Osman Faruqi

Osman Faruqi (born c.1990) is a Pakistani-born Australian political and entertainment journalist. He has been the culture news editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age since 2022.[1]

Osman Faruqi
Bornc.1990
Pakistan
NationalityAustralian
OccupationJournalist
Parent(s)Mehreen Faruqi, Omar Faruqi

Previously he was Schwartz Media's head of audio, presenter of The Culture podcast, and editor of daily news podcast, 7am.[1][2] He worked as the deputy editor of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC Life and as a reporter with the ABC’s investigative audio program, Background Briefing, and was the former political editor at Junkee. He is also known as a contributor to The Guardian,[3] The Saturday Paper[4] and others.

Biography

Faruqi was born in Pakistan and came to Australia at the age of two.[5] He is the son of the Australian Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi.[6] As a student at the University of New South Wales Faruqi served as the president of the Student Representative Council in 2010.[7] In the 2015 New South Wales state election, Faruqi stood as the Australian Greens candidate for the seat of Heffron, receiving 21.1% of the first-preference vote.[8] Faruqi is a Muslim[5] and has commented on the difficulty of facing prejudice as a Muslim in Australia in the wake of the September 11 attacks.[9]

In addition to his work as a journalist, Faruqi has also worked as a higher education policy adviser for the Australian Greens[10] in the office of NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon.[11] After nearly ten years as an active member of the Greens, Faruqi stepped down from his roles in the party in 2015.[11]

He chairs an awards panel for the State Library of New South Wales.[12]

As of 2020 Faruqi was writing a book about race relations in Australia, which was expected to be published in 2021.[13]

Journalistic career

Faruqi frequently writes on issues related to Australian politics, culture, and identity. He frequently writes on matters related to racial, ethnic and cultural identity in Australia, including the government's approach to Black Lives Matter,[14] anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia,[15] and the threat of far-right terrorism in Australia.[16]

Faruqi has written critically about the response to COVID-19 in Victoria.[17] He has criticised the application of compliance fines for breaches of COVID-19 regulations, arguing that these have been disproportionately targeted at migrant and Indigenous Australians.[18]

Faruqi has been highly critical of what he calls "racist fear mongering" in Australian media coverage of the purported "African gangs" issue in Melbourne.[19] Faruqi has noted that senior police officials in Victoria have expressed skepticism about the claim of a widespread crisis related to crime committed by African Australians in Melbourne.[20]

In an extended essay for Meanjin in 2016, Faruqi was highly critical of what he perceived as inadequate ethnic diversity in Australian media.[21] In 2018, Faruqi publicly criticised his fellow ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson for interviewing far-right figure and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, contending that she failed to properly interrogate Bannon's extreme views on race, and had "thrown me and other PoC (people of colour) under the bus".[22]

Despite his background as a former Australian Greens candidate and advisor, Faruqi criticised the party in 2016, saying it needed to "re-evaluate and radically overhaul its current approach" in order to escape minor party status.[23]

In the wake of the Christchurch massacre, Faruqi was critical of what he perceived a political climate of "normalising hatred and racism" that had led to far-right radicalisation in Australia.[24] In August 2018, Faruqi was doxxed by a far-right activist and was "inundated with racist text message and phone calls".[25] He was targeted on Twitter before he deleted his Twitter account.[26]

Defamation case

In 2018, Faruqi successfully sued former Australian Labor Party leader and current One Nation NSW Senator Mark Latham for defamation. Latham had accused Faruqi of "aiding and abetting Islamic terrorism" and fostering "anti-white racism in Australia" in a broadcast of his online politics show Mark Latham's Outsiders made on 2 August 2017.[27] The following day, the Daily Mail ran a story broadcasting Latham's comments, including a subheading claiming Faruqi and fellow Australian Muslim Yassmin Abdel-Magied were "giving encouragement to terrorist fanatics who kill innocent people".[28] Faruqi subsequently received a torrent of online abuse, including death threats.[29] When interviewed later by The Monthly, Faruqi said that "being accused of being a terrorist when you’re a brown guy from a Muslim background in Australia is a pretty scary thing".[29] Latham's protracted 76-page defence was described by the judge as "extraordinary" and drew ridicule in the Australian press its length and incoherence.[30]

In the wake of the judgment, Faruqi stated that he hoped that the case would demonstrate that "while robust debate is part of a healthy democracy, using your platform to harm the reputation of individuals comes at a cost".[31]

References
  1. "Osman Faruqi appointed culture news editor for SMH and The Age". mediaweek. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  2. "Welcome, Ruby Jones and Osman Faruqi". Schwartz Media. 27 November 2019. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. "Osman Faruqi". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. "Osman Faruqi". The Saturday Paper. 8 February 2020. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. Ansari, Tahmina (1 July 2019). "This Muslim journalist embraced social media until it 'ruined' his life". First Draft News. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  6. McCauley, Dana (2 May 2018). "Ex-Greens candidate Osman Faruqi hired by ABC". The Australian. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  7. Aston, Heath (11 April 2010). "Exposed: Sydney's great rental rip-off". The Age. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  8. "Electorate: Heffron". ABC News. 14 April 2015. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  9. Jamieson, Maya; Alikhil, Abdullah (31 August 2016). "Social-cohesion report shows many Muslims feel left out". SBS News. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. Faruqi, Osman (3 February 2016). "Focus on quantity unfair to students". The Australian. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  11. "Tips and rumours: are there ructions in the NSW greens?". Crikey. 16 September 2015. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  12. "Multicultural NSW Award:2021". State Library of New South Wales. 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  13. "Osman Faruqi". Sydney Writers Festival. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  14. Faruqi, Osman (20–26 June 2020). "Deflecting from the real issues of Black Lives Matter". The Saturday Paper. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  15. Faruqi, Osman (10 October 2017). "Australia's First Muslim Cricketer Is Shining A Light On Racism In The Sport". Junkee. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  16. Faruqi, Osman (11 March 2020). "Exclusive: ASIO's 'race war' warning". The Saturday Paper. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  17. Faruqi, Osman (26 October 2020). "When the public side with the powerful over press freedom, we all lose". The Age. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  18. Faruqi, Osman (18–24 April 2020). "Compliance fines under the microscope". The Saturday Paper. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  19. Faruqi, Osman (3 January 2018). "The Recent Obsession With "African Gangs" Betrays A Sad Reality About Australian Politics". Junkee. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  20. Faruqi, Osman (10 January 2018). "Victoria's Top Cop Has Ripped Into Peter Dutton's Comments Over "African Gangs"". Junkee. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  21. Faruqi, Osman (1 June 2016). "Media and diversity in Australia". Meanjin. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  22. Maley, Jacqueline (12 June 2020). "From Trump to the ABC: Changing culture of journalism in the call-out age". The Age. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  23. Faruqi, Osman (5 July 2016). "Without some serious soul searching, the Greens will never move beyond the 10% plateau". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  24. Faruqi, Osman (16 March 2019). "Tears For Christchurch: Australia First Imported Hate In 1788. Now We're In The Export Business". New Matilda. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  25. Faruqi, Osman; Mann, Alex (24 February 2019). "Doxxed: Exposing the terrifying new frontier in online abuse". ABC Radio National. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  26. Knott, Matthew (22 March 2019). "Toxic tribalism and the sad, broken state of Australian conversation". The Age. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  27. McGowan, Michael (26 November 2018). "Mark Latham agrees to pay damages to ABC's Osman Faruqi in defamation case". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  28. Di Stefano, Mark (17 August 2017). "This Journalist Is Threatening Legal Action Against The Daily Mail For An "Anti-White Racism" Story". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  29. Kelly, Sean (1 August 2019). "Mark Latham: The outsider". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  30. Lewis, Charlie (31 August 2018). "Highlights from the Latham v Faruqi defamation case, presented without comment". Crikey. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  31. Watkins, Emily (27 November 2018). "Mark Latham decries 'lawfare' after settling Faruqi defamation case". Crikey. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020.
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