Perceptions and realities: The main sources of information for non-Muslim Australians about the religion of Islam and Muslim people

Abstract

In the context that Australian journalists and the Australian public are largely ignorant of Islam and Muslims and where racism and Islamophobia are historically rooted and persistent, this study reports on where Australians source their information about Islam and Muslims. In this study, we find that while a sample of Australian journalists believe overall that 80% of the Australian public relies on the mainstream news media as a primary source of information about the Islamic faith and its followers, this is a significant overestimation. This study identifies that the mainstream news media is a primary source of information about the religion of Islam and Muslim people for around half of Australia’s non-Muslim population (49.27% and 45.89%, respectively). Muslim people, books, social media and family and friends are also important primary sources of information. In identifying the main sources of information about Islam and Muslims in Australia, this study answers the question posed by social geographer Kevin Dunn more than a decade ago. By comparing perceptions with reality, we find the mainstream news media are not as significant a source of information for non-Muslim Australians about Islam and Muslims as our sample of journalists believe them to be. This opens up the space for policymakers to look for new and targeted ways (beyond improving the ways the news media report stories about Islam and Muslims) to normalise Islam as a religion of peace and further work to combat entrenched Islamophobia, key among them are Muslim people.