to the TV coverage of
September 11. Further presentations
highlighted how children reacted to the 11
September attacks and how they were reflected
in chat room and message board discussions.

On the third day of the event, Bashy
Quaraishy, President of the European Network
Against Racism (ENAR), spoke about what NGOs
can do to influence media reporting. In a
personal and combative speech, Bashy spoke
about the continuing profiling of Muslims in
media and politics, but also on the street,
where racist attacks are on the rise. Bashy
examined the power the media wield, and
suggested "ten commandments" for
intercultural journalism. After his speech,
examples of good practice on NGO empowerment
from around the world were showcased, such as
the Refugees and the Media Project in the UK
and the Panos Paris Institute's work with
independent media in developing countries and
minority media in the West.

Ed Klute was especially positive about the
networking opportunities the symposium
offered. He added: "Online/More Colour in the
Media has launched a new project on this
symposium, to establish a European Day of
Monitoring. Each year on September 11,
volunteers around Europe will monitor the
media output of the day on its representation
of cultural diversity. The WACC (World
Association for Christian Communication)
presentation of its Global Media Monitoring
Project 2000 on gender has shown us a good
model for such a project. It was supported by
hundreds of volunteers world wide, who learnt
that it was important to watch television in
more critical ways. This symposium has shown
many examples of how academic methods can be
used to underpin efforts to empower ethnic
minorities - to give them the tools to
effectively lobby for themselves."

That is why the kind of audience research
that was presented at the symposium is so
important. He said: "Research about minority
audiences is not well known in the
Netherlands, and opinions of ethnic
minorities with regard to September 11 and
its aftermath are underrepresented. It was
good to see many researchers and activists
speaking up about this at the symposium. It
is our aim to give these communities a
voice.

More information on the conference can be
found on http://www.afterseptember11.tv. The
work of the European network Online/More
Colour in the Media is presented on
http://www.multicultural.net.

--------------------
Note for the editors: for more information
you can contact Joost van Beek at Mira Media,
Tel. : +31-(0)30-2302240, Email:
(jobeek /at/ miramedia.nl)

The work of Online/More Colour in the Media
is supported by the European Commission: DG
Employment, Industrial Relations & Social
Affairs, Community Action Programme to combat
discrimination 2001-2006

END

_____________________________________________________________________

On-Line/More Colour in the Media:
http://www.multicultural.net

Mira Media - Schakel met de multiculturele
samenleving
v/h Stoa, Stichting Omroep en Allochtonen
Postbus 1234
3500 BE Utrecht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31-(0)30-2302240
Fax. : +31-(0)30-2302975
Email: (info /at/ miramedia.nl)
http://www.miramedia.nl
http://www.11-september.nl
http://www.multicultureelplein.nl
_____________________________________________________________________




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