[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 London=92s
>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 Independent=92s
>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: =93There 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.=94
>
>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 NGO=92s
>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.=94
>
>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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