Published: 16 March 2012

Region: Great Britain

Pedja Urosevic & Patrick White

19-year-old Azhar Ahmed has been arrested and charged with a ‘racially aggravated public order offence’ by West Yorkshire Police after he posted a message on Facebook criticising the tendency to concentrate on the relatively few British lives lost in Afghanistan at the expense of losses among Afghan civilians.

Published: 20 January 2012

Region: European Union

By Pedja Urosevic

Media reporting on the rights of asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups in Europe has always been driven by politics and particularly by the anti-immigrant agenda of right wing groups in countries like Britain, Hungary and Austria. Now the challenge facing journalists is even greater following a call by European Union leaders for faster action to process asylum cases. 

Published: 15 November 2011

Region: USA & Worldwide

By Fitri Adi Anugrah and Pedja Urosevic

“It’s tiresomely obvious, but not made clear at all in this work that Al Qaeda is a terrorist group, and the fact that although members of that terrorist group are almost always Muslims, does not make all Muslims part of it. Frank Miller has fallen into the trap of smearing the whole Muslim community in his enthusiasm to point the finger at terrorists.”

The comic book is a powerful medium that can educate, entertain or inspire or, with equal force, it can enrage and irritate.

Published: 21 October

Region: US & Worldwide

By Pedja Urosevic

They’ve been ‘occupying’ Wall Street for almost a month, but people looking for information on what it’s all about are forced to go offshore for television journalism that will explain it to them. Mainstream media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest in the United States has been lamentable. As Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show put it; the American news media "moved its coverage dial from 'blackout' to 'circus.' But those are the only two settings it has."

Published: 19 August 2011

Pedja Urosevic for the Media Diversity Institute

If Fiona Armstrong or anyone else at the BBC had given it a second thought they would never have put the following question to veteran rights campaigner and author Darcus Howe:  “Mr. Howe. If I can just ask you, you are not a stranger to riots yourself, I understand, are you? You have taken part in them yourself?”

Published: 17 June 2011

Region: Worldwide

'This experience has sadly only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism.' – Tom MacMaster, infamous for his ‘Amina hoax’.

When Tom MacMaster set down to write his blog, ‘A Gay Girl In Damascus’ he might have had best intentions: raising awareness of the oppressed LGBT population in Damascus, and giving them a voice and platform in the Western media; what he did is exactly the opposite. 

Published:17 June 2011

Region: Serbia & EU

'Stricter border control' has become a buzz-phrase in Serbia. It used to mean the EU practising a tough regime; these days it’s the Serbian government against Serbian citizens, using border controls introduced without the benefit of Parliamentary debate by administrative fiat from the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Brussels had warned Belgrade that the future of visa-free travel in the EU region might be at risk, since when the Serbian government has launched a war against ‘bogus asylum seekers’ - not entering but leaving the country. And it's full steam ahead, with support from all the mainstream media. 

Published: 10 June 2011

Region: France & Wordwide

"We do not know what happened in New York on Saturday May 14, but we know what has been happening in France in the past week…We have been disgusted by a daily outpouring of misogynist comments by public figures” – from a petition  against misogynist comments in French media signed by 30.000 people

The Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair unfolding in the French media took an unexpected turn recently when French media published the name of the chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel who accused Mr Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, together with the name of her daughter.

The former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief is facing charges in connection with thealleged sexual assault of a 32 year old maid in New York's Sofitel hotel on 14 May.

Posted: September 21, 2010

Region: Worldwide

“I believe that every action creates an equal and opposite reaction, and that actions of hatred, intolerance and ignorance create an ever escalating cyclical pattern of more hatred, intolerance and ignorance” - Reverend Wayne Lavender, a Christian Pastor, on the recent US Qu'ran burning controversy.

The pastor, from Virginia (USA), is trying to find a way to offset the rise of islamophobia in western culture, especially in the USA, and promises to send 50 Islamic holly books to Christian churches across America.

Reverend Wayne Lavender, a United Methodist pastor, in his article written for Common Ground News Service comments that misinformation related to Islam on the internet, and “cherry picking Qur’anic verses out of context”, are being used to “widely disseminate lies and anti-Islamic propaganda.”