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British Muslims' Expectations of the Government British Muslims’ Expectations of the Government The British Media and Muslim Representation: The Ideology of Demonisation Saied R. Ameli Syed Mohammed Marandi Sameera Ahmed Seyfeddin Kara and Arzu Merali Islamic Human Rights Commission British Muslims’ Expectations of the Government The British Media and Muslim Representation: The Ideology of Demonisation Saied R. Ameli Syed Mohammed Marandi Sameera Ahmed Seyfeddin Kara and Arzu Merali 2007 Published by Islamic www.ihrc.org.uk Human Rights Commission First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Islamic Human Rights Commission PO Box 598, Wembley, HA9 7XH © 2007 Islamic Human Rights Commission Printed in England by Islamic Human Rights Commission Design & Typeset: Ibrahim Sadikovic Printed by Impeks Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereinafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any informa- tion storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN 1-903718-31-7 Contents • Acknowledgments……………………………….................…. 6 • Foreword…………………………………………................… 7 • Introduction………………………………………...............… 8 • Background Studies…………………………………..........… 10 Representation of Muslims in British Media ….…...…… 10 Basic Theory and Concept of Representation ................... 10 Muslim Perception of the Media ...................................... 13 Domination, Demonisation or Both? The ‘Common Sense’ of Television News and Cinema .…….................…….… 19 Otherness, the Orient, Islam and Muslims: Understanding the Role and Effect of Literature and Cinema on Society and Social Actors ..………...........................................…...… 22 • Methodology and Sample Group …......…………………….. 25 • Research Findings…………....……......................………….. 26 PART ONE: Textual Analysis – Representation of Muslims in British Media Text ..................................................................... 26 • Representation of Muslims in British Television News ............ 26 Asylum and Immigration …………................................. 28 Loyalty and Belonging……………..................…….…… 29 Global Dimensions and Geopolitics…..................……… 31 • The Big Screen - Muslim Representation in Cinema …......… 34 Arab and Islam as a Symbol of Violence ……...........…… 39 Racism, Islamophobia or Both? ........................................ 41 • The Rule of the Occident in English Literature …..............… 47 Beyond Occident / Orient …………............................… 58 PART TWO: Contextual Analysis – British Muslims’ Understanding of Muslim Representation in the Media ........... 59 Age Groups and Perception of Media ……...............…… 61 Gender and Perception of Media ……………..........…… 61 Birthplace and Perception of Media …………......…...… 62 Level of Religiosity and Perception of Media ……........… 64 Education and the Perception of Media ………….......… 65 Representation of Muslims in the British Media ….......… 67 Portrayal of British Muslims and Non-British Muslims ...... 70 Islamophobia in Hollywood and British Movies ….......… 72 Different Representations in the Different Forms of Media … 74 Complaints and Responses ……………………….......… 77 Ideological Representation: Encoded Messages about Muslims ........................................................................... 78 Phobic Representation of Muslims: Intercultural Consequences .................................................................. 80 Impacts on Non-Muslims …………….............………… 82 Responsibility of Media regarding Islamophobia …......… 83 Does the Media Give Enough Opportunity to Muslims? ..... 87 Muslim Expectations from the Media ……..................… 89 • Comment from Community Figures and Academics …......… 92 • Concluding Remarks …………………………..................… 98 • Recommendations ………………………..............……..… 100 • Bibliography ……………………………............…………. 104 • Appendices ………………………………..........………….. 110 List of figures and tables Figure 1: What are your Feelings on the Portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the British Media? …………………............ 67 Table 1: Articles containing the Word ‘Muslim’ ……….............… 15 Table 2: Frequently Occurring Words .………………..........…..... 27 Table 3: Terror and Global Dimensions .....………................…… 31 Table 4: Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden …...………...........…… 32 Table 5: Location and Perception of Media …...……...............….. 60 Table 6: Age Group and Perception of Media …..…….......……... 61 Table 7: Gender and Perception of Media……………...........…… 62 Table 8: Place of Birth and Perception of Media ………...........…. 63 Table 9: Citizenship status and Perception of Media ……......…… 63 Table 10: Affiliation and Perception of Media………………...…… 64 Table 11: Level of Religiosity and Perception of Media .................... 65 Table 12: Educational level and Perception of Media………............ 66 Table 13: Discrimination and Perception of Media………..........…. 86 Table 14: Representation and Perception of Media …...........……... 89 Appendices Investigative Framework Table (i) TV News Analysis – BBC News – Politics and Security issues .............................................. 110 Table (ii) TV News Analysis – BBC News – Social and Cultural Descriptions .................................... 111 Table (iii) TV News Analysis – Newsnight – Politics and Security issues ...............................................112 Table (iv) TV News Analysis – Newsnight – Social and Cultural Descriptions .................................... 113 Table (v) TV News Analysis – ITV News – Politics and Security issues .............................................. 114 Table (vi) TV News Analysis – ITV News – Social and Cultural Descriptions .................................... 115 Table (vii) TV News Analysis – Channel 4 – Politics and Security issues .............................................. 116 Table (viii) TV News Analysis – Channel 4 – Social and Cultural Descriptions .................................... 117 Acknowledgments IHRC would like to acknowledge the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for their support for this project. Thanks also to the following for their commitment and dedication to this volume and this series: Aisha Abbasi, Hiba Abdul Rahim, Faaria Ahmad, Musthak Ahmed, Gloria Amadi, Fahad Ansari, Beena Faridi, Huda Hlaiyil, Karin Lindahl, Zeeya Merali, Abidah Merchant, Abbas Nawrozzadeh, Humza Qureshi, Zainab Shadjareh and Ahmed Uddin. The following also provided insight into the various issues covered in this vol- ume: Faisal Bodi, Arun Kundnani, Nasfim Haque, Anthony Mcroy, Ismail Adam Patel, Emdad Rahman and Yvonne Ridley. Particular thanks also to Dr. Peter de Bolla, Dr. Steve Hewitt, Anjie Sandhu and Professor Jan Aart Scholte for their suggestions and critical insight. We also wish to acknowledge Saloomeh, Seyed Mohammad Sadegh, Seyed Mohammad Sajjad, Senar Madali Muhammed Hadi Ailan and a special thanks to Nuru-l-Huda, for helping out wherever she could. 6 Foreword At the time of writing up this report Lebanon was burning and Gaza was under siege. Pictures of war crimes, collective punishment, mass bombings and mass burials pervaded our TV screens. How does this relate to the rep- resentation of Muslims in the British media, and why should a ‘foreign’ war be so important to the ideas that pertain to this volume, namely the rela- tionship between effective citizenship for (Muslim) minorities, and their rep- resentation in the media, specifically literature, cinema, and TV news? As this war was fought, a battle over terminology was and is being ferociously waged on a daily basis, with British political language at odds with the rep- resentations on the screen: the government talks about Hizbullah aggression while TV screens show Israeli war crimes; the government talks about ending external interference in Lebanon and Gaza from Iran and Syria, and news bulletins show an Israeli onslaught on both besieged nations. A war between civil society and pro-Israeli elements rages in the press, and the government has fallen into line with a societal reading of Islam and Muslims, wherever they are, as aggressive and aggressors, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary such as in Lebanon and Gaza. The view is of Muslims as incorrigi- bly savage and beyond negotiations. Peace will come on Israeli, US and British terms, not those dictated by Muslims, or indeed, international law. This polarisation of representations highlights the core of this volume’s aim – to dissect how cultural and social policy is informed by media representa- tion of Muslims – which as current events have shown is not always inten- tionally inimical – but which nevertheless has a huge part to play in shaping negative perception of Muslims and creating negative experiences for Muslims at individual and collective levels. By decoding cultural narratives in literature and film and analysing TV news reporting in the UK about Muslims after the bombings of July 7, 2005, this volume explores the relationship between perceptions by and of Muslims and the role of domination and demonisation in the cultural language of media and power. Without understanding how power is structured through con- vention and how this necessarily excludes and mutes minorities’ demands, we cannot begin to move beyond a cycle of suspicion and segregation enforced by powerful majority cultural expectations. As so many ‘others’ die, it is incumbent
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