AMI Public Discussion on ‘Can We Trust the Media Representation of Islam?’

On Friday 21st April, Al-Mahdi Institute held a public discussion entitled ‘Can We Trust the Media Representation of Islam?’, presented by Miqdaad Versi (Muslim Council of Britain). Inviting AMI students, faculty and the general public, the program was insightful and engaging.

Miqdaad Versi is an independent management consultant with expertise in property, travel and finance. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a First Class Honours degree in mathematics. Miqdaad holds the position of Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, and is one of their media spokespeople with numerous interviews including on the BBC News, BBC Newsnight, ITV, CNN, Sky News, BBC Arabic, The Times, The Guardian, AlJazeera English, the Independent and many others. As part of his role, he monitors media reporting on Islam and Muslims, and was profiled on the BBC for his work. Alongside this Miqdaad is involved in many voluntary roles across different organisations. To read more about his work click here.

Miqdaad’s presentation began by highlighting the importance of the issue, and how the media representation of Islam affects society as a whole, and influences their concerns. He highlighted the ‘consistent stream of inaccurate stories about Muslims’ and stated in the past six months alone 25 articles in the media have been so significantly wrong that the regulator have admitted to the error and changed them, following petition from himself. Miqdaad then presented academic studies from bodies such as the University of Cambridge and Leicester which argued ‘an atmosphere of rising hostility against Muslims is fueled by the UK media’. He then went through many insightful facts and figures which outline UK perceptions on various issues surrounding Muslims and their representation in the media.

The second half of the event featured a question and answer session actively participated in by the audience, so much so the discussion ensued following a break for prayers, engaging all in awareness of how the community feels about the issue and the impact on their lives.

To view more images from the event click here

To watch the discussion click here