‘The national media just sees Muslims as if they are not people like us’: The alternate social imaginaries of local journalists reporting on Muslims

Haq, Nadia 2025. ‘The national media just sees Muslims as if they are not people like us’: The alternate social imaginaries of local journalists reporting on Muslims. Media, Culture & Society 10.1177/01634437241313042

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Abstract

This article contributes a missing insight into the everyday experiences of local journalists when reporting on stories involving Muslims. Using qualitative interviews with local and national journalists on their experiences of reporting stories involving Muslims, I investigate how ideas of belonging shape their journalistic practices. The study finds that the experiences of national journalists mirror the Othering of Muslims found in studies of press discourse, reflecting national newspapers’ preoccupation with questions relating to the loyalty and belonging of British Muslims. In contrast, the experiences of local journalists’ and their very different interpretations of journalism built on ideas of community, audience and public interest reflect conscious efforts towards fairer reporting on stories involving Muslims. Using Charles Taylor’s concept of social imaginaries to make sense of these findings, I demonstrate how the accounts of the local journalists reflected a social imaginary of their audiences that very much included, rather than excluded, local Muslim communities. This inclusive social imaginary became reflective of the practices of local newspapers, both in terms of their media outputs and their own journalistic identity.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Journalism, Media and Culture
Publisher:	SAGE
ISSN:	0163-4437
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 January 2025
Date of Acceptance:	17 December 2024
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2025 14:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/175213

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