Rolled-up Trousers: Mehdi Hasan on the media

One of the rising stars in the media is interviewed in the Independent:

Hasan believes that television is less hostile towards Muslims than the print media, and is keen to lay the blame for Islamophobia at the door of ignorance rather than racism. "Over the years, at the BBC, ITV and Sky, I have worked with countless producers and reporters who had never met a Muslim before they met me," he says, "or if they had, it was invariably an unrepresentative and loony extremist who they were interviewing or profiling for a story."

Hasan calls for more moderate Muslims in Britain to abandon traditional career paths towards medicine or engineering and to instead join the media and help influence the industry's coverage of issues such as terrorism and integration. "I see people like myself – who happen to be both a professional journalist and a practising Muslim – as a bridge between the Islamic community and the media, and by extension between Muslims and wider society," says Hasan.

It is a bold and perhaps ambitious claim, but one backed by Dimbleby, who has always considered Hasan to be a model of British Muslim citizenship. "Mehdi is a devout Muslim but is at all times entirely within the framework of liberal democratic society," he says. "He typifies the best of British."

Hasan, however, is justly keen not to be pigeonholed as "the Muslim journalist", and he refuses to wear his faith on his sleeve. Former colleagues will testify to his strong range of views and – above all – his knowledge on a multiplicity of issues, from British party politics to European history and to international macroeconomics.