THE MEDIA THE MASSES AND THE MUSLIMS

1
THE MEDIA THE MASSES AND THE MUSLIMS

• Anne Aly
• Edith Cowan University

2
Introduction

• PhD research The media discourse on terrorism
  and the fear of terrorism
• Funded by ARC Safeguarding Australia
• 10 Focus Groups (4 Muslim)
• 60 Individual interviews (30 Muslim and 30
  Broader community)

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The historical representation of Muslims in
Australia

• 1912- The Moslem Menace
• 1913- The Lure of the Little Drum
• 1950s-60s
• 1970s-80s- Arab terrorism
• 80s- Iranian revolution
• 1991- Gulf War
• 1990s- Liberal feminist discourse on the hijab
• Late 90s- The veiled threat

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The media discourse on the war on terror

• Post 9/11 discourse from a specific event to a
  range of local and global issues deemed to be
  composite of the war on terror
• Framed as a battle between good and evil
• Islam constructed as incompatible with liberal
  democracy
• Muslim is a construct ideologically over
  determined by the media discourse that draws on
  historically inherited stereotypes
• Australian Muslims implicated as the enemy
  within

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cont

• Home-grown terrorists
• Australia gave this illegal Algerian migrant a
  job and a safe place to bring up his six
  children. He showed his gratitude by telling us
  Osama Bin Laden was a great man, and now police
  say Abdul Benbrika leads a gang of Muslims who
  want to blow up their countrymen to smithereens
• (The West Australian 9 November 2005. Emphasis
  added)
• Australian audiences positioned as witnesses of
  9/11 and expected to partake in the response as
  part of the West under attack
• Australian Muslims were thrust into a paradoxical
  bind- as Australians they were expected to
  respond as victims of terrorism as Muslims they
  were positioned as the objects of terror

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Muslims as victims of negative media bias

• Discourse and textual analyses of popular media
  confirm that Muslims are represented as
  non-members of Australian community
• Give primacy to the media and ignore the role of
  the audience in constructing meaning from the
  media
• Victim identity grounded in Muslim perception
  of media as powerful purveyor of public opinion
  and acute sensitivity of own otherness

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SEMIOLOGICAL GUERRILLAS

• W
• M
• D

EAPONS EDIA ECONSTRUCTION
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AGENCY choice, disengagement
RESIST SUBJECT POSITIONS CREATE ALTERNATIVE
NARRATIVES OF BELONGING
RESISTANCE alternative frameworks of analysis
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Tools of resistance

• Engaging alternative discourses subverting
  subject positions
• I think of George Bush straightaway. He is the
  biggest terrorist in the world and he is the one
  who created all the terrorists- he is claiming
  that the Muslims are the terrorists
• I think that the definition of terrorists being
  fanatical and fundamentalist isnt really a true
  definition of terrorists because I think thats
  quite comparable to different acts of government
  through history. An example of the Australian
  government and what theyve done to the
  Indigenous people of Australia through acts of
  genocideyet because they are coming from a
  legitimate power its not seen as an act of
  terrorism

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Tools of resistance cont

• Disengaging the popular media discourse- creating
  new narratives of belonging
• I used to watch a lot of newsbut then I just
  felt very negative about it, so when I would go
  out into University, I would be like Oh, are
  people are looking at me just because Im Muslim
  and stuff. But then when I stopped watching TV
  and everything... I guess I could identify more,
  like with the rest of society, when I didnt
  concentrate so much on myself being different.
• I just go to the shops and Im just a normal
  person living my life and and I am normal I am
  living my life and whatever happens anywhere else
  in the world has nothing to do with me

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Tools of resistance cont

• Re-affirming Australian Muslim identity-
  challenging popular stereotypes at personal level
• being Australian is actually a blend of
  everything so whether its Muslim or non-Muslim
  or Chinese or Japanese or whatever- its a blend
  of everything that makes me Australian and having
  an Australian culture is a culture that includes
  all other nationalities and religions to be
  Australians
• Its definitely a position thing for me because
  as a Muslim and someone who loves their faith I
  dont want my faith to be portrayed in a negative
  way. So for them to come and ask me to dispel
  those myths is quite gratifyingbecause if these
  people know that these things arent true the
  next time they see a Muslim woman in the street
  they wont look at them with any resentment
  because they will know what they are seeing in
  the media isnt actual fact

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Conclusion

• Orientation to discourse analysis deals with
  Muslims through a presumption of victimisation
• Acknowledge role of agency and resistance in
  constructing media discourses
• Australian Muslims exhibit competence in
  producing interpretations that counter the
  dominant messages in the media discourse
• They have learnt to ferret out the beneficial
  and put up blinders against the rest (Bobo) and
  to access alternative discourses that subvert the
  subject positions imposed on them in the media
  discourse that position them as an aggressive,
  alien, out of place other.