British Islam: Media Representations and Social Meanings
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British Islam: Media Representations and Social Meanings Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Elizabeth Anne Poole Centre for Mass Communication Research University of Leicester August 1999 UMI Number: U601256 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U601256 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Title: British Islam: Media Representations and Social Meanings. By: Elizabeth Poole This thesis examines meanings circulating about British Muslims in both sections of the British press and its audience. It addresses theoretical questions that have been raised which suggest that in the current political epoch, with its New World Order, Islam has been constructed as the necessary enemy of ‘the West’. Consequently, Islam has been demonised in the Western media. This study attempts to verify these arguments and address criticisms of them, specifically the homogenisation of Islam, the West and its media, by concentrating on a specific genre within a specific context: the British national press. The first part of the study entails a quantitative analysis of 800 texts from two British broadsheets, The Times and The Guardian, providing their ‘news frameworks’ with regards to British Islam. This provides the context for the second part of the research, a qualitative discourse analysis of 159 texts, including two tabloid papers, The Mail andThe Sun. Having established the ‘preferred’ meanings of Islam in a range of papers, reception analysis was included to establish the range of audience meanings, recognising that meanings are not fixed in texts. Particular attention was paid to the variable of cultural proxmity, based on the hypothesis that contact with Muslims would work to counter media constructions. Three types of groups were used, Muslims, and non-Muslims with regular, and no contact with Muslims. The findings of this study shows that there is a consistent and limited ‘news framework’ with some differences between papers in terms of news values, style, presentation and in particular, political orientations. The non-Muslim audience shares their discursive construction of ‘Islam within’ as a cultural, ideological threat. Contact with Muslims appears to make little difference in understandings of Islam, as race is the dominant signifier. This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the meanings of British Islam circulating within a specific context, in all their forms and variations. Contents. List of Tables vii List of Figures ix Acknowledgements x Introduction 1-9 Islam in Britain 2 Conceptual Approach 6 Methods and Structure 7 Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework 10-40 Representing the Other: Orientalism 10 The Development of the Islamic Other: Historical Context 14 Movements in Europe 21 The British context 22 The Representation of Islam: Islam the Media Villain 25 The Representation of Ethnic Minorities 32 Representing Religion 35 The Manufacture of News 36 Chapter 2: Methodologies 41-77 Quantitative Content Analysis 42 Aims 42 Media sample 42 Time sample 44 What constitutes British Islam ? 46 Mode of analysis: Quantification 46 Limitations of the method 47 Qualitative Content Analysis 49 Aims 49 i Sampling decisions 49 Approach 51 Discourse analysis 51 Limitations of the method 55 Audience Research 55 Aims 55 History 56 Approach 57 Reception analysis 57 Mode of analysis: Focus groups 59 Composition of the group 63 Recruitment 64 Age and Locality 65 Gender 67 Focus group procedure and materials 67 Practical limitations: Actual implementation 68 Processing information: NUD.IST 71 Limitations in the approach 72 Further (general) limitations 75 Generalisability 76 Chapter 3: Framing Islam: A Quantitative Analysis 78-147 Introduction 78 Global to Local 79 Domestic News 84 Periodicity of coverage 84 Topical analysis 85 Main topics 87 Newspaper differentiation 89 Subtopics 91 References 92 Education 95 ii Relationships 98 Islamic fundamentalism 100 Political activity 102 Criminal activity 104 Muslims in the media 106 Prince Charles 108 Belief and religious ritual 109 Relations to Christianity 110 Freedom of speech/The Rushdie Affair 111 Race relations 114 Topical structures 115 Topical clusters: themes and meanings of British Islam 117 The role of British Muslims: the standing of principal actors 120 Muslims are denied legitimacy in social representation 120 Women are marginalised as significant actors 124 The prominence of British Islam: article type 129 The geography of British Islam 135 Issues of Interpretation 139 Newspaper variations 139 News practices 139 Literature comparison 140 Coverage of ethnic minorities 142 1997 Analysis 143 The Mail 145 Conclusion 146 Chapter 4: British Islam: A Discursive Construction 148-243 Introduction 148 Quantitative Findings 149 Relationships 152 Sexual deviance/Generation 153 Cultural clash 154 iii Freedom Vs Constraint 154 Rationality Vs Irrationality 156 Morality Vs Immorality 156 Education 160 The Times 162 The Sun 165 The Guardian 166 Counter discourse 168 Rushdie, Blasphemy and Religious Discrimination 172 The Guardian 177 Counter discourse in The Guardian 178 The Times 180 The Mail 181 Islamic Fundamentalism in the UK 185 The fundamentalist threat 187 Government intervention 193 Omar Bakri Mohammad 193 Decontextualisation 195 Homogeneity 196 Categorisation 197 Counter discourse 198 Conclusion 200 Crime and Politics: The Case of Mohammed Sarwar 200 Corruption, Sleaze: Guilty as charged 203 Categorisation 207 Sectarianism 211 Anti anti-racism 212 Appealing for Tough Action 214 Counter discourse 217 Conclusion 219 Location 220 Sources 221 iv Nationality/Ethnicity 225 Coverage in The Sun 227 Post Analysis Update 229 Relationships 229 Education 230 Religious discrimination 232 Fundamentalism 234 Mohammed Sarwar 236 Conclusion 241 From Text to Audience 243 Chapter 5: Interpreting Islam 244-319 Introduction 244 Demographical Details 244 Gender 244 Religious affiliation 245 Origins/Language 245 Media usage 245 Source of news 245 Newspaper choice 246 Perceptions of Islam: Analysing Discourse 247 Women 249 Islamophobia 250 Segregation 251 Restrictive 252 Unity 253 Conversion 255 Aggression 257 Cultural differences 259 Westernisation 263 Foreign 264 Threat 266 V Traditions/ Primitive nature of Islam 267 IUegaUty 270 Perception of the Other 270 Readings 273 Muslim males 276 Muslim females 278 Non-Muslims: Contact group 281 Non-Contact group 285 Cultural Proximity 290 Familiarity with Media Coverage 293 Attitude to Religion/Other Religions 296 Media Bias 298 Media Literacy 302 Interpretive Strategies 303 Demographical Details Revisited 306 Religion, ethnicity, language groupings 306 Media usage 307 Reflexivity/ Group Effect 308 Conclusion 314 Conclusion 320-332 Appendices A: Coding Schedule 333 B: Coding Instructions 339 C: Glossary 342 D: Questionnaire 343 E: Written Question 345 F: Topic Guides 346 G: Materials 348 H: Table: Total Frequencies of all Topics and References 349 I: Table: Representations of Islam yearly and by paper 351 vi J: Topical Clusters 353 K: Pictorial Representations 354 L: Tabulated Audience Demographic Details 356 Bibliography 358-405 List of Tables Table 2.1: Actors appearing in main topics: illustrating the reliability of findings 49 Table 2.2: Original plan for implementing focus groups 70 Table 2.3: Actual implementation o f the focus groups 70 Table 3.1: Coverage of Global and British Islam comparatively 80 Table 3.2: Comparative frequencies of The Guardian and The Times (Global) 81 Table 3.3: Comparative frequencies of The Guardian and The Times (British) 82 Table 3.4: Patterns of coverage of the major world religions 83 Table 3.5: Coverage of British Islam, 1994-1996 84 Table 3.6: Monthly patterns of coverage in each paper, 1994-1996 85 Table 3.7: Occurrence of topics annually 88 Table 3.8: References most frequently occurring in articles in relation to Islam 92 Table 3.9:References consistently occurring together 94 Table 3.10: The framing of articles on education 97 Table 3.11: The framing of articles on British Muslims’ relationships 99 Table 3.12: The framing of Islamic Fundamentalism in the UK 102 Table 3.13: The framing of immigration in relation to British Muslims 102 Table 3.14: The framing of Muslims’ political activities in the UK 104 Table 3.15: The framing of Muslims’ criminal activities in the UK 106 Table 3.16: The framing of Muslims in the media 107 Table 3.17: The framing o f Prince Charles and Islam 108 Table 3.18: The framing of Islamic belief and practice in press articles 109 Table 3.19: The framing of British Islam in relation to Christianity 111 Table 3.20: The framing of the debate on freedom of speech 113 Table 3.21: The framing o f Salman Rushdie 113 Table 3.22:The social position o f actors in articles on British Islam 121 Table 3.23:Social position o f actor by religion 121 Table 3.24:Frequency of actors occurring: faith position 122 Table 3.25:Gender of principal actor 124 Table 3.26:Social position by gender 125 vii