ABSTRACT
‘[When someone talks on] a radio station and says: “Kick all Muslims out of Australia” you know that they are talking about you so that it has an emotional effect on you’ (IDA 2007: 68). This is how a Muslim participant of a focus group discussion, held as part of the Australian IDA survey, described his personal experience with the media. The statement is a strong reminder that media portrayals and public discourse do not only affect the perception and behavioural disposition within segments of the mainstream society. These public narratives also have direct implications for Muslims’ perception of their place in society, their identity and their response to this media reporting, ranging from frustrating continuous media consumption to deliberate disengagement to media activism.
