The Representation of Islam in Western Media: The Coverage of Norway Terrorist Attacks

Abstract

Undeniably mass media have become the primary source of information and communication for the majority of, if not all, members of modern societies. The nature of the information thus communicated and the manner in which it is dispensed through media certainly have a profound influence on people's perceptions of the world around them. The relation between the media, on one hand, and culture, social life, and politics on the other, is an interesting one in which media fulfills dual functions, reflecting and also shaping issues occurring within these three domains (Bell & Garrett, 1998). In the initial media coverage of the 2011 Norway terrorist attacks, some western media authors, inaccurately and unjustly, held Muslims and Islamic groups as being responsible for the attacks. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study seeks to ascertain how language was manipulated in this coverage of the terrorist attacks in order to give expression to blind prejudice against Islam and Muslims. As findings of the analyses reveal, the tones of allegation in these articles and reports differed dramatically from one article to another ranging from tones of mere suspicion to those of overt accusation. The varying degrees of uncertainty or assertion of the authors' statements were reflected in the varied linguistic forms and devices used within the discourse.

Exploring Depictions of Bedouins in Travels in Arabia Deserta by Charles Doughty

“…This suggests that Doughty represented Bedouins as mentally inferior to Western people, as well as barbarous and deceptive. These cognitive and behavioral descriptions are still invoked in news media and extended to characterize all Arabs regardless of their geographical location (e.g., Alghamdi, 2015;Ventura, 2017). As such, the examination of the Oriental themes in Travels in Arabia Deserta highlighted two processes of the discourse of Orientalism.…”

“…This explains how representations of Bedouins as the Oriental other are constructed by Doughty who has no colonial interests (Youngs, 2006). All of the identified representations in Doughty's book are still invoked in news media and extended to characterize all Arabs regardless of their geographical location (e.g., Alghamdi, 2015;Ventura, 2017). As such early representations of Bedouins are sustained through current media discourses, one can conclude that the representation of people of Arabia is a product of an accumulated body of work over a long period and not of one text (Mcinturff, 2003).…”

“…This is evident in the role played by 19 th -century British travelers in perpetuating narratives of the 18 th century and further legitimizing the Orientalist discourse (Long, 2014). This twoway relation between Orientalism and discourse has led to an interest in employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate Orientalism (e.g., Al-Malik, 2014;Alghamdi, 2015;Faimau, 2013;Izadi & Saghaye-Biria, 2007;Poorebrahim & Reza Zarei, 2013;Ventura, 2017). However, the scope of these studies has been confined to the critical analysis of fiction works and news media published in the 20 th or 21 st centuries.…”

Enhancing Islamic Journalistic Ethical Conduct Through Press Council

“…Regardless, to put into context, 'harm' may be extended to obscenity, vulgarity, and blasphemy (Akoje & Abd Rahim, 2014). Despite Islam often being projected as repressive, backwards, and rigid by the western media (Alghamdi, 2015), Islam has in fact recognize the right to freedom of expression long before the enactments of the international legal instruments such as the UDHR and ICCPR (Samat Musa, 2018). In Islam, the concept of freedom of expression which is comprised of free press, is based mostly on high standard ethics and morality (Jallow, 2015).…”

Islam and Muslims as Elephants in the Interfaith Room: <i>Frame governance of dialogue and de-radicalisation</i>

“…That is, frames are essential not only to formations of identity but also to how people interact with each other as social interaction tends to occur around prescribed and prestructured formations. Consequently, the ways in which Muslims' conduct are mediated to a wide audience can be taken to influence the social interaction around these issues as shown in several studies on Islam in Norway (Alghamdi 2015;Bangstad 2011;Døving 2012;Es 2017).…”