Muslims living in Britain and Ireland yesterday expressed concern that media coverage of Islam often provided a distorted and extremist depiction of the Muslim community.
It was one of a number of points raised at a roundtable discussion organised by the State-funded National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) and the British Council, the UK's international cultural relations organisation.
Dr Fauzia Ahmad, a research fellow at the University of Bristol's department of sociology, said most coverage of the Muslim community tended to be in the wider context of extremism.
She said opinion polls regularly warned that large sections of the Muslim population in Britain supported the introduction of Shariah law. However, on a closer inspection, this often meant Muslims just wanted access to Islamic forms of finance or halal food.
"There are many different interfacing modes of living within the Muslim community. But when it is framed in this way, it is portrayed as something to be scared of, or that there is a growing extremist tendency," Dr Ahmad said.
While most contributors said the Muslim community had integrated quite well into Irish society, some said they often felt excluded from day-to-day life in Ireland.
Said El Bouzari, a young social care worker, said: "There are big problems with inequality.
"If you apply for a job you can be highly qualified, speak seven languages, and still not get it.
"It can be very frustrating. When you're not treated equally you feel excluded."
Ann Altawash, who helped found the Muslim primary school in Clonskeagh, Dublin, suggested that one way forward was to integrate Islam into the main education system rather than establishing new faith-based schools.
She also expressed concern about the effect of the negative portrayal of Islam on Muslim children.
"When you grow up surrounded by such negative images, it can affect a child's self-esteem and have an impact on their participation in society," Ms Altawash said.
While the media were widely criticised, Ali Selim, resident theologian at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, congratulated journalist Mary Fitzgerald for her coverage of Islamic issues in The Irish Times last year.
He said there needed to be greater understanding of Islam and said Government efforts to involve the Muslim community in issues such as inter-faith dialogue were positive developments.
Mary Fitzgerald told the roundtable meeting that extremist depictions of Islam in the media often had less to do with agenda-setting and more to do with lack of awareness on the part of journalists.
Another factor fuelling the extremist portrayal of Islam was the tendency of the media to report the comments of those who "shout the loudest", rather than others who are more moderate and genuinely representative of the wider community, Ms Fitzgerald said.
