Critical Investigation Proposal.

WORKING TITLE :

' How are Muslims represented in the news ?  '

ANGLE :

The news is a massive source of media which contains loads of information about many topics which occur everyday around the world, one topic which has recently been in the news a lot has been the topic of terrorism/islam and terrorists/muslims and the latest illegal acts they have committed. I have chosen this topic because I am interested in how people view terrorisml/islam and from a student who wants to study International relations in uni, researching about terrorism/islam and the news will have a great impact on me. I believe that the news usually creates a moral panic as they tend to usually overexaggerate what happpens or usually 'suspect' that terrorists/muslims have a hand in any 'unusual illegal offense'. This is effective as it impacts the audiences thinking making them believe that islam is an cruel and violent religion.

HYPOTHESIS :

Islam is being portrayed negatively in the news.

LINKED PRODUCTION PIECE :

A short documentary about muslims and how they are portrayed in the news which will contain the typical terrorism convention features that will clearly demonstrate specificly the representation of muslims/islam in the media, and will identify aspects of stereotypical ideologies of muslims. Similarily, I could create a poster which would clearly portray the stereotyping of muslims.

MIGRAIN :

MEDIA REPRESENTATION :

Muslims are being represented through news in a stereotypical view as they usually 'assume' that muslims are the cause of many problems which occur around the world. some may argue that there are evidence that muslim's are violent and aggressive from reading about the Arab spring, 9/11 and many other stories, however I believe that the news create a 'moral panic' to a certain extent as they seem to overexaggerate what goes on and make thrill the audience from muslims making them believe that the only way forward according to muslims is violence.

NARRATIVE :

the narrative on news that represent terrorist attacts or muslim illegal acts are often centered on the words 'muslim' , ' islam' , 'terrorism'. For example, the stabbing of the british soldier who was stabbed to death , while informing the audience with what had happened they had repeated the words 'islam', 'muslim' and 'terrorism' many times. I believe the phrase 'terrorism' is over used in the news and has had an effect on society as they over use the phrase uncorrectly. people now know terrorists and 'muslims' and younger audiences often use the phrase ' terrorists' for fun or to mock one another.

MEDIA VALUES AND IDEOLOGY :

 ideologies are a set of beliefs that impact on a person's actions, expectations and goals. this is diffferent to the meaning of DOMINANT IDEOLOGIES as these are the widely beliefs by many members of a society. In marxist theory, this dominant ideology serves the interest of the ruling class.

 MEDIA AUDIENCES  :

 The assumptions created by these news stories are focused on how they can advertise their news to the audience, however some of the audience may disagree with the stereotyping of muslims/islam and terrorism. For example, extreme muslims may argue the case that terrorism is the way forward and would agree with the al-qaeeda group and osama bin laden and their views and would thus agree with what had happened to the buildings in New York due to the Americans been involved with Israel, however less religious people , chritsians , non- religious muslims, feminist and many other groups may disagree with violence and would agree with the way the news portray muslims.

GENRE:

According to my opinion I believe that there are no specific genre in the news, unlike films you can immediately pick out the genre.

ISSUES / DEBATES :

REPRESENTATIONS AND STEREOTYPING :

This is strongly connected to the issue I will be researching about as I will be investigating how muslims are represented in the news and the stereotypes that occur on a daily basis towards muslims. the news cause a moral panic which means that the news overexaggerates what has/is actually happening. A clear example would be libya and egypt, where they constantly talk about the killing that is taking place however in actual fact there is not much destroying going on. futher more, stories like terrorist acts are also over exaggerated which causes stereotyping as many people around the world think muslims/islam = terrorists/terrorism.

MEDIA EFFECTS :

 media plays a significant and effective role in society today. by broadcasting information on the internet giving people the opportunity to interact and share their views. More than that TV has a wide field of influence on audiences as it bombards the audience with information. according to the theory 'hypodermic syringe' the news is linked to this as it influences peoples views and thoughts and often can manipulate people into thinking differently. This s effective with what I will be researching about as without the media people can not put down what they think and their beliefs which influences the audience and their thinking.

OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL :

In many countries around the world the government controls the internet and what can/can not be posted online and the websites people can visit and can not visit. This is called censorship. For example, when I went back home last summer there were a few videos on youtube that I could not access because it was blocked by the government, like wise in the UK there are often some videos that may be blocked. From speaking to students and teachers I have found out that in America the government has access to what we visit online through the internet or our mobile phones.

MORAL PANIC :

after 9/11 terrorism has experienced a prominence in discourse across the U.S. The representations of terrorists and terrorism by the news media have contributed to the definition of terrorism as a “moral panic”.  The thematic frame is situated within Cohen’s stages of a moral panic.   terrorism and terrorists by the media and politi have contributed to unnecessary levels of panic and fear, misguided public consciousness, and the development of legislation creating negative social ramifications yet be seen.

POST 9/11 AND THE MEDIA :

THEORIES :

TV DOCUMENTARIES :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVh9WgGxuIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uigJYUPigSk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zzDR4b1TPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHjYqIvtbY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okB2QECmIhg

ACADEMIC TEXTS/BOOKS :

. The looming tower : al qaeda and the road to 9/11 ( 2006)
. why terrorism works ( 2002 alan dershowitz)
. american jihad - the terrorists living among us ( 2003 steven emerson)
. Human Rights in Global Politics' by Tim Dunne and Nicholas J
.  Perilous Power' by Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar