1) With current events unfolding, how have you noticed media outlets contributing to the global representation of the Arab people?
2) What do you think can help change the stereotype of Muslims and how can media help do so?
Monday, November 23, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Doug Schunemanns 3 posts
http://www.livescience.com/25110-negative-messages-muslims-media.html
He collected 1,084 press releases from 120 organizations, including Muslim groups, evangelical Christian groups and think tanks with various interests. He then compared these press releases with 50,407 newspaper
articles and television transcripts from 2001 to 2008
He found press releases that were emotional, displaying fear and anger, had the best chance of getting the media's attention
"The groups that were getting the majority of the attention, especially after 9/11, were some of the least representative groups, or what I call fringe groups," Bail said
https://sorblog2014.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/the-representation-of-islam-in-the-media/
(picture at the bottom of muslim man with labels on his face)
The media reports involving Muslims and Islam in general have become more frequent, with the racist, stereotype images and remarks becoming more and more accepted as normal, especially in the news, entertainment and social media.
Media including Hollywood and the filmmakers have become worse in their racist opinions of Muslims portraying them more and more as brutal, heartless, uncivilised religious fanatics and money-mad cultural “others” bent on terrorising civilised Westerners.
The media has generalised their opinion based on a small minority to all of the Muslim population and sensationalized it to heighten cultural anxieties. This opinion and stereotype has caused much tension between westerners and the general Muslim population in the past and the present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRZQiwxB8lE
(0:00 - 2:10)
He collected 1,084 press releases from 120 organizations, including Muslim groups, evangelical Christian groups and think tanks with various interests. He then compared these press releases with 50,407 newspaper
articles and television transcripts from 2001 to 2008He found press releases that were emotional, displaying fear and anger, had the best chance of getting the media's attention
"The groups that were getting the majority of the attention, especially after 9/11, were some of the least representative groups, or what I call fringe groups," Bail said
https://sorblog2014.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/the-representation-of-islam-in-the-media/
(picture at the bottom of muslim man with labels on his face)
The media reports involving Muslims and Islam in general have become more frequent, with the racist, stereotype images and remarks becoming more and more accepted as normal, especially in the news, entertainment and social media.
Media including Hollywood and the filmmakers have become worse in their racist opinions of Muslims portraying them more and more as brutal, heartless, uncivilised religious fanatics and money-mad cultural “others” bent on terrorising civilised Westerners.
The media has generalised their opinion based on a small minority to all of the Muslim population and sensationalized it to heighten cultural anxieties. This opinion and stereotype has caused much tension between westerners and the general Muslim population in the past and the present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRZQiwxB8lE
(0:00 - 2:10)
Cartoon Riots: Lule Ch. 7
Lule, Ch. 7 – Media and Cultural Globalization: Cartoon Riots and Dismantled McDonald’s
Discusses the riots over Denmark cartoon depictions of the Profit Muhammad in 2005-6.
The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (Jutland Post) published twelve editorial cartoons attacking self-censorship and depicting the profit Muhammad, which is forbidden in Islamic tradition. This caused immense outrage among the Islamic community worldwide and sparked violent riots throughout the country. This incident shows a clear division between "us" and the "other". In free democratic nations in which state and church are separate, such as the United States and Denmark, free speech is held in high esteem and we take pride in that privilege. We can't imagine that simple cartoons of a religious figure could lead to such a response. That is a problem.When you have cartoons of Muhammad with a bomb as a turban that automatically creates a western stereotype of all Islam. It also shows a blatant disrespect for Islam and their traditions. It is no wonder that Islams responded so aggressively to this act. Unfortunately, rioting only hurts them because then live television is showing Islamic people acting violently and burning flags and such. This only furthers the western representation of the Arab as prone to violence and anti-western.
Discusses the riots over Denmark cartoon depictions of the Profit Muhammad in 2005-6.
The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (Jutland Post) published twelve editorial cartoons attacking self-censorship and depicting the profit Muhammad, which is forbidden in Islamic tradition. This caused immense outrage among the Islamic community worldwide and sparked violent riots throughout the country. This incident shows a clear division between "us" and the "other". In free democratic nations in which state and church are separate, such as the United States and Denmark, free speech is held in high esteem and we take pride in that privilege. We can't imagine that simple cartoons of a religious figure could lead to such a response. That is a problem.When you have cartoons of Muhammad with a bomb as a turban that automatically creates a western stereotype of all Islam. It also shows a blatant disrespect for Islam and their traditions. It is no wonder that Islams responded so aggressively to this act. Unfortunately, rioting only hurts them because then live television is showing Islamic people acting violently and burning flags and such. This only furthers the western representation of the Arab as prone to violence and anti-western. 
Orgad, Shani: Photos from Abu Ghraib
Orgad, Shani. 2012. Imagining Ourselves: Representations of the Nation. Ch. 3 extract in Media Representation and the Global Imagination (81-90). Cambridge, UK: Polity.
- "The Internet and satellite cross-border channels, for example, CNN International, BBC World and AI Jazeera, become significant storytellers that compete over the symbolic construction of the nation with other local, national, regional, transnational and global players."
- Pictures released from the Abu Ghraib military prison in Iraq - horrible inhumane treatment of Arab prisoners by U.S. military police
- Depicts U.S. citizens treating the "other" as less than human furthering the symbolic distancing between us and them.
- Also sparked an unsettling image in Americans minds that "our boys" are cable of evil. This is not only a negative global representation of the Arab prisoners, but also of American soldiers.
- Now other nations are questioning the methods of U.S. troops and this causes distrust among many Arab/Muslim nations.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Introduction
Introduction
Global Media Representations of the Arab People:Focus on American Media
Media plays a large role in shaping the public opinion of practically anything, most of all race, religion, and culture. There has been consistent representation of the Arab throughout American cinema and news coverage. Overall the Arab has been represented as a nomadic person, prone to violence and scheming. They have often been portrayed as the villain in cinema, not only in adult rated film but children cartoons as well. A memorable example is that of Aladdin. We see the evil Jafar and his bandits as evil marauding Arabs while the hero Aladdin, far lighter skinned than the rest with an american accent, rescues the Sultan's daughter Jasmine from his evil plan. This film is a Disney classic and many children grew up watching it.
Aladdin is only one example of the numerous portrayals of Arabs in media that create a fearful, negative outlook on the Arab people. In his book titled "Reel Bad Arabs," film authority Jack Shaheen discusses the tendency to portray Muslim Arabs as "Public Enemy #1; brutal, heartless, uncivilized others bent on terrorizing civilized Westerners." He evaluates thousands of films and presents shocking proof of this villain-es portrayal.
This portrayal is not only present in cinema, but in news coverage as well. Ever since the start of terrorist attacks across the world in the late 20th century, Arabs and Muslims have been the face of these terrorist groups. Granted, many of the groups including Al Qaeda and now ISIS are made of radical Muslims, there are terror groups all over the world consisting of all race and ethnicity. For example, there are numerous terror groups throughout Africa and Central America that have nothing to do with the Islamic religion. Regardless, American mass media has consistently emphasized the Arab terrorist as the face of terrorism. After the attacks of 9/11 Americans became extremely frightened by the idea of terrorism in the United States. Because the attacks were committed by Arab terrorists, Americans developed a broad stereotype for all Arabs as being violent anti-American terrorists. Truth is, it is a minuscule minority of Muslims who hold the terrorists extremist views on Islam. Islam, like any other religion, is a religion of peace. We are still dealing with this misrepresentation today and with current events unfolding it will become increasingly difficult to break this stereotype, but we must try.
Reel Bad Arabs
Reel Bad Arabs:
How Hollywood Vilifies A People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD3CnPJNOE
- Slander of the Arab people has been in American film making since the early days of silent cinema.
- Demeaning images of the Arab
- Arab men: savage bandits, villains, criminal and terrorists
- Arab women: belly-dancers, naive, subordinate and greedy
- Effects the way we view the Arab as well as creating an overarching stereotype for all Arab nations
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