Extremists 'hijack Islam's image'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4438908.stm

BBC News


Extremists 'hijack Islam's image'
By Peter Feuilherade


The West's image of Islam has been hijacked by extremists, delegates at

the recent News Xchange broadcasting conference in Amsterdam heard.


Debate was prompted by the results of a Kuwaiti government survey that
found the depiction of Muslims in the US and European media was
"typically stereotypical and negative".


Several speakers concluded that the role of the media should be to
understand and illustrate the complexity of the Islamic world, rather
than dealing in such generalisations.


'Widespread ignorance'


The session began with Chris Yalonis of Communique Partners presenting
the findings of a new international survey, "Western perceptions about
Islam and Muslims", which he carried out on behalf of the Kuwaiti
Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments) and Islamic Affairs.


He said there was a paradox between the perception by many Europeans of

their Muslim neighbours and colleagues as "good people", while Muslims
they see on television are often depicted as "terrorists".


Between March and August 2005 the survey team carried out more than
2,400 online interviews in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands
and the US. Their findings included:


Muslims rated lowest in overall favourability among various religious
groups.


Ignorance of and lack of empathy with Islam is widespread.


The portrayal of Arabs and Muslims varies according to the type of
media, "but it is typically stereotypical and negative, although
improving especially in certain prestigious news organisations".


TV documentaries and news are the most influential media in influencing

feelings about Arab Muslims, followed by newspapers.


Nearly three-quarters of respondents believe that the media depicts
Arab Muslims and Islam accurately only half the time, not often or
never.


Trevor Mostyn, an analyst of European media interviewed by the survey
team, said: "Television loves the image of the ugly, ferocious
blood-curdling Muslims."


Articulate, "mainstream" Muslims are rarely seen on TV in Britain,
Mostyn asserted.


Heated debate


The News Xchange session on "Reporting Islam" saw a passionate debate
during which some Arab journalists complained that Muslims were
frequently demonised in the Western media, while many European
broadcasters stressed the need to avoid using inflammatory terms and to

give airtime to moderate voices as well as extremists.


The World Trade Centre attack had a major impact on Islam's image


Abdul Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based paper al-Quds al-Arabi,
complained of the West's coverage of the Muslim world, saying that when

radical groups "hijacked" Islam, Western media simplistically depicted
this as "Muslim terrorism".


He added: "Whatever we do, we are still rejected by the West... As a
Muslim in Europe, which is supposed to be the continent of human
rights, I am really frightened."


Wadah Khanfar, managing director of al-Jazeera, said many media and
correspondents failed to differentiate between the Muslim religion and
cultural tradition. He too agreed: "We should abandon simplistic
coverage."


Feelings ran high when Ayan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch MP whose
criticism of Islam sent her into hiding after the murder of Dutch
filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, spoke.


She accused Arab journalists of seeing all problems as caused by some
outside force, and said they should engage in more self-reflection.


Her remarks that "there is a total lack of freedom in the Arab and
Islamic world", as well as "a lack of equality for and a culture of
violence towards women", provoked angry denials and denunciations from
many Arab and other journalists in the hall.


"Things are being done in the name of religion, but it's not good
enough for the media to describe them simply as Islamic," concluded
Phil Harding of BBC World Service, summing up what emerged as the
majority consensus after a very heated discussion.

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