The independent senator Fatima Payman has accused mainstream media of reducing Muslim women to “stereotypes” and singled out Rupert Murdoch, alleging moguls like him cause “division” and “fearmongering”.
“Like many of you, I’ve faced challenges in navigating mainstream media as a Muslim woman in politics,” she said in a keynote speech on Sunday at the 10th anniversary of independent Muslim media outlet Amust in the south-west Sydney seat of Blaxland.
“Too often we are misrepresented or reduced to stereotypes,” the Western Australia senator said, pointing to Sky News headline: “‘Guidance from Allah’: Senator Payman brings religion back to politics”, and a News Corp headline, “‘Exiled’ Labor senator’s donations to Barbie-hating Islamic TV studio revealed”.
Payman told Guardian Australia she had met Dr Ziad Basyouny, an independent running against Labor’s Tony Burke in the seat of Watson, at the event but her participation was “not about endorsing any candidates” for the upcoming election.
She quit the Labor party in July to sit as an independent on the Senate crossbench in a major rupture with the Albanese government over its handling of recognition of the state of Palestine.
“After seven months of toeing the party line, trying to enact change from within, I came to understand a brutal reality,” she said in her address. “I realised that the Labor party I campaigned for and chose to serve with was not the same brave, visionary party of the good old days.
“The genocide in Gaza is not an abstract concept, it is a brutal, daily reality for millions of people.
“The stories we hear are not just tales of suffering … They are reminders that we cannot afford to be complacent, that we cannot afford to remain silent.”
The heart of the address called into question Australians’ ability to trust mainstream media. “Sometimes the news feels a little too cozy with the powers that be,” she said.
Payman took aim at “media moguls”, singling out Murdoch who she claimed “only wants what benefits his agenda … causing further division, marginalisation and fearmongering in our society”.
“Mainstream media, driven by the interests of big corporations, can sometimes feel like an echo chamber repeating the views of the powerful while silencing the voices of everyday Australians.”
In her address, she threw her support behind independent media. “It’s the truth-teller, the accountability partner, the one who stands tall when the big voices of politics or corporations try to drown everyone else out,” she said.
Payman described the current media landscape as being “about as multicultural as a beige wall”.
As a consequence, stories are not “told in a way that truly reflects our lived experiences”, Payman said, pointing to housing affordability, the rising cost of living, the climate crisis and recognition of Indigenous and migrant voices as examples.
She said supporting independent media will sustain readers’ “right to think freely, to question the narrative, and to make your own choices based on real information, not just the stories the government or big corporations want you to hear”.
“Without independent media, we risk getting stuck in a cycle where the powerful protect their own interests, and the rest of us are left with empty promises.”
News Corp was approached for comment.
