Question

1. What has cinema, TV news coverage, commentaries, and other media sources implied about Islam in regards to religious superiority? What is Engineer’s challenge in his essay?

Answer 1

Islamophobia in the media refers to the occurrence or perception that media outlets tend to cover Muslims or Islam-related topics in a negative light. Islamophobia is defined as "Intense dislike or fear of Islam, esp. as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims

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 and argue that Americans were using the fear of Islam as a unifying concept in defining America.

Some also believe that the phenomenon of Islamophobia is a psychological defense mechanism, which is spreading through mass media like a virus.

Some have noted that few Muslims are represented in the media when discussing policies that affect Muslims directly. In 2017, journalists at Media Matters compiled a list of guests that were invited onto three US cable news shows (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC) in the week from January 30 to February 5 to discuss President Trump's controversial Executive Order 13769, which would ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. They found that of the 176 guests that were invited to discuss the issue, less than 8% were Muslim.

In 2009, Mehdi Hasan in the New Statesman criticized Western media for over-reporting a few Islamist terrorist incidents but under-reporting the much larger number of planned non-Islamist terrorist attacks carried out by "non-Irish white folks"

The Universities of Georgia and Alabama in the United States conducted a study comparing media coverage of "terrorist attacks" committed by Islamist militants with those of non-Muslims in the United States. Researchers found that "terrorist attacks" by Islamist militants receive 357% more media attention than attacks committed by non-Muslims or whites.

Despite popular media representations of Muslims as the perpetrators of terrorism, many studies has found that they are its main victims across the globe. a study conducted by a French non-governmental organization found that 80% of the victims of terrorism are Muslims.