Am I mistaken?....On this morning`s ABC On-Line News, the featured (attention grabbing) headline read: "Budget Benefits tipped for Working Mums" accompanied by a file photograph of two Moslem ladies and a Moslem man sitting at a table!

Attention grabbing?... certainly!,... I profess to be racially neutral but immediately felt that this presentation of headline by the ABC was both inflammatory and racist to all Australians especially coming the day after Anzac Day!

I heard last night on the news that the company "Dairy Farmers" is up for grabs by the Japanese! This must surely have impressed a lot of Diggers and their families, who were on the very same day mourning their individual loss, some of whom were due to war with Japan, and some as a result of the ongoing action in Afghanistan and Iraq!

Is there absolutely no sensativity at all out there in the world of news presentation?

I believe that the ABC was very irresponsible in using the "file photo" in this headline, and I am sure that there must be many photos of white caucasian families or Indigenous families available, that could have been used to headline the article!

After the many threads that have posted on this Forum over recent months regarding Racism, maybe we should be questioning whether this is further evidence of the continuing exploitation of the Australian Multi-cultural "experiment"?

They may have changed the photo Cuphandle.
But what you say is true. The media is becoming very provocative and hypocritical.
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is becoming the nations biggest rubbish publication.
They whinge about sex offenders yet they constantly put in saucy photographs, sometimes of bare breasted women, and stories which stir up the juices of youth to think and do things they shouldnt want to do.
I think the media is one of the biggest reasons there is a fall of civilisation going on.
Thats a huge statement... but I believe its truth.
They are tearing down all that once was good!

What else can you expect from an insular ABC that suckles off the public purse?They have found empathy with another insular group who use their victim status as a wedge to gain unfair advantage.

Well, for a start they've clearly changed the photo. Here's the story: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/26/2227933.htm

Is it possible that some poor photo editor got file photos mixed up? (I can't think why they'd change photos mid-stream. Anyone else?)

But beyond that, what's wrong with having a photo of Muslim women in a story about working mums? What if they are working mums?

Dear Cuphandle,

As Vanilla said, "What's wrong with showing a photograph of working Muslim mums?"

Why do you call that racism?

As I wrote in another post - from the first prison ships of 1788, to the significant numbers of skilled and humanitarian migrants arriving by jet in the 21st century, Australia ia a land that continues to be populated by immigrants. With one in four Australians born overseas and 40% of Australians either being born overseas, or having at least one parent born overseas, Australia's status as an immigrant nation is an indisputable truth. In our big cities like Sydney and Melbourne multiculturalism in not an 'experiement' as you put it, but is now the mainstream. It is something to celebrate and something that brings profound cultural, social and economic benefits.

"I profess to be racially neutral but.."

Sounds to me a lot like the old line, "I'm not a racist, but.." And you can always be sure whenever you hear this line that it will be followed by a definite racial slur or intolerance. And likewise it wasn't hard to predict where Cuphandle was taking us.

So what if the picture showed two Muslim women. They qualify - they're mums, they work, they're Australian. What's your problem?

Cuphandle, if you were truly 'racially neutral' as you put it you wouldn't have even started this discussion.