JAKARTA — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday, September 2, accused Western media of applying double standards when reporting on Muslims, saying they were often ignorant about sensitive issues for Muslims.
"If non-Muslims are killed in fighting, then the Western media exaggerates the news. But this is not the case when Muslims are killed in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon," he was quoted as saying by Antara state news agency, Reuters reported.
Yudhoyono said that Muslims did want a special treatment by the Western media.
"But they (Muslims) only want to be respected in the same way as adherents of other faiths," he said.
Famed US academic Stephen Schwartz had criticized the western media for failing to meet the challenge of reporting on Islam after the 9/11 attacks.
An independent review ordered by the BBC has recently concluded that its coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is "inconsistent, incomplete and misleading," failing to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under occupation.
The 114-member Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) launched in June a news service to counter ill-founded and misleading Western media reports.
Malaysia has also proposed setting up an international Islamic journalism center to counter mounting Islamophobia and coach non-Muslim journalists about Islam and Muslims.
Ignorant
Yudhoyono said that the Western media were often ignorant about sensitive issues for Muslims, citing the publication of cartoons lampooning Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).
"The publication of the Prophet Muhammad's caricature has come as a surprise to all of us.
"Even more surprisingly, a number of Western journalists said they did not know that it was forbidden," he said.
Last September, cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad were published by Denmark's mass circulation Jyllands-Posten, sparking furor in the Muslim world.
The insulting drawings were later reprinted by European newspapers on claims of freedom of expression.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has regretted the hurt caused to Muslims by the cartoons, but has refused to apologize under the pretext of free speech.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-09/02/05.shtml