Existing research has explored the ways the mainstream news media covers Muslims and Islam, but few studies have examined Muslims’ reactions to this reporting. Studies that have investigated this issue have identified that the responses of Muslims to news media coverage tend to be largely negative because of the lack of Muslim news sources, the stereotypical representation of Muslims in news coverage, the portrayal of Muslims as the enemy within, and the conflation of Muslims with terrorism. This paper further explores the attitudes of Muslims to news media coverage of Islam and Muslims by drawing on data from 14 focus groups (N = 104 participants) conducted with Australian Muslims. Similar to previous research, findings reveal that Australian Muslims are highly critical of news media coverage of Islam and Muslims and express concern about the divisiveness that such portrayal can have for Australian society. However, the study participants also had positive comments to make about the news media. Possible solutions to negative news media portrayals of Muslims are considered.

Much of the research about disasters has focused on the poor and unethical practices of journalists reporting on disasters, but relatively little has been written about best practice approaches to news media coverage of such events. This article uses two sources of data, interviews with senior emergency managers in eight countries and the body of research on news media coverage of disasters, to develop a best practice schema for journalists reporting disasters in two phases – before they occur and as they unfold. There is relatively little research on best practice approaches to reporting disasters; therefore, we also include the literature about news media coverage of disasters as this enabled identification of key problems with reportage of disasters. We conclude this article with suggestions about how this schema might be further refined and note some additional areas for research that might be pursued as a result of the best practice approach.

Stories about alleged terrorism and terrorist activities typically conflate Islam and terrorism, but there are few examples of cases where the news frames used to present these types of stories change over time. This article explores how four key Australian media outlets framed Australia's biggest and to date most costly terrorism investigation, the Dr. Mohamed Haneef case. It tracks the reportage of the story in its first month to determine the types of news frames used and whether they were those typically associated with news stories about alleged terrorism and terrorism-related events. This study found that during the first 10 days, the news frames that typically characterize reportage of these sorts of events dominated, but dramatic changes in the trajectory of the story meant frames rarely associated with this type of reportage were used for the remainder of the period analyzed. Although the news media analyzed in this study were able to draw on alternative frames, they did not seek to reframe their conflation of the alleged suspect's religion with terrorism.

This article explores talkback radio programmes' creation of community during disasters. It examines how community is formed by the contributions audience members make to talkback radio during natural disasters, thus probing beyond the instrumental value of providing information on air as a disaster is unfolding. Normative theories of crisis communication situate authorities as the regulators of information provision through controlled media channels to the public when disasters occur. This article suggests that talkback radio programmes present a challenge to normative models of communication and governance during disasters. The public use talkback programmes to distribute information directly to audiences with whom they identify, not only augmenting but also actively subverting the control authorities have over public communication. Such bottom-up coordinative activity is similar but not identical to the recent uses of social media in popular uprisings as talkback radio still provides a measure of access control and editing.