Misrepresentation Of Muslims In Media: An Analysis

Develop a portfolio that analyses media and online materials related to descriptions of race, ethnicity and cultural diversity. You are specifically required to critically analyse the discourse represented in the articles and/or images. You can use multiple forms of media such as blogs, twitter and Facebook as well as traditional media (newspapers, magazines) and television (programming or advertisements). You can use up to 8-12 media/on line articles as your sample. You are still expected to support your arguments in broader literature and include up to 6-10 articles which are peer reviewed (eg. journal articles, books, chapters, policy documents, reports). You can choose one of the topics below:

1. Representation of ‘Immigrants’ in government and official multicultural polices/websites

2. Representation of ‘Muslims’ in various media platforms

3. Representation of ‘women’ who have been subject to family violence

4. Representation of ‘Close the Gap’ policy initiative.

5. Representation of ‘Racism Stops with me’ initiative

The analysis should include the following:

1. Brief background to the chosen topic

2. Clear statement of what you will analyse and how will you analyse it.

3. A critical analysis of the meanings both explicit and implicit in the media and/or online materials.

Negative portrayal of Muslims in media

Immigration, Terrorism and Backwardness are the three aspects with which the muslim community and Islam are associated with in the media discourses. The news broadcasting agencies categorically highlight and portray the muslims as the perpetrator of the all antisocial incidents, by neglecting the contribution that they make in the social setting where they are placed. Also the fact that they too are victims of the crimes against humanity invariably is ignored. Naturally the net result is that muslims and islam are misconstrued by the portrayal of the media in a negative way. This particular essay shall be dealing with the issue of the misrepresentation of the muslims by the media with specific emphasis on certain chosen incidents to substantiate the central question of the essay ("Spreading Islamophobia: Consequences Of Negative Media Representations", 2018).

In his lecture at the Afghan Canadian Islamic Community, in Toronto, British Shiite Islamic Scholar Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani of Iraqi origin had said that the role of media in portraying the muslims as backward and primitive is quite substantial. He had objected to the fact that media houses categorically chooses people who have a very clichéd Islamic demeanour, wearing a traditional Islamic head cap, cladded in long robes, sporting a huge beard like that of Osama Bin Laden to represent them in social media for expressing their view on Islam and the Qoran. Such persons in the opinion of Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani are the ones who have just arrived from Pakistan and they find it very difficult to express themselves in English, and they are clerics hold extremist opinions. While on the other hand, to oppose those clerics media pits a handsomely dressed, highly educated, broadminded and articulate persons. This in the opinion of Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani works wonders to establish the fact that muslims are the ones who are incompatible with the western values and society. He had also expressed with a lot of disdain that persons like him who are educated, articulate and have liberal values besides being religious are not represented in media to speak about Islam, as that would defeat their purpose of furthering the stereotypical image of islam and muslims to the world. The point which Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani had raised was extremely pertinent as just one part of the reality is highlighted by the media. He is on one hand critical of the orthodoxies of islam and the muslims and on the other hand he is also critical of how the muslims are portrayed which makes the world feel like that all muslims are terrorists, extremists and backward, which is not the case ("Toronto Lecture By British-Iraqi Shiite Scholar Sayed Ammar Nakshawani: Criticism Of Islam Is Legitimate, Does Not Constitute Islamophobia", 2018).

The terrorist attack which had taken place at Stade de France, which had taken the lives of a huge number of spectators. Media had highlighted the fact that the attack was launched by a muslim origin but the fact that a muslim man had laid his life down in making an attempt to save the lives of the people was somehow ignored ("The myth of a 'hero Muslim security guard' in Paris", 2018). In this regard the issue of hijab in the country and the factor of tagging the muslim population that resides in the banlieus, the French alternative of sub urban area of a city with ignominy must be made in order to substantiate the central argument of the essay that the muslims are represented in a wrong way to the world by the media. The debate over the issue of women in France wearing the hijab, the Islamic headscarf covering the hair and neck of the women became an issue heated debate in the country (Weaver, 2018).

Hijab and the principle of secularism in France

Several strands of logic were provided to oppose the practice and support the imposition of legal penalties on the offenders. Some had cited for the sake of maintain the security and for making identification of potential offenders easier. Some others had cited the logic of secularism which is one of the core principles of the constitution and the foundational basis of the Republic of France. Wearing of the hijab at public places essentially meant a violation of the principle of secularism, since hijab is essentially an expression of religious identity and the reluctance of the women to give up on their hijab was portrayed by media as their attempt to take over the country and pollute the social fabric of the country by their backward ideals and cultural practices. While the reality was that the legal set up of the country had selectively made an attempt to infringe upon the rights of the women belonging to Islamic faith freely (Diallo & Diallo, 2018).

Some of the women who had joined the protest movement had been living in the country for quite a long period and they were citizens of the country as much as their white counterparts were. However for protesting the wrong done to them, they were labelled as ones to cause a cultural displacement in the country. Another logic levelled to condemn the practice of wearing the hijab was that the women symbolized patriarchal oppression and culturally directed subjugation of the women. The irony of the logic is that to all women it might not be oppression or subjugation, and to some it was a matter of choice to be consciously be bound by a religious obligation. Thus the media portrayal of hijab cladded women as oppressed and suppressed is unfounded as that is based on depriving the women of their autonomy and agency (Delphy, 2015).

The immigrant muslim communities at various parts of Europe are found to be residing at the ghettoed neighbourhoods. They are victims of both social and economic exclusion. The level of poverty is very high over there and the level of education and development quite low. Which naturally drives the youth of the regions to delinquency whereby they indulge in criminal activities. Media portrays the crimes and injustice committed by the people following Islamic faith with a strong fervor but then there is hardly any attempt to highlight the living conditions of the people who live in those empoverished quarters of the cities of Europe ("‘The Social Ladder Is Broken’: Hope and Despair in the French Banlieues", 2018). On one hand they are sidelined for their religious and racial identity and on the other hand they are accused of causing problems in the country by the media. For several years Europe had exploited the Middle East and the African countries for resources, and when with the turn of 1970s that the obligation of supporting immigrants from former colonies or in the contemporary period of taking in refugees from the war zone of Syria and Iraq has arisen, the muslim population of those countries in Europe are beig accused of taking over the living space meant for the Europeans. That is how the media has portrayed the muslim immigrants when in reality they are the victims of the foreign policies and imperialist strategies of the west in their countries.

In Australia, after the incident of a large scale of youth joining the ISIS in Syia, that the muslims were once again victimized and that was the turning point in history when the community started retaliating by taking to the social media. The way the media had highlighted the fact that mosques are being used to indoctrinate people into activities of terrorism that the entire community came under the brunt of ignominy (Matindoost, 2015). Responding to these injustices and the wrongs done to the muslim people by defaming them through media portrayal is something to which they are however not acquiescent to any longer. It is the media which has defamed them and they are also taking resort to media for the sake of reclaiming their prestige which rightfully belongs to them. Various movements such as the declaration of, “I am a muslim, but not a terrorist”, over social media networks such as facebook, twitter, instagram has been popularized ("I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist - Youthreporter", 2018). This has definitely helped the muslims in revealing the truth, and lay claim to the dignity that they rightfully deserve. On analysis of the incidents it can be found that the power of media is quite potent to either make or mar the image of the muslim community, or any other community or individual. However, it is the media itself which can be the sole antidote to the wrong done to the community by hampering their image. It is the social media which has the power to enable the muslims to show it to the world that the conception that media holds for them is wrong.

References

‘The Social Ladder Is Broken’: Hope and Despair in the French Banlieues. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/the-social-ladder-is-broken-hope-and-despair-in-the-french-banlieues/

Delphy, C. (2015). France’s feminists are colluding in oppression by supporting headscarf ban. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2015/jul/20/france-feminism-hijab-ban-muslim-women

Diallo, R., & Diallo, R. (2018). Hijab: a very French obsession. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/hijab-french-obsession-180402135257398.html

I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist - Youthreporter. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youthreporter.eu/en/beitrag/i-am-a-muslim-and-i-am-not-a-terrorist.11456/#.XBNQ82bhXIU

Matindoost, L. (2015). Media representation of Muslim youth in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.waccglobal.org/articles/media-representation-of-muslim-youth-in-australia

Spreading Islamophobia: Consequences Of Negative Media Representations. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/spreading-islamophobia-consequences-of-negative-media-representations_us_58fe682de4b06b9cb91963fb

The myth of a 'hero Muslim security guard' in Paris. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34845882

Toronto Lecture By British-Iraqi Shiite Scholar Sayed Ammar Nakshawani: Criticism Of Islam Is Legitimate, Does Not Constitute Islamophobia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.memri.org/reports/toronto-lecture-british-iraqi-shiite-scholar-sayed-ammar-nakshawani-criticism-islam

Weaver, M. (2018). Burqa bans, headscarves and veils: a timeline of legislation in the west. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/headscarves-and-muslim-veil-ban-debate-timeline