By Laura Green
I
thought Isakhan’s chapter was very interesting. I agree that through many
Western news outlets, Islam and Muslims are demonized as the “other”. However,
I think many people would assume this has stemmed from the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, but, Isakhan makes the interesting point that this demonization was
evident even before 9/11. Other scholars have suggested the same of Australian
news; Nahid Kabir gives multiple examples of how the news negatively targeted Islam, even
before the events of 9/11 started to dominate world news, in his article “Representation
of Islam and Muslims in the Australian Media, 2001-2005”. One of which is the
way in early 2001, that the Australian news linked female genital mutilation to
Islam synonymously, ignoring that it is a practice tied more to cultural
background than to religious belief (Kabir, 2006: 314-315).
Isakhan
suggests the representation of Islam in the Australian media, which is similar
to many other Western countries, displays a continuation of what Edward Said
called “orientalism”. He makes his
argument very convincingly, through pointing out the racial bias of the
Australian news media throughout its history in its coverage of Indigenous and Asian peoples. I had previously not thought about the link between the way
Islam is presented in todays news and how other cultures have been depicted in the
past. However, after reading Isakhan’s article I think there is a clear case to
say that orientalist ideals are visible in the Australian news medias history,
and they have been carried forward even into the present day.
References:
Nahid
Kabir, “Representation of Islam and Muslims in Australian Media, 2001-2005”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 26,
no. 3 (2006): 313-328.
Benjamin
Isakhan, “Orientalism and the Australian News Media: Origins and Questions”, in
Islam and the Australian News Media,
Halim Rane; Jacqui Ewart Mohamad Abdalla, eds., (Carlton: Melbourne University
Publishing, 2010): 3-25.
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