Final Activity Report

By Irina Kouznetsova-Morenko

OSI International Policy Fellowship Program

September 2003 – October 2003

 

 

1)      Field research. On this stage of the project 29 interviews were conducted with journalists, Moslem clerics at Kazan and several big cities of Tatarstan - Nabereznie Chelni, Niznekamsk, and Bugulma.

2)      Discourse and content analyses. Analyses of media reflection of seizure of hostages on Nord-Ost and Muslim holiday Kurban-Bairam were reviewed, period of analysis was enlarge until two years. The big volume of publications concerning Moslems in issuers of Iraq’ war and “matter of hijabs” were gathered and analyzed.

3)      The significant dates concerning estate and perspectives of Muslim Journalism at the Republic of Tatarstan were combined by interviews that allow gain analysis of that issue that did not planned at research but on my view demands a special attention in the context of Media Policy towards Islam.

4)      March 2004. IPF seminar. Participation in IPF seminar gave me useful experience in policy paper writing, new contacts.

5)      June, 8, 2004. Carrying out of a round table “Muslim and mass media” at the House of Journalists of Republic of Tatarstan. The main goals of this action were: attraction journalistic attention and Muslim communities to recovering Moslem faith in mass media; 2) development strategy of optimum interaction of journalists and Moslems with the purpose of overcoming negative tendencies in representation of Moslem faith.

The round table has met with approval and support on the part of official structures of republic, namely – of the Union of journalists RT, Council on affairs of religions at Cabinet RT, Spiritual administration Moslems of Tatarstan. Heads of these organizations have recognized necessity of transformation representation of Moslem faith in mass-media, rendered information support to action, have acted with reports.  The meeting was opened by speech of vice-chief of the Parliament of Tatarstan, chief of the Union of journalists RT Rimma A. Ratnikova.

The booklet “Islam in Media Space” which besides the stenogram contains “the Code of ethics of the Muslim journalist” of the Russian Union of Moslem Journalists, coordinates of authorities of Tatarstan which can give comments to journalists on Islamic subjects, policy options to transformation Media Policy towards Islam has been dispatched by publishing house in the Russian and local libraries. Council on affairs of religions (the chief of this department – is the Mentor of the project) has dispatched copies of the booklet in administration and departments RT. The booklet has been distributed among journalistic community of republic, scientists, Muslim community.

Results of a round table have been covered in newspapers “Rossiskaya gazeta”, “Respublica Tatarstan”, “Vostochnyi Exspress”, Tatarstan news agencies Intertat (www.intertat.ru), TatarInform (www.tatmedia.ru), the All-Russia broadcasting organization «Tatarstan – New century». The information on action and the questions put in it has been placed on sites Islam.ru, a site of Spiritual administration Moslems of Tatarstan, a site of religious journalism «Religion and mass-media» (http://www.religare.ru), a site “Religion in a transitional society” (http://religion.sova-center.ru), etc. 

            It was the first action directed on the improving of the Media policy towards Islam in our region. Issue of representation of Islam demands other meetings between representatives of journalists and Moslem communities.

 

Nowadays the situation around Islam in Tatarstan is not stable because in Nabereznie Chelny city there were arrested around 15 Moslems on suspicion with radical activity and participation in foreign Islamic extremists’ movement. The meting of support contented slogans: “Mass-media – kindler of interreligious enmity”…

 

 

At the moment of the report submission the following articles have been published:

  1. Journalists about Islam: responses of Muslim clergymen, in Modern ethics: Russian reality and prognoses. Materials of All-Russian scientific-practical  conference 14-15 November 2003, IEML, Kazan, “Taglimat”, 2003, p. 215-218;

2.      Muslim subject matter in mass-media’s representation capture of hostages: sociological research, In Journalism-2003. Materials of the 5-th International conference. Ed.5, Minsk, 2003, P. 162-164 (with L. Salakhatdinova);

3.      New Moslem-women of Tatarstan: to a question on becoming social group,  in Gender: tradition and the modernity. The collection of scientific articles, Tashkent, 2005;

4.      Girls in hijjab: from notes of sociologists, in Siumbike, 2004, ¹ 12;

  1. The Russian society and challenges of globalization, in Sorokin’s readings 2004, Russian society and calls of globalization the All-Russia scientific conference, on December, 7-8, 2004, the Moscow State University, Moscow.
  2. Islamophobia in the Russian mass media: to a question on social-legal regulation, in Anthropological examination of the Russian legislation. The All-Russia scientific-practical conference, on February, 11-12, 2005, IEML, Kazan

 

By results of a round table the booklet has been issued:

Kouznetsova-Morenko, I., Salakhatdinova, L. (Eds), «Islam in Media Space», Materials of the round table, June, 8, 2004, House of Journalists, Kazan State University Press. 

 

Now I am preparing to reflect the results of the research in articles in sociological, policy and journalists’ editions of Russia (“Sociological researches”, “Journalist”, “Policy”) and choosing the ways to publish in foreign editions.