Media-Generated Muslims and Islamophobia

Abstract

Much of what is known about Islam and Muslims in Western societies is derived from the mass media. Studies have shown that over three-quarters of people in Western societies rely on the mass media, mainly television, as their primary source of information about Islam and Muslims (Rane, 2010b). The scholarly consensus is that, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the sustained intensity of media coverage of Islam and Muslims resulted in an almost universal awareness of the religion and its adherents. That is not to say that most, or even many, people were then or are now knowledgeable about Islam or know Muslim people as a consequence of their media consumption; far from it. What it does mean is that a media version of Islam is widely known; what we are familiar with are media-generated Muslims. An important question, however, is how widely such images are accepted and what the implications are for intercommunity and international relations. This chapter explores Western public opinion and the extent to which there exist fear and prejudice towards Islam and Muslims, a phenomenon called Islamophobia. To assess the media’s role in this phenomenon, we examine the dominant representations of Islam and Muslims that have been identified by a growing body of scholarly research. In order to understand the origins of the Western media’s representations, we begin with the history of Western thought concerning Islam and Muslims.