There is no question that media these days are full of stereotypes. We live in a society which is highly influenced by media. The negative and inaccurate portrayal of Islam by western media may be the cause for hostility towards Muslim people. This is not helpful for harmonious and peaceful society. Each journalist should realize the power of words. Media have moral responsibility to inform without bias and help understanding among different nations and religions. Media should be for people and help understanding between them. Therefore media should be also “4 Islam”.
Nevertheless, western media seem to be full of mis-portrayal about Islam, causing great miscomprehension. People are starting to be aware of this fact. There are organized conferences on this subject and some people analyse this problem and write about the effects of mis-portrayal of Islam by western media. We need to develop this effort farther and help the society in which we live. The ignorance is not only morally wrong but it may also backfire in the form of extremism.
Firstly, we should understand that western media often talk about Islam in terms with negative tone. It was shown that journalists often do not know much about Islam but still report on it (Katayon Kasmai; Quraishi “Short Introduction to Islam”). Every journalist should be first well informed and research his/her subject. As Nasir Khan suggests, media do not “enlighten and inform” but they rather “misrepresent, distort and mislead” (Khan). The West often sees in Islam threats to their way of living. Islam may be challenging to the nihilism of the western society, but is in no way threatening. There is no real reason for the “War on Terror” – to be understand “War against Islam”.
Secondly, we should understand that fundamentalism, which according to my belief may be just a step to extremism, may be found in any religion. There are Islam fundamentalists but as well for example Jewish or Christian fundamentalists. The same applies to extremism. As Bashi Quraishi’s survey in Danish media has shown, the mostly mentioned religion in media is Islam (75%). Around 60% of these stories about Islam were negative (Quraishi “Islam in the Western Media”). Why? Further we may ask: What effect it can have on our society?
Thirdly, the freedom of speech should be unquestionably pursued. Nevertheless, media should be respectful of another cultures and religions. What is acceptable in some cultures may be hurting feelings of others (Khan). The trend of separation of “us” and “them” is unacceptable. Islam is not a nation and being Muslim does not mean we can not be a full member of western society. Being Muslim should not be a reason for exclusion in real life or exclusion by media. As the UNESCO debate on “Islam, media and public opinion” made clear there is no clash between Islam and its practicing and the west but there is rather a problem of western perception of Islam (“Debate on ‘Islam, Media and Public Opinion’ Held at UNESCO”).
Fourthly, as Khan suggests the “anti-Islamic tradition in the Christendom has a long historical pedigree” (Khan). This has been a problem in the history. Quraishi writes: “one should learn from history that neither the crusades not the religious wars between 15th and 17th centuries yield decisive results” (Quraishi “Fundamentalism and Secularism”). We should not take part in this trend of “anti-Islamism”. We should not allow nor accept the distortion of portrayal of Islam by western media. The false portrayal of Islam is the source of problems in relationships between religions and nations but is also the cause for exclusion of Muslims living in western societies.
In conclusion, let me say that it may be comfortable to follow the trend of anti-Islamism and just listen to what is told to us by media. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that this is unmoral. I suggest that we all search for ourselves and see for ourselves. The contact with Muslims living with us is essential. There are some 1,154,302,000 of Muslims in the world (Quraishi “Short Introduction to Islam). Islam is a religion of peace. We should accept these facts and do not let media to negatively influence us. It is the responsibility of each of us to speak up. Hiding our ideas would just help the ones who are intentionally or un-intentionally trying to manipulate us. We have to ask for “justice and equality in media” which is needed for peace (Katayon Kasmai).
Works citied
“Debate on ‘Islam, Media and Public Opinion’ held at UNESCO.” UNESCO. 28 Dec 2008. <http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=19361&URL>.
Katayon Kasmai, Seyede. “Western Media’s Coverage of Islam: A Help or Hindrance for Peace?” World Media Association. 6 Dec. 2007. <http://www.wmassociation.com/proceedings/13wmf/skkasmai.html>.
Khan, Nasir. “Islam in Western Mirror.” Counter Currents. 5 Jan 2008. <http://www.countercurrents.org/khan190507.htm>.
Quraishi, Bashy. “Islam in the Western Media.” The Multicultural SkyscraperNewsletter. 6 Dec. 2007. <http://www.multicultural.net/newsletter/article/issue3- bashy.htm>.
—. “Short Introduction to Islam.” Human Rights. 4 Jan. 2008. <http://www.bashy.dk/uk/islam/forside_islam.htm>.
—. “Their Mosques are Full, but their Hears are Empty.” Human Rights. 3 Dec. 2008. <http://www.bashy.dk/uk/islam/mosques.htm>.
Anna,
I wanted to share this with you and your readers. It is not about media, but it reflects the paranoia of people beeing fed by media as well as politicians – and just supporting our natural human fear of anything unknown and different.
I have received this email couple of weeks ago and consider it quite dangerous:
************
If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts…this is very scary to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States…better heed this and pray about it and share it.
THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO. THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED, “ONE NATION UNDER GOD”. ALMIGHTY GOD, NOT THE GOD OF THE KORAN.
We checked this out on “snopes.com”. It is factual. Check for yourself.
Who is Barack Obama?
Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHEIST from Wichita , Kansas .
Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya
His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta He also spent two years in a Catholic school.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, “He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.”
Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education.
Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta
Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States ,Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran (Their equivalency to our Bible, but very different beliefs)
Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy.
The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level – through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!!
Please forward to everyone you know. Would you wan t this man leading our country?…… NOT ME!!!
Comment by Eva — January 15, 2008 @ 1:41 am
Hey Anna,
I must say it is really about ones inteligence to make conclusions about a topic we have never experienced in our lives from the media. Although, I have never experienced Islam myself, my parents have visited Jordan and although scared, they loved it. It is a beautiful country and although their traditions and customs differ, each culture is different and that is what makes the beauty of our world. We can speaculate for days about media and most probably we would find our, journalist do it for the money not for the story anymore. But it is about our society to believe or not believe the media, and really we should always hear both sides of the story right? Your blog makes a great point about misleading informations and portrayls in the media, and each person that believes Islam is another horrifying custom, should read your blog. Barb
Comment by Barb — January 15, 2008 @ 8:55 am
hey anna,
todays media paints a bias realty of religion on both sides of the spectrum.in the western world of the united states which is christain and supports israel over the palestians,and ever since the 911 terroist attacks, the potrayal of islam is highly biased towards criminalty and bad deeds.while in the arab world, christain america is seen as a tyramnt, a bully an enemy of islam.the media has succeded in merging together terrorist organisations and islam which stands for peace.but this goes both ways as terroist organisations such as al quadia are using islam as a tool for recruiting new members and using the U.S occupation in iraq and afghnistan as more fuel
just to see how people are naive, you just have to read the fears of people because someones name is obama and is probably muslim.this stupid comment by eva,GOD is one whether you know him as allah or buddah,for your information,obama was never raised a muslim and is a commited christain who attends the united church of christ in chicago and the school in jakarta indonesia was a public school of all religion,even if he was muslim…so?
Comment by markopolo08 — January 16, 2008 @ 10:26 am
hi Marko,
I am afraid you have misunderstood. Eva’s comment is about an email which was send to her. This email is send to different people and is trying to influence them. In fact I believe it is terrible how someone can have interest in writing such emails.
Further we may say, that also this email is using media-internet. This shows that in the age of convergence is not giving false portrayals only mainstreem media but also modern technologies as emails.
Shame on people who need to write such emails.
Anna
Comment by media4islam — January 16, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
my apologies.makes you think what kind of individuals could be behind spreading such false information.this email is so convincing that if not carefully interpreted could lead to hasty and rash decisions.
Comment by markopolo08 — January 16, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
Exactly, Marko. On the other hand, even if Obama WAS muslim, I don’t see why it matters! I thought the United States were a country of freedom and democracy, so what’s wrong with having a president that is muslim – or black, or a woman…?
Comment by Eva — January 19, 2008 @ 4:45 am