A Toolkit for Journalists for More Informed Reporting of Stories About Muslims and Islam

This chapter provides an overview of a toolkit for journalists, to assist them towards more informed reporting of stories about Muslims and Islam. The toolkit’s resources and training packages are hosted on a website ( reportingislam.org ) and produced as part of a 4-year project called ‘Reporting Islam’, in Australia. This chapter explains the processes used in the toolkit’s development, detailing its contents. The toolkit’s creation was underpinned by academic research, including two key reports and an edited primer for journalists focusing on identifying and addressing problematic reporting of Muslims and their faith. Its design involved Australian news media organisations, journalists, journalism educators, students and Australia’s Muslim communities who were partners in developing, trialling and refining it. The toolkit aimed to address the theory-practice divide between scholarly work and journalistic practices in covering stories about Muslims and Islam. It offers journalists practical ways to avoid issues highlighted by research relating to problematic news media representations of Muslims and Islam, helping them improve their practices and content of their stories. This chapter also highlights the effects of the toolkit on journalists’ knowledge about Muslims and their faith and on their knowledge of best practice in reporting stories encompassing Muslims and Islam.