The Observer panders to Anjem Choudary’s views on ISIS
Categories: Latest News
Tuesday September 09 2014
In what to many will seem like déjà vu, The Observer this Sunday published a double page feature on marginal Muslim figure and agent provocateur, Anjem Choudary, speaking about ISIS and it being the ‘kind of society [he] would like to live in with [his] family’.
Reminiscent of national broadcasters and newspaper titles prominently featuring Choudary in news bulletins and comment programmes after the appalling murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last summer, The Observer’s decision comes on the heels of The Sun front page story, ‘’Muslim convert’ beheads woman in garden’ and growing concern of the numbers of young British Muslims travelling to, or from, Iraq and Syria to join ISIS.
Last summer, Choudary’s incendiary contributions were, rightly, derided by the Home Secretary for their provocation at a time of social unease. And though Ofcom cleared BBC Newsnight, Channel 4 News and ITV Daybreak of broadcasting segments featuring Choudary following complaints that his appearance gave him an opportunity to air offensive views on television; was disrespectful to the family of Fusilier Lee Rigby and would incite hatred against the UK Muslim community, it acknowledged in its ruling that ‘where highly controversial individuals are given the chance to articulate their views on television or radio, broadcasters must ensure that they ensure that their views are challenged and contextualised as appropriate.’
Challenging and contextualising Choudary’s contributions has rarely been exercised in the British press if assessments of news output over periods of time are considered. For example, academics at Lancaster University studied news output in the British nationals from 1998 – 2009, concluding that extreme and fringe elements within the Muslim community dominated news coverage. The impact of this on the wider British Muslim majority who cannot abide the inflammatory statements issued by such groups is captured by researchers thus:
“Yet when newspapers write about a minority group like Muslims, if they focus on a violent subset of that group, there is the danger that the majority suffer guilt by association. In a climate where the UK can spawn a group like the English Defence League, a wider set of representations of Islam would signify a welcome change to reporting practices. Muslims deserve a better press than they have been given in the past decade.”
Matthew Parris in a welcome contribution highlighted the depth and scale of the fervent anti-Muslim prejudice that is a regular feature of online comment pages on many newspapers. A cursory look at the sorts of comments posted gives an indication of what happens when the views of ‘controversial individuals’ are not ‘challenged or contextualised’. And one would certainly think The Observer, which along with The Guardian fares better than other titles in the Lancaster study, would be wary of the prospect of stoking anti-Muslim prejudice by indulging Anjem Choudary and his vile views.