Reporting Islam

Denise Ryan-Costello is a journalism lecturer at Swinburne University, who also writes for the Age and the digital magazine Issimo. Denise has won many journalism awards in her 30 year career as an editor, writer and lecturer. Research interests include refugees and digital journalism.

Kot Monoah was born in South Sudan and his family was forced to flee a civil war when he was four years old. After 12 years living in the Kenyan Outback Refugee Camp of Kakuma  Kot's mother and her children were granted a humanitarian visa that allowed them to move to Australia. Kot embraced the opportunities available to him: learning English in the refugee camps; arriving in Australia in 2004 at the age of 21 years and graduating as a lawyer in 2010. Through his experiences as a Slater and Gordon lawyer based in Sunshine, as a Victoria Police Community Liaison Officer, and as an active member and former coach of the Sunshine Heights Western Tigers Football Club, helping Sudanese youth to acclimatise to their new country, Kot has emerged as a leader and spokesperson for the South Sudanese community.

He is a chairman of the South Sudanese Community Association in Victoria and, in 2012, Kot was nominated as one of Australia’s 100 most influential African-born residents. Kot is passionate about supporting and assisting the Sudanese community and increasing the community’s understanding of Sudanese people and of the refugee experience.

Dr. Abdi Hersi is currently a sessional lecturer in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences of Griffith University. He is also the manager/Muslim trainer of the Reporting Islam project. The project’s aim is to develop suite of research-based training and education resources for Australian media practitioners to encourage more mindful reporting of Muslims and the Islamic faith.

Dr. Hersi published a number of refereed journal articles in reputable international journals on issues and matters that affect immigration in general and in particular the Muslim communities in Australia. In addition to his academic work, he has had a long and distinguished career in the Australian Public Service and the Federal Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Mark Pearson is Professor of Journalism and Social Media at Griffith University in Queensland, and is a journalist, academic, blogger and author. His main areas of research and commentary are media law and ethics. He has written and edited for The Australian, and has been published in a range of publications including the Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review.

He is co-author of The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law (5th ed, 2015), co-editor of Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach (Routledge NY, 2015), author of Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued (2012), co-editor of Sources of News and Current Affairs (ABA, 2001) and co-editor of Courts and the Media: Challenges in the Era of Digital and Social Media (2012). He is co-investigator with Jacqui Ewart of the major Australian Government-funded Reporting Islam project (2014-2016).