By Ahmad Ali Nurdin

IT WAS through the media that many people in the West learnt about events such as Ayatollah Khomeini's condemnation of novelist Salman Rushdie to death for blasphemy, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's posturing and promotion of a Third World revolution, the Sept 11 terrorist attacks and the Bali bombings.

Much of what people in the West learn about Islam is from the news, so how the media portrays Islam is an important factor in how they understand Islam.

All around the world, the Western media stimulates, corrupts, influences, shapes and challenges Muslims.
Television, radio, the Internet and newspapers are inundated with negative images of Muslims, who are routinely portrayed as being fundamentalist, conservative, extremist, uncivilised or despotic.

Much of this stereotyping comes from ignorance, but the media is also owned by profit-seeking organisations which often seek to create a false image of reality, by presenting Islam as a menace or a threat to the West.
Take the great misconception in the media about jihad, which literally means a struggle in the name of God or holy war.

Because the ideas of war and violence are now linked to the Islamic religion by the media, it often misuses jihad to mean a holy war in which Muslims unreasonably kill non-believers.

But jihad actually means what a Muslim does for the sake of God.

So, a student striving for top grades, individuals pursuing equality and justice for all people, the honouring of parents, and even a mother giving birth to a child, can all be considered jihad.

Rarely, however, do you see this definition used in Western reports.

Another major topic which is often misinterpreted by the Western media concerns the rights of women in Islam.
If the media is to be believed, Islam is a male-dominated religion in which Muslim men have complete authority over all groups.

By seeking out what captures headlines, the media all too often confirms stereotypes and fears of extremism and terrorism. The result is that Islam is defined negatively today as radically at odds with the West, establishing a framework which limits knowledge of the religion.

Prejudice and antagonism towards Islam and Muslims are embedded deeply in the psyche of mainstream Western societies. So long as this framework stands, Islam, as a vital experience for Muslims, cannot be known.

It is not only the hyberbolic language of Western media that depicts Muslims as fundamentalist and extremist, but its pictures as well.

For example, in the Oct 4 issue of Time magazine, Muslim soldiers are shown performing prayers while carrying guns, with a caption that says: 'Guns and prayer go together in the fundamentalist battle.'
The message is clear in the minds of readers.

Not without foundation then, Muslims perceive the Western media as being hostile, and a negative influence.

But why does the Western media persist in such prejudice concerning Islam?

This is an important question for Muslims to consider, if misinformation and misunderstanding are to be eliminated. Is the media anti-Islam, or purely news-oriented?

Historian Robert Darnton once observed this piece of graffiti on the wall of a New York Times men's room: 'All the news that fits we print.' In other words, stories fight for limited newspaper space.

Presumably, the commercial motive is why the media tends to blow up stories about Islam.

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the West, and it suffers antagonism from every direction. Controversial stories about Muslims attract readers, Muslims and non-Muslims.

So, when the World Trade Center was attacked in 2001, blaming Islamic terrorism made an already huge story even more so.

Another influence in the negative portrayal of Islam is politics. Although many United States officials deny a connection between how the media portrays Islam and foreign policy, fear of Islam in the US and other Western countries could play into the hands of the powers that be.

The fear, which is unjustified, appears rational given that only selective facts are available to the public.

Muslims should not assume that the Western media carries negative images of Islam because Westerners hate Islam.

The media is interested in selling controversial news and the situation is worsened by the lack of understanding of individual reporters.

Many Muslim leaders also contribute to the bad image by condemning loudly Western culture, politics and ideology.

How then to reach a compromise and increase understanding between Muslims and the Western media?

First, the media needs to be more balanced, and avoid falling into traps like using loaded words such as 'fundamentalism'. It could try 'revivalist' or a more neutral term.

Second, Muslims need more visibility in the Western media to project their point of view and counter the exotic and alien image of Islam that some media practitioners have.

Instead of reacting emotionally and seeing the Western media as the enemy, Muslims could provide reporters with more information.

If children could be taught a basic knowledge of Islam in schools, they will not grow up ignorant, breeding fear and prejudice.

Western-educated Islamic groups and communities could bridge the gap to explain the diversity of Islamic traditions, old and new.

Conversely, Western values like democracy need to be explained in Muslim schools, so that the West is not stereotyped as only offering free sex and violence.

To sum up, because the media is such a major source of information for the public about Islam in the West, the participation of Muslims in it would have a positive effect.

The Western media should also learn the truth about Islam, so that it can report it objectively.

Acceptance will come when readers are educated properly.

The writer is a postgraduate student in South-east Asian studies at the National University of Singapore.

Source: Straits Times (Singapore) 

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