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The Purposeful Demonization of Muslims and Arabs by the Mass Media

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The Purposeful Demonization of Muslims and Arabs by the Mass Media University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2013-01-01 The Purposeful Demonization Of Muslims And Arabs By The aM ss Media Rafael Lerma University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Lerma, Rafael, "The urP poseful Demonization Of Muslims And Arabs By The asM s Media" (2013). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 1661. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1661 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PURPOSEFUL DEMONIZATION OF MUSLIMS AND ARABS BY THE MASS MEDIA RAFAEL LERMA JR. Department of Communication APPROVED: Eduardo Barrera, Ph.D., Chair Richard D. Pineda, Ph.D. Larry A. Valero, Ph.D. Benjamin C. Flores, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Rafael Lerma Jr. 2013 Dedication I dedicate this work to the three most important beings in my life, my Father God Yahweh, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and my beautiful wife Nuria Lerma. I know only through you do I have strength. THE PURPOSEFUL DEMONIZATION OF MUSLIMS AND ARABS BY THE MASS MEDIA by RAFAEL LERMA JR., Communication Studies, Intelligence and National Security Studies THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO December 2013 Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. v Chapter 1: Introduction to Topic ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Problem Area ................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3: Research Design .......................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 4: Analysis of Data ........................................................................................................... 29 4.1 The News Media .......................................................................................................... 29 4.2 Television Shows ......................................................................................................... 37 4.3 Hollywood Films ......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 71 References ...................................................................................................................................... 77 Vita .............................................................................................................................................. 82 v Chapter 1: Introduction to Topic The mass media (henceforth defined for the purposes of this paper as news programs, television shows, and Hollywood films) have and continue to have the ability to define in audience members’ minds, individuals and the characteristics they allegedly possess. The individuals that are being shown and defined on a consistent basis in the present geopolitical environment of world events are Muslims and Arabs. The real life terrorist attacks of September 11th and other minor terroristic incidents involving Muslims and Arabs have been reflected in the mass media’s content. These real life incidents have given the mass media enough examples to create many different stories involving Muslims and Arabs. The representations created by the mass media that involves Muslims and Arabs is usually based on stereotypical depictions that make them look dangerous, barbaric, anti-Christian, descended from a violent religion, and lastly, anti-American. These “barbaric” Muslims and Arabs are usually shown as a legitimate threat to Western society, its citizens, and its values. The mass media have created many programs and films that have resorted to using stereotypes in order to gain viewers. The most prominent stereotypical representation of Muslims and Arabs is that they are terrorists and represented as violent deviants in general. The fictitious and non-fictitious based representations have been derived from past events (Ex: Iranian hostage crisis, the September 11th attacks, and the 7-7 London bombings) that have involved the Middle-East, Muslims, and Arabs. The most current event involving Muslims and Arabs is the Boston Marathon bombings, which will likely become future fodder for the mass media to continue to exploit Muslims and Arabs as violent and dangerous individuals that threaten Western civilization. The creation of violent stereotypical images as it pertains to minorities has been a long time practice of Hollywood, and the news media. The lazy and/or criminal African-American, the greasy and/or violent Mexican-American, and the Asian who is the master of the martial arts are but a few of the stereotypes created by the mass media as it pertains to minorities. These are but a few examples of how the mass media have come to represent minorities in 1 the eyes of the viewing audience. The representations created by the mass media are at times the only first-hand experience that viewers have to the minority groups shown. So, the mass media create the reality of what being a part of a certain minority and/or religious group is about in the viewer’s mind. The mass media whether intentionally or not, acts as an educator as the audience is shown places and people that they would normally not have any interaction with. This power that the mass media have do not do many favors to those shown as the mass media favor showing negative characteristics to attract the largest viewing audience. Muslims and Arabs are usually shown as brown individuals that partake in using terrorism to forward their political goals. The other visual used by the media to represent Muslims and Arabs is to show them praying before they commit a terrorist attack. Thus, the mass media have successfully created the impression of a violent people that worship the allegedly violent religion of Islam. This study will deal with how the mass media deliberately represent Muslims and Arabs in a negative fashion. This leads to audience members having a distorted and negative view of Muslims and Arabs as there are few positive counter-representations. The theory that will be used to support this argument is Cultivation Theory. Cultivation Theory explains that continuous media viewing will have an effect on molding audience member’s perceptions. The main concept that Cultivation Theory explains is that the more a viewer experiences media content, the more that person will come to believe that the real world reflects the media’s version of it. According to Gerbner, Gross, Morgan and Signorielli (2009), “Cultivation theory addresses the relationship between TV content and viewers’ beliefs about social reality, primarily asserting that compared with light TV viewers, heavy viewers perceive their social environment as more similar to the world as portrayed on TV than it really is” (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan & Signorielli as cited in Nabi, p. 214). The more a person views news programs, television shows, and Hollywood films, the more likely that person will come to believe that the real world is reflective of the world that is shown in the mass media. This will be supportive of the argument that the media purposely 2 create negative representations of Muslims and Arabs in their content that comes to be the reality of how viewers perceive these individuals. For the purposes of this study Cultivation Theory will be used for the hypothetical effects of heavy media viewing rather than statistical data as Cultivation Theory is typically related with numerical findings. 1.1 Literature Review The intent of this review of literature is to demonstrate that the mass media do purposely target Muslims and Arabs in their media content. The mass media do in turn have the capability to mold audience members‘ perceptions, attitudes, and values towards individuals of different races, and religions. The mass media purposely show Muslims and Arabs as being different in terms of how they live and their beliefs. The primary representation shown by the media content is that Muslims and Arabs are violent, come from violent countries of the Middle-East, and ultimately, are violent because of their violent religion‘s doctrine. The representations pre-dating the September 11th attacks of Muslims and Arabs did show them as violent and dangerous towards the American public,
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