Felix Dearden Memorial Prize
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Jeremy Dear
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Carole Plaster

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Brown Faces aren't enough

The riots in Oldham and Bradford this summer appear to be a clear sign that Britain is far from being a country where people of different ethnic and religious origins are able to live without tension or conflict. The clashes between young British Asians, the police and other white residents of these northern towns were described as some of the worst race riots in 15 years. The sense of unease and anxiety about the state of race relations could be felt in places far from where the violence had erupted. Yet, despite the significance of these events, it was difficult to grasp why these young British citizens were so angry. News reports of the situation did little to shed any light about the root causes of the violence and sensationalist media coverage of 'no-go areas' for whites only served to give the impression that those brownies up north had gone berserk.

The national media gave unprecedented attention to the attack on a pensioner which was thought to have triggered the riots in Oldham. It seemed that this brutal attack made the front pages of national newspapers only because the crime was considered a racial attack perpetuated by Asians. Racial violence who ever it is committed by or against is never acceptable but ethnic minorities in this country have been victims of attacks and intimidation for years without receiving the same level of media attention.

Such media coverage can only serve to arouse a sense of disaffection among young ethnic minorities and this should have been apparent in the reports about the riots. Instead, both print and broadcast media helped generate further feelings of alienation by frequently failing to describe young Asians as British.

Over the last year media coverage of issues related to ethnic diversity displays a lack of awareness and naiveté which affects the way news is reported. Lord Ouseley, former chairman of the commission for racial equality, recently urged a change in the culture of the media. "Decision makers and executives, commissioning editors and managers are not competent in multicultural knowledge and experiences. This ignorance means that racist decisions are probably being made every day," he said (Guardian, 30 October 2001).

This comment shows that multiculturalism in the media needs to mean more that just seeing an increase in the number of ethnic minority journalists. All journalists, regardless of ethnic origin need to become better informed about multiculturalism and not hone in on the sensational in order to give a fair and accurate representation of ethnic minority communities in this country. Secondly, the national media has a duty to encourage public debate about racism and multiculturalism in a mature and responsible manner.

Serious and responsible press coverage was certainly not received by the Runnymede Trust's report last October. The 'Future of Multiethnic Britain' report marked one of the most significant developments in race relations since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. Unlike the McPherson report which followed the Lawrence Inquiry, the Runnymede report was not crisis driven and attempted to take a calm and long-term view of the current condition of multiethnic Britain. It praised the state of race relations in this country compared to other European countries, but also highlighted ways of countering racial discrimination, inequality and exclusion.

The media treatment of the report was however, misleading and abusive. The report had discussed subjects ranging from developing an inclusive national identity, violent racism and inequality in education and health, but the chance to engage in public debate about these issues was overshadowed by severe media distortion of the report's findings.

The controversy centred on the report's claim that the term British had 'racial connotations' which meant many people still imagined Britain as a country belonging mainly to white people. Many newspapers misquoted the report saying that the word British had "racist connotations" meaning a prejudiced outlook and subsequently the report was derided as "sub-Marxist gibberish"( The Daily Telegraph, 10 October 2000). Headlines such as " 'British' is a Race slur" ( The Sun, 10 October 2000), "British tag is 'coded racism' ", (The Guardian, 11 October 2000) and "British is just another word for prejudice", (Mirror, 11 October 2000), coverage distorted the original meaning of the discussion.

Either through lack of awareness or negligence, a number of newspapers misinformed the general public and as a result failed to lead a public debate about how to make Britain a more tolerant and inclusive society. Discussions about national identity and cultural difference are not merely academic, they are intricately connected to discrimination and exclusion. If media institutions are serious about reflecting cultural diversity in Britain then they have a responsibility to promote knowledge about race issues as well as encourage national debate in a moderate manner.

News media is also in a position to further understanding and respect between different ethnic groups in this country. This does not mean that journalists should become part of some race relations PR machine! Journalists should recognise that they have the power to define perceptions of ethnic minority communities and consequently should desist from taking extremist points of view and presenting them as representative of an entire community. Sensational points of view seem to be given more attention as they make a more interesting news story.

This is exactly what happened in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in America. Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed, leader of the extreme Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun, appeared on a number of news programmes where he refused to condemn the attacks in America. Many other moderate groups who had categorically denounced the attacks were hardly given any air time. Giving prominence to his extremist views helps create the false impression that large sections of the Muslim community must hold similar ideas and does not help dispel Islamaphobia. This situation was not reflected by all sections of the media. The Sun ran a front page on 12 September 2001 about a British Muslim who had lost his daughter in the world trade centre tragedy but was also facing increased racial harassment in the backlash against Muslims. The story ran at a time when racist attacks on British Muslims were on the increase. It was a clear indication to readers that the majority of British Muslims are law-abiding citizens who have nothing to do with terrorism.

The root causes of tensions in Oldham and Bradford have a complex history arising from segregated housing and education, unemployment and a general lack of prosperity. This picture is not replicated throughout the country. There is another side of multicultural Britain which is evolving into a society increasingly at ease with cultural diversity. There are many positive indications that ideas of national belonging are changing. The growing trend of expressing multiple identities such as British Asian, British Muslim and Black British, are claims of belonging to both this country as well as the place where family origins lie. There is no longer the same degree of conflict involved in growing up in two cultures and many articulate ethnic minority people combine successful careers with maintaining elements of their distinct cultural identity. This means that more and more people accept that cultural diversity should no longer be confined to the private sphere and feel free to practising their religion, wear traditional clothes or speak a home language in public.

The media is also changing with prominent journalists such as Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Shiulie Ghosh, Gary Younge and Maya Jaggi demonstrating that journalism is a viable career option for ethnic minority people. The increased number of ethnic minority characters in soap operas such as Casualty, EastEnders and Coronation Street are also helping to dispel myths. Story lines are no longer present characters in a one-sided manner and are exploring the commonalties as well as the differences between ethnic minority and majority communities. The BBC 2 series Babyfather is an example of this new outlook in popular drama. It has been considered as a milestone in television because all four main characters, the production team and the director are black. However, the programme does not focus on racism as the central theme of the drama but presents the characters as any other group of young friends in Britain. In this respect diversity in the media means highlighting the similarities as well as the differences between all citizens of multicultural Britain.

These developments seem an encouraging sign that despite the fact racial tensions and conflict exist in certain section of our society, Britain is still on the way to becoming a country where ethnic diversity is increasingly recognised and celebrated.

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