Muslim Media' and the Politics of Representation Media and Cultural Responses to Diversity Issues in Britain

This article examines data from a year-long project, 'Muslims in the European Mediascape', which explored the production and consumption of diversity issues in the United Kingdom and Germany. Here, I report on the findings from minority (predominantly Muslim) media producers and consumers in the United Kingdom; these findings demonstrate both the ambitions of the producers and the somewhat limited extent to which they are met among audiences. The research reveals a disconnect between producers and their target audiences in terms of the media consumption of those audiences, despite a similarity in their sociopolitical concerns. Perhaps more importantly, an analysis of participant discussions about media practices and life in the United Kingdom reveals more about the politics of representation and belonging in a period of considerable instability and change than it reveals about reported practices.