Stereotyping, Muslim Stereotyping & Islamophobia by Abid Zafar
Dissertation final
1. Jamie Booth
22025338
B.A. (Hons) Media
Dissertation
Islamophobia and thePrint Media:The Portrayal of Muslimsbefore and after
the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks
2014/15
Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Science
3. 2
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the people who have helped and supported me with making this
dissertation. Firstly, I would like to thank my family and colleagues for proof reading my
work and motivating me to make this dissertation to the highest standard that I could reach.
I would also like to thank them for all the support they have given me throughout my three
years at Sheffield HallamUniversity. I am also grateful and thankful to my dissertation tutor
Mark Leader, for helping me improve my dissertation and giving me help when I needed it. I
would like to express my gratitude to the employees on my course throughout my three
years, and especially those in my final year who have pushed me to reach for the best
grades and dissertation that I could achieve.
4. 3
Abstract
It is the aim of this dissertation to initially define the term ‘Islamophobia’. Secondly it
analyses the conduct in which the print media, specifically UK newspaper headlines, have
portrayed Muslims exactly one month before the Charlie Hebdo attacks of January 2015,
and then one month after. Ultimately it ties Islamophobia with the newspaper results, and
establishes the links between Islamophobia in the print media and media theories and other
causes that explain the reasons for Muslim hatred in the print media.
Secondary data analysis is utilised to interpret the coverage of Muslims from UK newspaper
headlines between the dates of 07/12/14 and 08/02/15. The findings of this dissertation
reveal that Islamophobia is apparent in UK newspaper headlines. The level of
representations, the language and the news hooks used in relation to Islamand Muslims,
used from 07/12/14 until 08/02/15, have been negative and harmful.
Whilst the portrayal of Islamand Muslims is currently in a negative nature, steps need to be
taken to recognise Islamophobia as a difficulty in our society that needs to be addressed.
The discriminatory attitudes are narrow-minded, and to counteract the prejudice against
Islamand Muslims, this dissertation recommends that the media should report news stating
the clear differences between the atrocities of Muslim extremists, and the billions of
Muslims around the world, to avoid the blurring of lines between the two groups.
5. 4
Chapter 1 – Introduction
In contemporary society the media has enormous power, control and influence over its
audiences. So much so that it has created a misrepresentation of 1.6 billion people on Earth
(Pew Research Center, 2011:07) and tarred them all with the same brush. This same media
has become the vantage point for which the public has viewed the exaggeration of Islam
and Muslims. Since the events of 9/11, other atrocities such as the 2004 Madrid train
bombings, 7/7 London bombings, the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks and the uprising of ISIS
have also been coordinated by Muslim extremists. As a result of the scale of these attacks
and the amount of media hysteria surrounding them, Islamand Muslims have become an
easy sell point for the media to heighten fear in audiences in order to generate high news
sales, and in result increasing the debate over whether the print media is Islamophobic.
The exact definition of the word ‘Islamophobia’, and whether the expression even actually
exists, continues to be argued. According to the Runnymede Trust Commission on British
Muslims and Islamophobia (‘the Runnymede Report’), the word ‘Islamophobia’ refers to the
“shorthand way of referring to dread or hatred of Islam – and, therefore, to fear or dislike of
all or most Muslims” (1997, 01). In Chris Allen’s book Islamophobia, the term is described as
a “phenomenon” (2010, 04), from where in Oxford Dictionaries (no date) ‘phenomenon’ is
defined as “a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose
cause or explanation is in question”. As Allen states in Islamophobia (2010, 13); “in terms of
the word Islamophobia being recorded in print…the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that
6. 5
it was first used in 1991 in the American periodical, Insight”. However the term first came to
prominence in the Runnymede Report published in 1997. This led to the occurrence of the
word used in political and public spheres since.
It is the aim of this study to analyse UK newspaper headlines relating to the word ‘Muslim’,
and present the results to consider if there are any signs of Islamophobia in the newspaper
headline research findings. This will lead to the discussion as to whether Islamophobia exists
in the press media, and if so, does the reason stem from our society’s deep-rooted history
related to theories such as Orientalism? Or perhaps other explanations that key pieces of
literature declare? This paper will attempt to elaborate this.
Since the beginning of the 21st century the subject of Muslim extremism and terrorism have
commanded the print media in our modern Western society, leading to negative
perceptions of Muslims. For this reason, this topic area was selected. In addition;
Islamophobia is not extensively addressed in the media, whereas Islam and Muslims are.
This was another incentive to make this piece of research. In the next chapter, the key
pieces of literature related to Islamophobia will be examined.
7. 6
Chapter 2 - Literature Review
2.1) Introduction
This chapter will illustrate the literature that was analysed before the study took place. The
pieces of literature discussed in this chapter were chosen to highlight the themes of
Islamophobia, and to acquire background information related to the term and explain the
reasons for the possible causes of negative Muslim representations in the UK press.
2.2) Orientalism
A theory associated with Islamophobia is the theory of Orientalism. Edward Said’s
Orientalism, first published in 1978 but with a reprint in 1995, is the most famous piece of
literature to tackle this theory, where in fact Said himself conceived the theory of
Orientalismin the book itself. Said stated that “From the beginning of Western speculation
about the Orient, the one thing the Orient could not do was to represent itself. Evidence of
the Orient was credible only after it had passed through and been made firm by the refining
fire of the Orientalist’s work.”(1995: 283).
Said (1995) in his text provides a view on the portrayal of the Arab (or Muslims) linked to
news: “In newsreels or news photos, the Arab is always shown in large numbers. No
individuality, no personal characteristics or experiences. Most of the pictures represent
mass rage and misery, or irrational gestures. Lurking behind all of these images is the
menace of jihad. Consequence: a fear that the Muslims (or Arabs) will take over the
8. 7
world.”(1995: 287) Again, Said has noted that the Occident (the West) portray the East in a
negative perception through their press, and for what reasons is made clearer in Said’s
published book Covering Islam, first published in 1981 but reprinted in 1997.
Covering Islam (1997) details how the Western media misrepresents the image of Islam.
Said suggests there are “many religious, psychological, and political reasons for this, but all
of these reasons derive from a sense that so far as the West is concerned, Islamrepresents
a formidable competitor but also a late coming challenge to Christianity.”(1997: 05) This
idea may help provide an understanding of this dissertation and explain the influencing
motives for the possible prejudice of Muslims in the UK press and the underlying reasons for
our deep rooted animosity towards Islam.
In the book Islamophobia, Chris Allen (2010: 69) argues a set of attributes that define the
features of Islamophobia. Features such as “IslamSeen as Other and Separate Rather than
Similar and Interdependent” (2010: 70) and “IslamSeen as an Enemy not as a Partner”
(2010: 71) strongly link to research identified in Orientalism (Said, 1995) and in
Islamophobia: Issues, Challenges and Action (Richardson, 2004) where the contextual
factors of attitudes towards Muslims are discussed (2004: 08). These tie in with this
literature review theme; as they provide a historical context as to why our modern Western
society (the ‘Occident’), defies Islamas the ‘Orient’. Also in Islamophobia: Issues, Challenges
and Action (2004), it touches on the historical overview of Islamhatred. “Hostility towards
Islamand Muslims has been a feature of European societies since the eighth century of the
9. 8
common era.” (2004: 07) This links neatly into Orientalism by Edward Said (1995), and
therefore, the theme of Orientalismitself.
2.3) Stereotypes
This sub-section will look at the relationship between the stereotypes of Muslims and the
creation of Islamophobia.
A stereotype is a shortcut way to referring to the world. It describes parts of which we
often know very little about from direct experience and places individuals into a box based
on things such as their ethnicity, appearance, and religion. In Edward Said’s Covering Islam
(1997) it touches on stereotypes that are categorized for Muslims. “…that her or his faith,
culture, and people are seen as a source of threat, and that she or he has been
deterministically associated with terrorism, violence, and fundamentalism.”(1997: xxi)
Furthermore, in Elizabeth Poole’s Reporting Islam (2002) it describes that “there are some
persistent ideas that have found their expression in coverage of British Islam: that Islamis
static and that Muslims are resistant to progress, engage in antiquated and repressive
practises that abuse human rights, and often use their religion to manipulate ends.”(2002:
250). Poole also states that “the media appear to play a role in this by disseminating
representations that constitute cultural identity.”(2002: 250) These extracts indicate that
the creation of negative Muslim stereotypes is caused by the media, which can indicate that
the press is Islamophobic.
10. 9
Again, Said’s Orientalism (1995) is studied for this theme. The topic of Orientalist
stereotypes are mentioned, where there “is a systemof representations framed by a whole
set of forces that brought the Orient into Western learning, Western consciousness, and
later, Western empire.”(1995: 203) This builds the link between the creation of negative
Orient stereotypes, which shows a deep underlying prejudice in the UK press, from where
the press have garnered stereotypes from centuries old information “Theses of Oriental
backwardness, degeneracy, and inequality with the West most easily associated themselves
early in the nineteenth century with ideas about the biological bases of racial
inequality.”(1995: 206).
The work of Hamid Dabashi in Brown Skin, White Masks (2011) provides an examination of
our modern society’s relationship between race and colonialism, much like Frantz Fanon’s
famous Black Skin, White Masks (1952). One highlighted piece of research, which
emphasizes Dabashi’s recognition of the rise of Muslim prejudice and the creation of
Muslim stereotypes, is the chapter “The Muslim is the New Jew”. Dabashi claims that “the
Arab and the Muslim have replaced the black and the Jew as the demonic ‘other’ of the
white Christian self” (2011: 35). It gives example of how the Muslim is now portrayed as a
negative stereotype in our society. Like how the Jewish and black citizens have been
attached to negative stereotypes for many centuries previously, it is for the reason to
colonize their territories. “Intellectuals have been given unprecedented forums by the North
American and Western European media in which to paint a picture of Muslim societies that
tallies perfectly with what needs of US propaganda are, thereby justifying the country’s
post-9/11 imperial projects.”(2011: 35).
11. 10
Dabashi goes on to discuss a key concept (2011:68), where he talks of the creation of an
enemy responsible for 9/11 (considering that the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade
Centre were anonymous) and linking the responsibility to the likes of Osama Bin Laden and
al-Qaeda and then progressively to Iraq and Iran, for once again, imperial projects. This is an
important theory to the creation of Muslim stereotypes as it could explain the cause of
Muslims becoming the face of terrorism; as many share the same ethnic qualities as the
likes of Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
Richardson (2004), in relation to the two previous paragraphs, finds links to intellectuals and
their perception on Islamand the creation of an enemy. Cited from influential and
respected newspapers such as The Guardian and The Financial Times, views such as “…we
have reason to be suspicious of Islam”, from Julie Birchill at The Guardian (2004: 11) and
“Islamis a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him”, quoted from
US Attorney General Josh Ashcroft (2004: 12), provide and prove a strong sense of hatred
towards Islamand reflect on the moods during the first few years after 9/11, which in turn
create a stereotype of Muslims to be seen as ‘suspicious’ and ‘backwards’. On the basis of
these ideas, it may help in providing an understanding of this dissertation to determine
whether stereotypes help play its role in whether the UK press is Islamophobic or not.
12. 11
2.4) Media villain
This sub-section will examine literature in relation to the theme of Islam and Muslims
characterized as the villain in the media.
Reporting Islam: Media Representation of British Muslims (2002) provides a chapter on the
representation of Islamas the media villain. The chapter initially implies that the media is
our outlook from where our knowledge of culture passes through. “The media have become
the primary focus of attention as they have superseded other institutions in the cultural
production of knowledge.” (Poole 2002:41) This indicates that the media has the influence
to create misrepresentations of Muslims. This is directly related to Edward Said’s Covering
Islam (1997) where he explains “In many instances ‘Islam’ has licensed not only patent
inaccuracy but also expressions of unrestrained ethnocentrism.” (Said 1997: 1i).
Poole (2002) also mentions of a technique that producers use to form a ‘media villain’. “One
method, which media producers use and which adds to this unified effect, is the repeated
selection of more extreme individuals and sources (who claim) to represent the community.”
(Poole 2002:45) Said in Covering Islam (1997) argues a similar point, this time with a specific
example: “The danger of simplifying a ‘myriad of countries’ was noted, but the only picture
in the five column piece was of Ayatollah Khomeini. He, and Iran, embodied all that was
objectionable about Islam, from terrorism and anti-Westernism.” (Said 1997:07) This brings
us to discussing the creation of a single ‘villain’ who is either Muslim or shares the same
ethnic qualities as a Middle Eastern Muslim, to represent the Muslim community. Dabashi
discusses this in Brown Skin, White Masks (2011), specifically mentioning two ‘villains’ that
13. 12
misrepresented Iraqi and Afghani people. “The two Frankensteins the US created – Mullah
Omar in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq – succeeded at their assigned tasks.”
(Dabashi 2011:14).
Chris Allen also recognises the importance of the ‘media villain’, suggesting that the media is
responsible for the creation of the Muslim ‘media villain’. “On seeing an image of bin Laden
on the front page of a newspaper, the writer reflected upon how he was alleged to look ‘not
unlike many devout Muslims in our midst’. In developing the old British racist adage that ‘all
blacks look the same’, transferring this onto Muslims in contemporary Britain it might more
appropriately be that ‘all Muslims are the same’.” (Allen 2010:86) This concept could help in
offering an understanding of this study by determining the reasons for the creation of a
‘media villain’.
2.5) Conclusion
To summarise, the literature that was examined and reviewed for this dissertation; Edward
Said’s Orientalism provides the theory of Orientalism, specifically that the Occident (the
West) portrays the East in a negative perception through their press. Said’s Covering Islam
details how the Western media misrepresents the image of Islam. Chris Allen’s
Islamophobia covers a range of topics, including arguing the attributes that define the
features of Islamophobia and examining the Orientalist and Colonialist background to the
term ‘Islamophobia’. This literature review touches on Robin Richardson’s Islamophobia:
Issues, Challenges and Action, which provides detailed accounts of media texts where
14. 13
Islamophobia is seen in newspaper columns. Elizabeth Poole’s Reporting Islam details the
representations of Muslims and Islamin theory and in practise, while Hamid Dabashi’s
Brown Skin, White Masks examines our society’s relationship between race and colonialism.
Following these readings, the dissertation proposes to reflect the mentioned pieces of
literature to confirm or disprove the hypothesis of the possible Islamophobic behaviour of
the UK media.
15. 14
Chapter 3 - Methodology
3.1) Introduction
This chapter will discuss the research that this paper implemented, what results were
initially expected and the reasons for using the chosen research methods. In addition it will
discuss how the data for this dissertation was collected and understood. Limitations and
problems in regards to the research will be explained in the final paragraphs.
3.2) Research strategy
The main research approach for this dissertation was using quantitative research. This
research method is associated with collecting and converting data into statistical form so
results can be made and then conclusions formed. Data was extracted from the electronic
database ‘Nexis’, an online catalogue which specialises in computer-assisted legal research
of journalistic documents. The examination of the collected data will help to establish if UK
newspaper publications are Islamaphobic, through the analysis and collected data from
their headlines.
Because of the nature of this study, qualitative research was also linked to the quantitative
research. This method according to Denzin and Lincoln (2005) involves examining “things in
their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the
meanings people bring to them.”(2005: 03) For the reason that the research stage is
separating one headline from another, and on the basis of opinion that the headline is
negative, neutral, or positive in relation to the word ‘Muslim’, this research method had to
16. 15
be linked with quantitative research aswell. Fundamentally, qualitative research was first
used to analyse the wording of the headlines. Then using quantitative research, the data of
the headlines were formed, collected and converted into statistics.
3.3) Data collection and interpretation
Starting from the Nexis database main page, the search term ‘Muslim’ was entered, refining
that the search term appeared ‘In the Headline’ only. The source selected was ‘UK
Publications’, with ‘Newspapers’ chosen in the ‘Publication type’. The custom dates that the
data was collected within was 07/12/15 and 07/01/15 (07/01/15 being the day of the
Charlie Hebdo attacks) and between 08/01/15 and 08/02/15. The data was then sorted and
analysed from ‘Oldest to Newest’.
After collecting the headline, four steps were taken. First, the headline was individually
analysed and separated into three sections: Positive, Neutral, and Negative. The headline
was then deemed to fit into a certain news hook (see appendix 14 or 15). Following this, the
newspaper that the headline originates from was recorded e.g. MailOnline, The Guardian.
The main noun from the headline was finally recorded. To assess the main noun in the
headline; if it was the most relevant to the news hook, then it was considered to be the
main noun. For example, from the Yorkshire Post headline “Muslimcleric told grieving
relatives fallen sons were like Hitler’s soldiers” (Anon, 2014) the noun chosen was ‘cleric’
because it is most relevant to the news story described in the headline.
The headline information was converted to take this structure “Neutral, Violence and
attacks against Muslims, MailOnline, Citizen” (See Appendix 2 or 3 for more examples). This
17. 16
was applied for all 271 newspaper headlines for the dates between 07/12/15 and 07/01/15.
Once the headlines were analysed and converted into the data that can be observed in
Appendix 2, the equivalent was completed for the 808 newspaper headlines between the
dates of 08/01/15 and 08/02/15 (See Appendix 3). In total, 1079 UK newspaper headlines
were analysed and judged if they were deemed to be positive, neutral, or negative towards
Muslims, along with their news hook, their newspaper publication name and the main noun
in their headline.
My initial hypothesis for the data results were that evidence of Islamophobia were to be
apparent in the newspaper headlines, in the one month build-up to the Charlie Hebdo
attacks in Paris on the 7th January 2015. It was next estimated that newspaper headlines in
the month after the attacks to be slightly more Islamophobic. A lot of research was
completed for this paper, but due to the vast amount of news headlines available on Nexis,
the research period was narrowed down to one month before the Charlie Hebdo attacks
and one month after. This was to compare and contrast the coverage of Muslims in the UK
newspaper headlines in a period of predicted social stability, and then a period of predicted
social instability.
One limitation and problem in regards to the research; is the amount of neutral newspaper
headlines immediately after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Because many headlines were briefly
describing what events were taking place, the results displayed a lot of neutral headlines.
Another problem that developed was the amount of local and regional newspapers that
portrayed Muslims positively in their headlines, while national newspapers were more
negative. Even though the national newspapers have much larger audiences than local and
18. 17
regional newspapers, it still affected the data and made it appear that UK newspapers, as a
whole, are less Islamophobic than they actually are.
Two final limitations of the research were; between the dates of 07/12/15 and 07/01/15, a
hostage crisis performed by a Muslim extremist in Sydney, Australia occurred. This slightly
affected the data, as stories were published negatively towards the extremist, but positive
headlines with the news hook of ‘hero/heroism’ of citizens, which coincidentally included
the word ‘Muslim’ in to describe the extremist, made the headline scarcely linked to
Muslims. Lastly, when a headline broke, for example “The touching moment a Muslim bride
took a detour on her big day to lay her wedding bouquet at the shrine for Martin Place siege
victims” (McNab, 2014), this same story was picked up by other newspapers and recycled
into their own story. This was a contrast to negative Muslim headlines, as exact stories were
not recycled to the extent that positive Muslim headlines were. This again, slightly affected
the statistics.
19. 18
Chapter 4 – Findings
4.1) Introduction
In this section the research findings will be examined. A critical discussion of the possible
explanations for the findings will then be conferred, in relation to the literature examined in
the literature review. In chapter 3.2, the following will be examined:
1. The increased use of the word ‘Muslim’ between the two chosen time periods.
2. The percentage comparisons of positive, neutral, and negative newspaper headlines
before and after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
3. A comparison in the amount of positive, neutral and negative headlines that
newspaper publications published.
4. A comparison in the type of news hooks in the newspaper headlines, before and
after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
5. A comparison in the use of descriptive nouns in the newspaper headlines, before
and after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
4.2) Research findings
The word ‘Muslim’ in newspaper headlines convincingly increased from the dates between
07/12/14 and 07/01/15 to the dates between 08/01/15 and 08/02/15. From 07/12/14 to
07/01/15 (one month before Charlie Hebdo attacks), 271 newspaper article headlines
included the word ‘Muslim’ (appendix 2). From 08/01/15 to 08/02/15 (one month after
Charlie Hebdo attacks), 808 newspaper article headlines included the word ‘Muslim’
(appendix 3). This is an increase of 298%. This proves a dramatic increase in Muslim
representation after the Charlie Hebdo attacks and demonstrates that the Charlie Hebdo
20. 19
attacks appeared to have kick started an increased level of Muslim representation in the
print media.
Sourced from the original data in appendix 2, the pie chart in appendix 6 regards headlines
one month before the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and consider if the headlines are positive,
neutral or negative. As can be seen; 44% of headlines were negative, 31% were positive and
25% were neutral. From this evidence, the headlines were essentially negative where the
word ‘Muslim’ is included. Sourced from the original data in appendix 3, the pie chart in
appendix 7 regards headlines one month after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, once again
considering if the headlines are positive, neutral or negative. Appendix 7 shows that 46% of
headlines were negative, 35% were positive and 19% were neutral. This shows once again
that the headlines were mostly negative where the word ‘Muslim’ is included. When a
newspaper headline is portrayed as negative and includes the word ‘Muslim’, or mentions
Muslims in a negative manner in the headline, then the word as a whole in the perspective
of the headline reader is seen as a negative word, or perhaps dangerous and unfriendly. This
could make the print media appear hateful towards Muslims considering the percentages
shown in figures 6 and 7.
Collected from the original data in appendix 2, the graphs visible in appendix 8, 9 and 10
show the number of positive, neutral and negative newspaper headlines in the dates before
the Charlie Hebdo attacks. As can be seen, the MailOnline tops all three graphs. On first
viewing this would suggest that the MailOnline has an equal spread of positive, neutral and
negative Muslim headlines. However upon scrutinizing the numbers, it is clear that the
MailOnline produced a much higher quantity of negative headlines (appendix 10) with the
21. 20
amount of 66, than its closest associate The Telegraph, which displayed 13 negative
newspaper headlines. It is therefore established that the MailOnline portrayed Muslims
negatively in a higher amount than any other newspaper before the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
In appendix 8 the MailOnline displays 17 positive headlines, while The Independent exhibits
13 and The Guardian displays 8. These figures prove that the amount of positive headlines
do not differ a great deal between the top three newspapers. In addition there is only a
slight variance between the other seven newspapers represented in appendix 8, which
display a similar amount of positive headlines.
In appendix 9 we can see that, apart from the MailOnline with 27 neutral headlines, there
are no dramatic variations in the amount of neutral headlines between the other nine
newspapers. On the subject of variation, between the graphs in appendix 8, 9 and 10, there
are no large statistical inequalities, apart from the MailOnline numbers in appendix 8, 9 and
10. What these statistics suggest is that nearly all newspapers are consistent with each
other when publishing positive, neutral and negative newspaper headlines. Whereas the
MailOnline displays a higher amount of newspaper headlines compared to the other nine
newspapers in appendix 8, 9 and 10, the other included newspapers do not fluctuate
between each other too much. What this suggests is that the MailOnline represents
Muslims highly in its newspaper headlines in comparison to other newspapers.
Collected from the original data in appendix 3, the graphs visible in appendix 11, 12 and 13
shows the amount of positive, neutral and negative newspaper headlines in the dates after
the Charlie Hebdo attacks. As we can see straight away in appendix 11; the MailOnline, The
Telegraph and The Independent display a similar amount of positive headlines (34, 33 and
22. 21
28), compared to the other seven which display a lower amount, ranging from 20 to 6. In
appendix 12 the graph shows similar comparisons to the graph in appendix 11. The top
three newspapers (MailOnline, The Guardian, The Times) display similar stats (23, 21 and 19
neutral headlines), while the next seven display a lower amount, ranging from 14 to 4. So far,
these findings would suggest that only a select few newspapers represent Muslims in their
headlines positively and neutrally more than other UK publications.
The statistics of newspaper headlines in appendix 13 displays a serious increase in the use of
‘Muslim’, in relation to headlines being deemed negative. The MailOnline displayed 105,
with The Telegraph portraying 65 negative headlines, and The Times and The Independent
displaying similar stats with 49 and 44 negative headlines. The next six newspapers display
similar numbers between themselves, ranging from 17 to 8. These large amounts of
negative representations in the first four newspapers prove a high amount of negative
Muslim portrayal in their headlines. It is interesting to note that the MailOnline tops all
three graphs in appendix 11, 12 and 13, much like it does in appendix 8, 9 and 10. Also once
again the MailOnline, when comparing appendix 10 and 13, display a higher amount of
negative headlines when comparing to the other nine newspapers. This establishes that the
MailOnline portrayed Muslims negatively much more than any other newspaper before and
after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. This proves that the MailOnline could be portrayed as
Islamophobic. It must also be noted that, even though The Telegraph and The Times do not
display anywhere near the same amount of negative headlines that the MailOnline displays,
the newspapers were still ranked 2nd and 3rd in both appendix 10 (negative headlines before
Charlie Hebdo attacks) and appendix 13 (negative headlines after Charlie Hebdo attacks).
This conveys that The Telegraph and The Times could be Islamophobic.
23. 22
Originating from the data displayed in appendix 4, appendix 14 and 15 display statistics on
the headline news hooks one month before, and one month after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
As can be seen in appendix 14 there are three main news hooks in the graph: ‘Religious &
Cultural Issues’, ‘MuslimExtremism’ and ‘Terrorism’. ‘Religious & Cultural Issues’ accounted
for the highest amount of news hooks before the Charlie Hebdo attacks, 84, with ‘Muslim
Extremism’ amounting to 46 and ‘Terrorism’ hitting 38. It is interesting to note that
‘Religious & Cultural Issues’ accounted for the same number as ‘Muslim Extremism’ and
‘Terrorism’ put together. This may lead to the idea that religious and cultural issues are the
main lens through which Muslims are portrayed in the UK print media. This is likely to
portray Muslims as people who are seen as cultural problems in the UK and that their
religion of Islamis a dilemma. In addition, the high amount of stories related to Muslim
extremism and terrorism could result in Muslims being associated with religious extremism
and terrorism, which will portray them negatively in the eyes of the newspaper audiences.
In appendix 15 the three main news hooks in the bar graph are ‘Religious & Cultural Issues’
(243), ‘Terrorism’ (137), and ‘Violence & Attacks against Muslims’ (115). Once again, and
also because of the intense media scrutiny of Muslims post Charlie Hebdo attacks, the high
amount of headlines related to religious and cultural issues and terrorism will portray
Muslims negatively, and could be depicted as people associated with cultural problems to
the UK and as a source of terrorism. Interestingly the amount of headlines in relation to
violence and attacks against Muslims is very high. We could consider that attacks and
violence against Muslims was a direct result of Muslims performing the terrorist attacks on
Charlie Hebdo, from where people took out their frustrations on ordinary Muslims. Finally
24. 23
when comparing appendix 14 and 15, you can see that the amount of news hooks related to
the subject of Islamophobia drops from 8 to 0. As a result of an absence of news stories
covering Islamophobia after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and even the low amount of
Islamophobia news hooks before the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the print media is not
representing the issue of Islamophobia enough. As a result of this, newspaper audiences will
not understand the problem of Islamophobia as it is not being pointed out. This could also
regard the news media as Islamophobic, as they are not talking about the issue itself.
In appendix 16 and 17, originally sourced from the data in appendix 5, the graphs display
statistics of the amount of different nouns one month before and one month after the
Charlie Hebdo attacks. Because the amount of ‘Not Stated’ does not provide any support,
the amount will not be considered, as many news headlines were short and did not include
any descriptive nouns related to Muslims. Analysing appendix 16, the most prevalent noun
related to Muslims in headlines before the Charlie Hebdo attacks was ‘Extremist’, with 27.
Other nouns numerically close to ‘Extremist’ are the likes of ‘Gunman’, ‘Convert’, ‘Terrorist’
and ‘Jihadist’. It is fair to say that these well used nouns have negative associations,
therefore these nouns would reflect negatively on Muslims. It could also be suggested that
the news media is Islamophobic as they are placing these negative nouns in their headlines,
and have also not represented Muslims with nouns with positive connotations in a large
enough number to be included on appendix 16.
In appendix 17, averting again from the high amount of ‘Not Stated’ figures, the leading
amount of nouns appear from ‘Charlie Hebdo’, ‘Terrorist’, ‘Islam’ and ‘Radical’. The
appearance of ‘Charlie Hebdo’, ‘Terrorist’, and ‘Radical’, which once again are negative
25. 24
nouns in relation to the word ‘Muslim’, could suggest that these words may reflect on
Muslims negatively. Once more, there is an absence of nouns with positive connotations.
Because of the high amount of negative nouns and lack of positive nouns in both appendix
16 and 17, overall it can be viewed that Muslims will be associated with negative
connotations and will never fit in with positively associated nouns. Looking towards the
print media; because they have included many negative nouns and have not produced
enough positively portrayed nouns in their headlines, they can be considered as
Islamophobic.
26. 25
Chapter 5 - Critical discussion
5.1) Introduction
To establish an overall understanding of the statistics mentioned in the previous chapter,
here is a brief overview of the results:
1. The word ‘Muslim’ increased in amount dramatically by 298%, from before the
Charlie Hebdo attacks, to after the attacks.
2. A higher amount of negative newspaper headlines, than positive and neutral
headlines, for before and after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
3. The MailOnline, The Telegraph and The Times produced the most negative
newspaper headlines. The MailOnline published significantly more than any other
publication.
4. ‘Religious & Cultural Issues’, ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Muslim Extremism’ were the top three
news hooks in the analysed headlines.
5. A large proportion of negative related nouns were used in headlines, while no
positive related nouns were in high enough numbers to be included in the bar graphs,
thus a lack of positive nouns.
The aim of this study stated in the introduction was to analyse newspaper headlines relating
to the word ‘Muslim’, and present the results to consider if there are any signs of
Islamophobia in the newspaper headline research findings. It was subsequently stated that
it would lead to the discussion as to whether Islamophobia exists in the print media, and if
so, do the research findings link back to the background research from the literature review,
or perhaps other explanations.
27. 26
When observing the research findings in the previous chapter; it is evident that
Islamophobia was clear in the press media before the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, and in
addition there is evidence that Islamophobia was more prevalent in the month after the
Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the top three news hooks: ‘Religious &
Cultural Issues’, ‘Terrorism’, ‘Muslim Extremism’ and the high presence of negative related
nouns linked to the word ‘Muslim’ further confirms evidence of Islamophobia. To discuss
the possible explanations for the findings and Islamophobia in the print media, the next
chapter will begin with the theory of ‘Orientalism’.
5.2) Orientalism
Edward Said (1995) underlined in his text Orientalism that Europe and Islamhave a long
history of conflict. Said mentions ideas of how we, the ‘Occident’ (in other words; ‘the West’,
therefore ‘us’) have long viewed the ‘Orient’ (in other words; ‘the East’, therefore the view
of Islam). “Its eccentricity, its backwardness, its silence indifference.”(1995: 206). Said states
another similar point of our view of the orient “Its sensuality, its tendency to despotism, its
aberrant mentality, its habits of inaccuracy, its backwardness.”(1995: 205). What Said
explains here, could explain the Islamophobia in the print media. Our old and deep-rooted
views on the orient dating back to nineteenth-century Orientalismcould have created the
fear of Islamand Muslims, and therefore affecting the way Muslims are reported in the
news media.
28. 27
In Elizabeth Poole’s Reporting Islam (2002) the aspect of Orientalismand its use by the West
for its own benefits is discussed. “The West needed to constitute the Orient as its Other in
order to constitute itself and its own subject position.”(2002: 29) It is mentioned afterwards
that the West has used the Orient as “an instrument of policy, providing the conditions for
imperial exploitation to take place, including current forms of economic and media
imperialism.”(2002: 29) From Poole’s ideas, it could be explained that Western society
created the Orient as the ‘Other’ from where the West’s media is used as an instrument for
imperialism and exploitation of the Orient.
5.3) Stereotypes
Returning to the quote from Reporting Islam (2002) in the literature review, Poole describes
stereotypes of Islamand Muslim. “There are some persistent ideas that found their
expression in coverage of British Islam: that Islamis static and that Muslims are resistant to
progress, engage in antiquated and repressive practises that abuse human rights, and often
use their religion to manipulate ends.”(2002: 250) In Edward Said’s Covering Islam (1997)
the subject of stereotypes labelled for Muslims is mentioned also. “Her or his faith, culture,
and people are seen as a source of threat, and that she or he has been deterministically
associated with terrorism, violence, and fundamentalism.”(1997: xxi) These extracts indicate
that the creation of negative Muslim stereotypes is caused by the media, which can indicate
that the press is Islamophobic.
29. 28
The stereotypes mentioned by Poole and Said are similar to those in appendix 16 and 17, for
example where the use of ‘terrorist’, ‘jihadist’ and ‘extremist’ nouns are shown on the bar
graphs. This demonstrates a link between what Said and Poole describes as stereotypes of
Muslims, which are insensitive towards Muslim representations and provide evidence of
Islamophobia. Furthermore, because these nouns are used numerous times in newspaper
headlines, overtime the words could become stereotypes associated with Muslims.
5.4) Media Villain
Pointed out by Poole and Richardson (2006) in Muslims and the news media, the subject of
propaganda (defined by Oxford Dictionaries (no date) as “information, especially of a biased
or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view”) is debated. “Since
11 September 2001 both the US and UK governments have comprehensively overhauled
their internal and external propaganda apparatus. These have been globally coordinated as
never before to justify the ‘War on Terror’ including the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq and
the assault on civil liberties at home.”(2006: 45) This theory is associated to Muslims
created as a media villain, as stated by Dabashi in Brown Skin, White Masks: “Intellectuals
have been given unprecedented forums by the North American and Western European
media in which to paint a picture of Muslim societies that tallies perfectly with what needs
of US propaganda are, thereby justifying the country’s post-9/11 imperial projects.”(2011:
35).
30. 29
This brings us to the idea that the reason for the creation of a Muslim media villain in the
press media is because of the instructed propaganda set up by the UK government in order
to keep the interests of UK foreign policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and future invasions of
Middle-Eastern nations (which are majority Muslim) warranted. If the negative news hooks
of headlines, the use of nouns such as ‘terrorist’ and ‘gunman’ and the negative headlines
from high circulating newspapers such as the MailOnline and The Times are influencing
public perceptions of Muslims, it will play very nicely into propaganda campaigns to
constitute attacks on countries. For this reason, the Muslim media villain is created by the
press media to influence their readers.
31. 30
Chapter 6 – Conclusion
The main concern in this dissertation has ultimately been to explore the news headlines of
the UK press and then to judge by the findings if they have acted hateful and created a bad
representation towards Muslims, or in other words; Islamophobic. Clearly, Islamophobia is a
very complex idea as it has many features and different ways of describing Muslim and
Islamhatred. However, from the addition of the research findings and discussion chapters,
it is hoped that Islamophobia is witnessed through the figures and data created.
To sum up the findings; it is clear that Islamophobia is a feature in the press media when the
word ‘Muslim’ is featured in a news headline. It is also apparent that before the Charlie
Hebdo terrorist attacks, Islamophobia was present in the analysed headlines. In addition,
there is evidence that Islamophobia was more prevalent in the month after the Charlie
Hebdo terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the news hooks analysed were negative, and the high
presence of negative related nouns linked to the word ‘Muslim’ further confirmed evidence
of Islamophobia. One last point, the MailOnline, The Telegraph and The Times were the
three top newspaper to publish the highest amount of negative headlines. These findings
successfully match the initial hypothesis mentioned in chapter 3.3.
On reflection, I believe the whole process of researching literature on Islamophobia and
analysing news headlines has influenced my perception on Muslims in a positive way. I see
how they have been persecuted and victimized, and feel more educated and cultured when
it comes to viewing news stories on Muslims. However I still believe that further research is
32. 31
needed on the subject of Islamophobia in the UK press. Even though I have seen many
different pieces of texts and theories on the subject, they have not entered the mainstream
press where the UK public can access them and educate themselves on the unfair treatment
of Muslims. Lastly, maybe an attempt for us all is to produce action against Islamophobia,
instead of increase the hatred from the press.
33. 32
Bibliography
ALLEN, Chris (2010). Islamophobia. Farnham, Ashgate Publishing.
COMMISSION ON BRITISH MUSLIMS AND ISLAMOPHOBIA (2004). Islamophobia: Issues,
Challenges and Action. Stoke on Trent, Trentham Books.
DABASHI, Hamid (2011). Brown Skin, White Masks. London, Pluto Press.
DENZIN, L. and LINCOLN, Y.S (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. 3rd ed.,
California, Sage Publications.
KHALEELI, Homa (2013). Islamophobic hate crime: is it getting worse? [online]. The Guardian,
(Last updated 19:09 on 5 June 2013). Available at:
<http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/05/islamophobic-hate-crime-getting-worse>
[Accessed on 17 March 2015].
MCNAB, Heather (2014). The touching moment a Muslim bride took a detour on her big day
to lay her wedding bouquet at the shrine for Martin Place siege victims - and hundreds of
stunned onlookers broke into applause. [online]. MailOnline, (Last updated 21:02 on 21
December 2014). Available at: <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2882520/Muslim-
bride-s-touching-tribute-victims-Martin-Place-siege-floral-memorial-continues-grow.html>
[Accessed on 17 March 2015].
Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). phenomenon. [online] Available at:
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/phenomenon> [Accessed on 05
March 2015].
Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). propaganda. [online] Available at:
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/propaganda> [Accessed on 24
March 2015].
PEW RESEARCH CENTER (2011). The Future of the Global Muslim Population. Projections for
2010-2030. [online] Available at:
<http://www.npdata.be/Data/Godsdienst/PEW/FutureGlobalMuslimPopulation-
WebPDF.pdf> [Accessed on 10 February 2015].
POOLE, Elizabeth and RICHARDSON, J.E., (2006). Muslims and the News Media. London,
I.B.Tauris.
34. 33
POOLE, Elizabeth (2002). Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims. London,
I.B.Tauris.
SAID, Edward (1995). Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. London, Penguin
Books.
SAID, Edward (1997). Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We
See the Rest of the World. London, Vintage.
THE RUNNYMEDE TRUST COMMISSION ON BRITISH MUSLIMS AND ISLAMOPHOBIA (1997).
Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All. University of Sussex.
Yorkshire Post. (2014). ‘Muslim cleric’ told grieving relatives fallen sons were like Hitler’s
soldiers. [online]. (Last updated 16:41 on 16 December 2014). Available at:
<http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/world/muslim-cleric-told-grieving-
relatives-fallen-sons-were-like-hitler-s-soldiers-1-7007698> [Accessed on 17 March 2015].
35. 34
Appendix 1
Nexis Data
From 07/12/14 to 07/01/15
271 newspaperarticle headlinesincludingthe word‘Muslim’.
Top 10:
106 fromMailOnline
24 from The Guardian
22 from Independent.co.uk
12 from telegraph.co.uk
11 from The Times
7 fromthe mirror.co.uk
6 fromThe DailyTelegraph
5 fromAsianImage
5 fromThe SundayTelegraph
4 fromThe Independent
From 08/1/15 to 08/02/15
808 newspaperarticle headlinesincludingthe word‘Muslim’.
Top 10:
146 fromMailOnline
94 from telegraph.co.uk
72 from Independent.co.uk
53 from The Guardian
36 from The Times
26 from thetimes.co.uk
18 from ScottishDailyMail
18 from The SundayTimes
17 from AsianImage
15 from The Sun
14 from i-Independent
