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Reporting fatwa in the media: reception and perception
Suria Hani A. Rahman1, Noor Adzrah Ramle2, Safiyyah Ahmad Sabri3, Nur Kareelawati Abd Karim4, Mazni Buyong5.
News coverage on Islam in newspaper publications in Malaysia has
become part of Malaysian dailies since Islam is the official religion in
Malaysia. A special section is allocated for Islamic teaching, forum
or letter to Editors for certain days in a week. Perhaps the greatest
innovation in coverage on Islam can be seen from how Malaysian
reporters frame their stories, which many include the definition of
religion, faith and moral choices in the secular world. News on Fatwa
has, in short, become a major topic of discussion among Malaysian
public once it is highlighted. It became an agenda for a period of
time in most of the mainstream newspapers. This paper focuses on
how the public perceived the news reporting made on fatwa in the
Malaysian newspapers by looking at (i) the source of knowledge
of the respondents, (ii) knowledge and understanding on fatwa,
and (iii) correlation between level of education and understanding
of fatwa news. Random samples of fatwa news on various issues
were used as reference for the respondents. Then, a survey on 500
respondents was conducted randomly among Muslim public around
Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor areas. This has helped in
identifying the level of understanding and reactions of the public
towards Fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia.
The findings also suggested small numbers of the news coverage
on Fatwa has emphasized the significance of the Fatwa which, in
the opinion of many far exceeds the important of the fatwa itself.
This study may help to strategize the Fatwa Council in convincing
the general public on Fatwa through news reporting because there
had always been questions of reliability since there is no follow-up by the council to the public regarding Fatwa that has been issued by
them.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Malaysia
- International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
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