Islamophobia in the media

Islamophobia in the media refers to negative coverage of Islam-related topics, Muslims, or Arabs by media outlets in a way that is hostile, untrue, and/or misleading. Islamophobia is defined as "Intense dislike or fear of Islam, especially as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims", and the study of how and to what extent the media furthers Islamophobia has been the subject of much academic and political discussion.

Discussion of Islamophobia in the media is typically concerned with patterns of rhetoric employed either by a specific outlet or by the mass media of a particular country or area, such as the United States or Europe. Examples of this include disproportionate negative coverage of Islam compared to other religions, association of all Muslims with terrorism, portrayal of Islam and its adherents as violent or primitive, and exclusion of Muslim perspectives from political and academic discussion, among other topics. In turn, responses to discussions of media Islamophobia often question the frequency, severity, and impact of rhetoric deemed Islamophobic, what constitutes Islamophobia in practice, and the political motivations behind discussions about Islamophobia.

Historical context

Some researchers point to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 as a starting point for Islamophobia in the United States . It may be due to the growing influence of political Islam around the same period. In his book, The Modern Middle East, author Mehran Kamrava notes that the "rise in the popularity and spread of political Islam can be traced to the 1980s and even earlier, when a general trend in the politicization of Islam began sweeping across the Middle East following the Arab 'victory' in the 1973 War and the success of the Iranian revolution." Others find Islamophobia present in the United States far earlier. Some also believe that the phenomenon of Islamophobia is a psychological defense mechanism, which is spreading through mass media like a virus. Regardless, negative media images of Muslims in the 1980s and 1990s were compounded by reporting on Islam and Muslims that relied on Samuel Huntington's 1993 idea of a "clash of civilizations" for their framework; one that "the American media were all too ready to embrace after the fall of Communism in the late 1990s."

Islamophobia in the media

According to Nathan Lean, editor-in-chief of Aslan Media and a researcher at Georgetown University, the media plays a major role in promoting Islamophobia across the world.