Culture

‘The Daily Telegraph’ Has Been Criticised For Pushing The Murder Of A Muslim Teenager To Page 18

“Had the story been three Lebanese Muslim boys charged with murdering a White Australian teenager, we would have front page news for days."

by Sinead Stubbins  21 July 2016

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Yesterday The Daily Telegraph reported that a 19-year-old teenager named Adam Abu-Mahmoud, had been stabbed to death by three other young men in the Sydney suburb of Panania. It’s a horrible story; apparently the tradie and TAFE student was one of 15 teenagers in a fight outside a convenience store, which was then broken up by police. It was after this that Abu-Mahmoud was stabbed repeatedly by three teenagers and later died in hospital.

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Picture from The Daily Telegraph website.

Strangely though, this report — which touches on very topical and relevant issues of youth violence and racially-motivated attacks — was not on the front page. Yesterday’s front page was dominated by the “PC MADNESS” of Cheltenham Girls Grammar’s gender-neutral terms, the rugby and a massive picture of a whale.

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The front page of The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

The story of Adam Abu-Mahmoud’s murder wasn’t mentioned in the newspaper until page 18. This was spotted by a man named Mohamed Hourani, who took to Facebook questioning The Daily Telegraph‘s editorial decision and wondering if it would have been different if Adam Abu-Mahmoud hadn’t been Muslim.

“PAGE 18!!! Are you serious?? Page 18?!!!!! Lets stick the story of a muslim teenager stabbed to death by 3 white Australian boys next to a liquor ad and above spider man,” he wrote. “I don’t care who you are or what your political or religious beliefs are, this is straight bullshit! Its on Page 18 in one of Australia’s highest selling newspapers and ONLY because the 3 arrested and charged with a count of murder are NOT ARAB and NOT MUSLIM!”

“Had the story been 3 Lebanese Muslim boys charged with murdering a White Australian teenager in Panania, we would have front page news for days, politicians going crazy, Australian ‘patriot’ groups calling for all Muslims, whether born here or not to be sent ‘back home’.”

It seems as though Hourani isn’t alone in this sentiment. Others too have questioned why this wasn’t reported as a racially-motivated attack. The Daily Telegraph has come under fire before for subtly and not-so subtly engaging in anti-Muslim sentiment, frequently running op-eds about dangerous Muslim Australians and their potentially dangerous ideas, and pretty much just race-baiting at every opportunity. Even the Logies weren’t safe! It’ll be interesting to see if they respond at all to the accusations today.