my study
“Praise to Allah – dancing with joy the warrior race of fanatics born to detest the west[1]”: How is Islam represented in the media?
As a powerful institution in today’s society, the media has the ability to influence an individual's thoughts and belief. Each form of media is mediated to portray the maker’s beliefs, and it acts like a syringe of information to its audience. This is evident when looking into the representation of Islam in the media. Historically and politically the western world has never seen eye to eye with the Islamic world, and this became more obvious through recent terrorism events such as 9/11 and 7/7. These events are publicised globally through the world of the media, therefore giving the media the big responsibility of representing Muslim and Islam in whatever manner they want. However through studying the media, what became evident was that the majority of western media tend to show Islam in a negative light and stereotyped all Muslims as being "fanatics". This negative representation has lead to many social problems and has created Islamphobia which has affected the 2 million Muslims within the overall British population of 59 million[2] , as well as the many other millions of Muslim around the world.
The media tends to set up the idea of the West and Islam as two forces that are against one another. When Ted Koppel investigated the issue on an American television show, “Nightline”, he started the program by saying “they’re often the first we think of when there’s a terrorist incident”[3]. Here the usage of the words “we “and “they “, subtly presents the ideology of “they” (Muslims) as being somewhat different to the western culture. This helps reinforce the idea of conflict between the two cultures. This idea of “we” and “they” for the west and Islam can be linked back to historical conflict that was present between the two groups. ‘The Crusades’ were a religious, military and political rivalry between Christian and Muslim groups. “The relationship between Christianity and Islam was permanently altered and the Crusades continue through this day to influence how Islam sees the West”[4] and evidently vice versa. Islam and the west also hold very different beliefs and ideologies “as the principle of Islam fundamentally clash with those of liberal capitalism “. This amplifies the conflict and “it is therefore, clear that the source of this negative media portrayal of Islam is ideological”[5]. The dispute between the two groups is portrayed in the western media through Islamaphobic news reports, images and headlines.
It is also apparent that the mass media has exploded into such a phenomenon in the 20th century. With time technology improves, so the audience now see news that is up-to-date and is portrayed to be more accurate. Not only this, there is much more choice in the news genre with an explosion in the amount of people with satellite and sky television, so we see audiences can watch the news they feel is the ‘truth’, enabling Islamphobia to spread through news report that misrepresent the majority of Muslims.
In more recent times, the media has been given the task to report world- changing events such as 7/7 and 9/11, to which the media has closely linked both Islam and Muslims. In their response to these Muslim fundamentalist terrorist attacks, the mediums of newspaper, television and radio could be held accountable for depicting Muslims as “backwards, irrational, fundamentalist, misogynist, threatening and manipulative”[6]. The western media tends to undertake an Islamaphobic approach, and generalise and stereotype all Muslims as terrorist or supporters of these terrorist attacks. This is turn portrays Islam to be a violent religion. An example of this Islamphobia in the media is the recent cartoon that was published in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”, which showed a caricature drawing of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that “paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers” [7]. The newspaper, by publishing such cartoons, is sending out the message to the western world, in a satirical manner, that the reason why Muslim people are all ‘violent fanatics’ is that their religion and prophet himself promotes violence. Also the newspaper uses doctrines of the religion and manipulates and presents them in a manner that will seem absurd and ridiculous to the western world. The caricature causes many social problems worldwide in the Muslim world. Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza after a dozen armed Palestinians surrounded the EU offices there and threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany unless those governments apologize for publishing the cartoons.[8] The Muslim world were appalled that images had been produced of their prophet as this was against their religion. They felt victimised that the newspaper had chosen their faith to make fun out of. However, what was even more insulting to Muslim world was the media coverage that the protests against the caricatures received. The CCN website showed pictures of the Muslim protest , with the caption “Militants from Islamic Jihad burn a Danish flag during a protest in Gaza City on Tuesday “ [9]. The caption again promotes the idea of violence and manipulates Islamic doctrines of Jihad to prove their point. The word “militant” is labelling the crowd of upset Muslim people protesting to defend their religion. The chaos over the ‘anti- Islamic cartoon’ is a perfect example of the misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam in the media.
The western media are also guilty of being quick to judge and constantly not allowing Muslim terrorist groups, normally the al-Qaeda, and a fair trail before declaring them responsible of a terrorist attack. The perfect example of this was an American newspaper front page the day after the Okalahoma bombings, which read, “In the name of Islam”. However it was later discovered that the bombs were in fact the doing of two Christian males. The mistake the newspaper made highlights the fact that Muslims are the first port of call when it comes to finding the perpetrators of a perceived terrorist attack, without any real supporting evidence. It again highlights the misrepresentation of Muslims and also that the media does not always portray the truth. Furthermore it goes against the ‘Race Relations Act’ (1976), which states that media institutions may not broadcast or publish any material which might be deemed offensive to ethnic minorities and racial groups.
This misrepresentation is commonly portrayed in the media and it is reinforced in the audiences mind as the truth, which links to the ‘Drip Drip theory’. This is the theory in which it is believed that if an ideology, an image or a concept is repeated numerous times in the media, the audience begin to believe it to be true, and the fact that the one idea is getting so much media coverage allows it to ‘drip’ slowly and embed itself in the audiences mind. This concept can be applied to the representation of Muslim, for instance, when the media repetitively uses Abu Hamza as an icon to represent the Muslim community in Britain. “Abu Hamza al-Masri is one of the most distinctive radical Islamic figures in Britain; the 47-year-old has also defiantly justified the attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001”[10]. The media tend to repeatedly cover new stories on Abu Hamza; an example of this is the Daily Mail newspaper. The paper printed the same anti-western picture of Abu Hamza on the 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 20th, and 21st of September and the same radical interview of his was printed on the 13th, 15th and the 18th. In addition to this, the Sun, Mirror, Star, Express and Telegraph also printed the same images and interview[11]. The western media repeated the images of Abu Hamza and because of the fact that his appearance is different to that of western social norms, his hook arm and long beard play into the anti-Islamic prejudice. He looks scary and fits the stereotype of what a terrorist has been portrayed to look like and is the perfect archetype. His interviews are seen as ‘news worthy’, they are exactly what the western media need to show that the Islamic world is ‘at war’ with the west. He follows all the stereotypes of what it is to be a terrorist and he is presented as the Islamic representative voice, even though the majority of the Muslim community condemn the terrorist attacks. Abu Hamza and his ‘news worthy’ stories fit into Galtung and Ruge theory of ‘News Values’. “They suggested that the selection of news for newspapers and for news broadcasts is done by application of these news values – explicitly or implicitly – by the gatekeepers who control the news we receive” [12] It parallels the idea that news is a construct and that the “News consists of an artificial narrative, with stories shaped around a beginning, middle and an end”[13]. This artificial narrative follows Propp’s ‘character theory’, in which the Islamic terrorist are portrayed to be the ‘villains’ and President Bush and the west to be the ‘Heroes’. These roles present Muslims in such a way, that it causes the audience to fear Muslim and Islam.
What the western media is culpable of is stereotyping and this is not only stereotyping the Islamic world. ‘A stereotype is a standardised representation of a specific group of a people and are simplistic and unidimensional representation of a culture’[14] . This is evidently what the western media does to any culture that differs to the mainstream culture. The western media is also notoriously known for favouritism towards the upper class white audience, especially in the news reporting genre. It links with the recent news story where the head of the Metropolitan Police in London said “murders in minority communities appeared "not to interest the mainstream media".[15] He said that equal amount of police time is put into investigating murders of other races race, but the media just focus on the murder of those of white origin. This idea links to the ‘Agenda setting theory’ ; the idea that the media has power to control what the news is, and what an audience learn about their society. This shows “the ability of the media to direct people’s attention toward certain issues”[16]. The concept of ‘Agenda Setting Theory’ helps reinforce Islamphobia in the media, as the western media can pick what they want to show about Islam and what they want to edit out. Through editing they show repeated images of “Muslim men burning American flags whilst juxtaposed with angry young men shouting outside a north London mosque”[17]. This presents the ideologies of Islam being violent and a western hating culture. The western media does not show good representations of Muslims or of Islam; it shows no Islamic charity work, nor does it show Muslims acting in a caring and loving manner, inevitably causing the western world to fear the Islamic world because of the media ignoring this aspect of the Islamic community.
The media plays on these stereotypes to keep western world fearing Islam. Newspapers use certain language to stereotype all Muslims. The term “fanatic” and “fundamentalist" is commonly used to describe Muslims, even if they are just simply followers of this religion. What is ironic is that the term “fundamentalist” is actually a Christian term, but now, because of the media, it is associated with the Muslim faith. This highlights how the media can actually cause social change and effectively change the whole meaning of a word, again emphasising how influential and powerful the media is. The western media also plays on the idea of ‘Jihad’ to support the idea of Islam being a violent religion. Jihad is the idea of having a “Fight in the cause of Allah; those who fight you but do not transgress limits”[18]. The idea of Jihad is to fight a Holy war when being attacked by those deemed Non-believers. The western media manipulate this belief and produces insolent headlines such as “Extremist who ‘threaten us all’”[19], referring to all Muslims, but then justify the headlines by brining in the concept of Jihad.
These stereotypes lead to moral panics within society causing social problems on a local, national and international level. A moral panic is defined as worries about the values and belief that the society we live in upholds. It is caused by the media. Throughout history, the mass media industry has been utilised as a tool to appeal to the public at large, particularly in the field of politics, where people in a position of power can tempt society into believing what they want them to believe. As Eldridge describes "The media, wittingly or unwittingly, reproduce the definitions of the powerful”[20]. The moral panic caused by these Islamaphobic reports is obvious; the fear of Muslims living in a western society, and the fear of the Islamic culture. This moral panic of Islamphobia caused by the media leads to social problems throughout the world.
Moral panics are the perfect evidence as to how the ‘Hyperdomic syringe theory’ works. The ‘Hyperdomic syringe’ is a term given to the theory in which it is believed that the media acts like a drug and injects us with information, which the audience take in and begin to believe in. In this theory the audiences are seen as passive. It makes the audience seem like "zombies" and make the media out to be a powerful tool. The ‘Hyperdomic syringe’ theory fits into is argument, as the audience are injected with the representation of Muslim people as ‘fanatics’ and ‘fundamentalists’. An example of this being Islamaphobic newspaper headlines being printed for thousand to read, such as; “The red menace is gone, but here comes Islam, The green menace[21]”, or television programmes that present Islamaphobic ideologies. An example of this is an episode of “Spooks” that was broadcasted on the Public Broadcast channel “BBC” in which the British mosque were portrayed as training grounds for terrorist, and showed the mosque turning young boys into suicide bombers[22]. This is the common representation that the western audience receives, therefore they begin to believe all Muslims of being of a violent nature, and begin to share the same ideologies as the western media, and develop an anti-Muslim attitude.
This anti-Muslim attitude is termed as “Islamaphobia”. Islamaphobia is a neologism referring to a fear or prejudice towards Muslims and the religion of Islam. Some consider these views to be irrational; others believe them to be perfectly justified[23].
The media is seen to be the main factor as to why Islamphobia occurs, due to the fact it is such a large and powerful institution and it is accessible to the majority.
Islamaphobia leads to many social problems and hate crimes toward Muslims. Since September the 11th, the number of attacks on Muslims has risen, and communities where Muslim and non-Muslim used to live together peacefully, are now living in hatred, chaos and riots. Since the September 11th attacks, Muslim communities have experienced greater hostility, including increased attacks against individuals and also Mosques. Muslims are angry at anti-racism organisations for failing to do enough to combat anti-Muslim prejudice[24]. Another example of this being a case in which the police raided a peaceful Muslim house in South London, and abused the 29 year old on December 2 2003, while putting him into the Muslim praying position and shouting “where’s your God now?” [25] This highlights the amount of hatred the west have toward Muslims, even institutions such as the police are prejudice and harbour hatred towards Muslim. Another consequence of this Islamaphobic attitude was the French President Jacques Chirac asking the French Parliament to pass a law banning the ‘hijab’ in France[26]. ‘Hijab’ is the name given to the clothing women are advised to wear in the Quran, and the fact that the Government are trying to pass a law to ban it, is very insulting and intolerant of the Muslim belief. It also takes away the freedom for an individual to express and dress in the way they want. This entire backlash is a response to the moral panic caused by the media by stereotyping all Muslims as terrorist. The backlash illustrates the consequences the media can cause due to their misrepresentation of Muslims.
However, new technology gives Muslims the opportunity of self-representation and allows them to express themselves in the way they want. The internet and digital channels allow Muslim to speech their own voice. Also organisations are formed to try and prevent this Islamaphobic attitude, and try to provide a different view to the view the western media provides for us. The organisation “Iqra media” write “we are an independent Islamic media organisation who aims to produce thought provoking media resources for the Muslim community, while offering alternative views to the wider society in Britain”[27]. There are also laws which are in the process of being passed which are concerned about the censorship there is in the media. In particular, these laws are concerning “The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill” which “would create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred and would apply to comments made in public or in the media, as well as through written material” [28]. This is a step forward in trying to discontinue the Islamaphobic attitude the western media holds, however it still allows the media to present Muslims using the stereotypes of violent and ill-disciplined, which will inevitable cause Islamphobia within the audiences mind.
Overall, the Western media through words, sound and pictures produces a likeness of what they think the ‘real’ world is like. “Through a process of mediation, they re-present the world to the audience”[29] as they would like the audience to believe it is. When it comes to representing Muslims and Islam, the media has a tendency to play on the stereotypes of violent ideologies, which exist about Islam, and exaggerate them and highlight them to an audience. This leads to moral panics about the religion which then causes social disorder. In spite of this, countries like the U.K are trying to go through measures to have some censorship in their media concerning race and religion by passing a “Religion and racial hatred Bill”. Despite these measures, pieces of media such as the cartoon showing Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, demonstrates that the western media will still hold these racist ideologies and that the struggle against trying to make the media an unprejudiced institution is one which is not an easy task.
As a powerful institution in today’s society, the media has the ability to influence an individual's thoughts and belief. Each form of media is mediated to portray the maker’s beliefs, and it acts like a syringe of information to its audience. This is evident when looking into the representation of Islam in the media. Historically and politically the western world has never seen eye to eye with the Islamic world, and this became more obvious through recent terrorism events such as 9/11 and 7/7. These events are publicised globally through the world of the media, therefore giving the media the big responsibility of representing Muslim and Islam in whatever manner they want. However through studying the media, what became evident was that the majority of western media tend to show Islam in a negative light and stereotyped all Muslims as being "fanatics". This negative representation has lead to many social problems and has created Islamphobia which has affected the 2 million Muslims within the overall British population of 59 million[2] , as well as the many other millions of Muslim around the world.
The media tends to set up the idea of the West and Islam as two forces that are against one another. When Ted Koppel investigated the issue on an American television show, “Nightline”, he started the program by saying “they’re often the first we think of when there’s a terrorist incident”[3]. Here the usage of the words “we “and “they “, subtly presents the ideology of “they” (Muslims) as being somewhat different to the western culture. This helps reinforce the idea of conflict between the two cultures. This idea of “we” and “they” for the west and Islam can be linked back to historical conflict that was present between the two groups. ‘The Crusades’ were a religious, military and political rivalry between Christian and Muslim groups. “The relationship between Christianity and Islam was permanently altered and the Crusades continue through this day to influence how Islam sees the West”[4] and evidently vice versa. Islam and the west also hold very different beliefs and ideologies “as the principle of Islam fundamentally clash with those of liberal capitalism “. This amplifies the conflict and “it is therefore, clear that the source of this negative media portrayal of Islam is ideological”[5]. The dispute between the two groups is portrayed in the western media through Islamaphobic news reports, images and headlines.
It is also apparent that the mass media has exploded into such a phenomenon in the 20th century. With time technology improves, so the audience now see news that is up-to-date and is portrayed to be more accurate. Not only this, there is much more choice in the news genre with an explosion in the amount of people with satellite and sky television, so we see audiences can watch the news they feel is the ‘truth’, enabling Islamphobia to spread through news report that misrepresent the majority of Muslims.
In more recent times, the media has been given the task to report world- changing events such as 7/7 and 9/11, to which the media has closely linked both Islam and Muslims. In their response to these Muslim fundamentalist terrorist attacks, the mediums of newspaper, television and radio could be held accountable for depicting Muslims as “backwards, irrational, fundamentalist, misogynist, threatening and manipulative”[6]. The western media tends to undertake an Islamaphobic approach, and generalise and stereotype all Muslims as terrorist or supporters of these terrorist attacks. This is turn portrays Islam to be a violent religion. An example of this Islamphobia in the media is the recent cartoon that was published in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”, which showed a caricature drawing of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that “paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers” [7]. The newspaper, by publishing such cartoons, is sending out the message to the western world, in a satirical manner, that the reason why Muslim people are all ‘violent fanatics’ is that their religion and prophet himself promotes violence. Also the newspaper uses doctrines of the religion and manipulates and presents them in a manner that will seem absurd and ridiculous to the western world. The caricature causes many social problems worldwide in the Muslim world. Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza after a dozen armed Palestinians surrounded the EU offices there and threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany unless those governments apologize for publishing the cartoons.[8] The Muslim world were appalled that images had been produced of their prophet as this was against their religion. They felt victimised that the newspaper had chosen their faith to make fun out of. However, what was even more insulting to Muslim world was the media coverage that the protests against the caricatures received. The CCN website showed pictures of the Muslim protest , with the caption “Militants from Islamic Jihad burn a Danish flag during a protest in Gaza City on Tuesday “ [9]. The caption again promotes the idea of violence and manipulates Islamic doctrines of Jihad to prove their point. The word “militant” is labelling the crowd of upset Muslim people protesting to defend their religion. The chaos over the ‘anti- Islamic cartoon’ is a perfect example of the misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam in the media.
The western media are also guilty of being quick to judge and constantly not allowing Muslim terrorist groups, normally the al-Qaeda, and a fair trail before declaring them responsible of a terrorist attack. The perfect example of this was an American newspaper front page the day after the Okalahoma bombings, which read, “In the name of Islam”. However it was later discovered that the bombs were in fact the doing of two Christian males. The mistake the newspaper made highlights the fact that Muslims are the first port of call when it comes to finding the perpetrators of a perceived terrorist attack, without any real supporting evidence. It again highlights the misrepresentation of Muslims and also that the media does not always portray the truth. Furthermore it goes against the ‘Race Relations Act’ (1976), which states that media institutions may not broadcast or publish any material which might be deemed offensive to ethnic minorities and racial groups.
This misrepresentation is commonly portrayed in the media and it is reinforced in the audiences mind as the truth, which links to the ‘Drip Drip theory’. This is the theory in which it is believed that if an ideology, an image or a concept is repeated numerous times in the media, the audience begin to believe it to be true, and the fact that the one idea is getting so much media coverage allows it to ‘drip’ slowly and embed itself in the audiences mind. This concept can be applied to the representation of Muslim, for instance, when the media repetitively uses Abu Hamza as an icon to represent the Muslim community in Britain. “Abu Hamza al-Masri is one of the most distinctive radical Islamic figures in Britain; the 47-year-old has also defiantly justified the attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001”[10]. The media tend to repeatedly cover new stories on Abu Hamza; an example of this is the Daily Mail newspaper. The paper printed the same anti-western picture of Abu Hamza on the 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 20th, and 21st of September and the same radical interview of his was printed on the 13th, 15th and the 18th. In addition to this, the Sun, Mirror, Star, Express and Telegraph also printed the same images and interview[11]. The western media repeated the images of Abu Hamza and because of the fact that his appearance is different to that of western social norms, his hook arm and long beard play into the anti-Islamic prejudice. He looks scary and fits the stereotype of what a terrorist has been portrayed to look like and is the perfect archetype. His interviews are seen as ‘news worthy’, they are exactly what the western media need to show that the Islamic world is ‘at war’ with the west. He follows all the stereotypes of what it is to be a terrorist and he is presented as the Islamic representative voice, even though the majority of the Muslim community condemn the terrorist attacks. Abu Hamza and his ‘news worthy’ stories fit into Galtung and Ruge theory of ‘News Values’. “They suggested that the selection of news for newspapers and for news broadcasts is done by application of these news values – explicitly or implicitly – by the gatekeepers who control the news we receive” [12] It parallels the idea that news is a construct and that the “News consists of an artificial narrative, with stories shaped around a beginning, middle and an end”[13]. This artificial narrative follows Propp’s ‘character theory’, in which the Islamic terrorist are portrayed to be the ‘villains’ and President Bush and the west to be the ‘Heroes’. These roles present Muslims in such a way, that it causes the audience to fear Muslim and Islam.
What the western media is culpable of is stereotyping and this is not only stereotyping the Islamic world. ‘A stereotype is a standardised representation of a specific group of a people and are simplistic and unidimensional representation of a culture’[14] . This is evidently what the western media does to any culture that differs to the mainstream culture. The western media is also notoriously known for favouritism towards the upper class white audience, especially in the news reporting genre. It links with the recent news story where the head of the Metropolitan Police in London said “murders in minority communities appeared "not to interest the mainstream media".[15] He said that equal amount of police time is put into investigating murders of other races race, but the media just focus on the murder of those of white origin. This idea links to the ‘Agenda setting theory’ ; the idea that the media has power to control what the news is, and what an audience learn about their society. This shows “the ability of the media to direct people’s attention toward certain issues”[16]. The concept of ‘Agenda Setting Theory’ helps reinforce Islamphobia in the media, as the western media can pick what they want to show about Islam and what they want to edit out. Through editing they show repeated images of “Muslim men burning American flags whilst juxtaposed with angry young men shouting outside a north London mosque”[17]. This presents the ideologies of Islam being violent and a western hating culture. The western media does not show good representations of Muslims or of Islam; it shows no Islamic charity work, nor does it show Muslims acting in a caring and loving manner, inevitably causing the western world to fear the Islamic world because of the media ignoring this aspect of the Islamic community.
The media plays on these stereotypes to keep western world fearing Islam. Newspapers use certain language to stereotype all Muslims. The term “fanatic” and “fundamentalist" is commonly used to describe Muslims, even if they are just simply followers of this religion. What is ironic is that the term “fundamentalist” is actually a Christian term, but now, because of the media, it is associated with the Muslim faith. This highlights how the media can actually cause social change and effectively change the whole meaning of a word, again emphasising how influential and powerful the media is. The western media also plays on the idea of ‘Jihad’ to support the idea of Islam being a violent religion. Jihad is the idea of having a “Fight in the cause of Allah; those who fight you but do not transgress limits”[18]. The idea of Jihad is to fight a Holy war when being attacked by those deemed Non-believers. The western media manipulate this belief and produces insolent headlines such as “Extremist who ‘threaten us all’”[19], referring to all Muslims, but then justify the headlines by brining in the concept of Jihad.
These stereotypes lead to moral panics within society causing social problems on a local, national and international level. A moral panic is defined as worries about the values and belief that the society we live in upholds. It is caused by the media. Throughout history, the mass media industry has been utilised as a tool to appeal to the public at large, particularly in the field of politics, where people in a position of power can tempt society into believing what they want them to believe. As Eldridge describes "The media, wittingly or unwittingly, reproduce the definitions of the powerful”[20]. The moral panic caused by these Islamaphobic reports is obvious; the fear of Muslims living in a western society, and the fear of the Islamic culture. This moral panic of Islamphobia caused by the media leads to social problems throughout the world.
Moral panics are the perfect evidence as to how the ‘Hyperdomic syringe theory’ works. The ‘Hyperdomic syringe’ is a term given to the theory in which it is believed that the media acts like a drug and injects us with information, which the audience take in and begin to believe in. In this theory the audiences are seen as passive. It makes the audience seem like "zombies" and make the media out to be a powerful tool. The ‘Hyperdomic syringe’ theory fits into is argument, as the audience are injected with the representation of Muslim people as ‘fanatics’ and ‘fundamentalists’. An example of this being Islamaphobic newspaper headlines being printed for thousand to read, such as; “The red menace is gone, but here comes Islam, The green menace[21]”, or television programmes that present Islamaphobic ideologies. An example of this is an episode of “Spooks” that was broadcasted on the Public Broadcast channel “BBC” in which the British mosque were portrayed as training grounds for terrorist, and showed the mosque turning young boys into suicide bombers[22]. This is the common representation that the western audience receives, therefore they begin to believe all Muslims of being of a violent nature, and begin to share the same ideologies as the western media, and develop an anti-Muslim attitude.
This anti-Muslim attitude is termed as “Islamaphobia”. Islamaphobia is a neologism referring to a fear or prejudice towards Muslims and the religion of Islam. Some consider these views to be irrational; others believe them to be perfectly justified[23].
The media is seen to be the main factor as to why Islamphobia occurs, due to the fact it is such a large and powerful institution and it is accessible to the majority.
Islamaphobia leads to many social problems and hate crimes toward Muslims. Since September the 11th, the number of attacks on Muslims has risen, and communities where Muslim and non-Muslim used to live together peacefully, are now living in hatred, chaos and riots. Since the September 11th attacks, Muslim communities have experienced greater hostility, including increased attacks against individuals and also Mosques. Muslims are angry at anti-racism organisations for failing to do enough to combat anti-Muslim prejudice[24]. Another example of this being a case in which the police raided a peaceful Muslim house in South London, and abused the 29 year old on December 2 2003, while putting him into the Muslim praying position and shouting “where’s your God now?” [25] This highlights the amount of hatred the west have toward Muslims, even institutions such as the police are prejudice and harbour hatred towards Muslim. Another consequence of this Islamaphobic attitude was the French President Jacques Chirac asking the French Parliament to pass a law banning the ‘hijab’ in France[26]. ‘Hijab’ is the name given to the clothing women are advised to wear in the Quran, and the fact that the Government are trying to pass a law to ban it, is very insulting and intolerant of the Muslim belief. It also takes away the freedom for an individual to express and dress in the way they want. This entire backlash is a response to the moral panic caused by the media by stereotyping all Muslims as terrorist. The backlash illustrates the consequences the media can cause due to their misrepresentation of Muslims.
However, new technology gives Muslims the opportunity of self-representation and allows them to express themselves in the way they want. The internet and digital channels allow Muslim to speech their own voice. Also organisations are formed to try and prevent this Islamaphobic attitude, and try to provide a different view to the view the western media provides for us. The organisation “Iqra media” write “we are an independent Islamic media organisation who aims to produce thought provoking media resources for the Muslim community, while offering alternative views to the wider society in Britain”[27]. There are also laws which are in the process of being passed which are concerned about the censorship there is in the media. In particular, these laws are concerning “The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill” which “would create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred and would apply to comments made in public or in the media, as well as through written material” [28]. This is a step forward in trying to discontinue the Islamaphobic attitude the western media holds, however it still allows the media to present Muslims using the stereotypes of violent and ill-disciplined, which will inevitable cause Islamphobia within the audiences mind.
Overall, the Western media through words, sound and pictures produces a likeness of what they think the ‘real’ world is like. “Through a process of mediation, they re-present the world to the audience”[29] as they would like the audience to believe it is. When it comes to representing Muslims and Islam, the media has a tendency to play on the stereotypes of violent ideologies, which exist about Islam, and exaggerate them and highlight them to an audience. This leads to moral panics about the religion which then causes social disorder. In spite of this, countries like the U.K are trying to go through measures to have some censorship in their media concerning race and religion by passing a “Religion and racial hatred Bill”. Despite these measures, pieces of media such as the cartoon showing Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, demonstrates that the western media will still hold these racist ideologies and that the struggle against trying to make the media an unprejudiced institution is one which is not an easy task.
posted by Mariam Raja @ 12:13 PM
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