Course No ELCS 514

Course Title Media and Mass Communication

Assignment Title First Chapter and Second Chapter Part three summary of Edward Saids Covering Islam.

Submitted by Kaosher Ahmed, Roll 106, Batch 37th Submitted to Golam Rabbani Shihab, Lecturer, Dept of English, Jahangirnagar University.

Date 15/09/2012 19:00 hrs

Chapter 1 Islam as News

I. Islam and The West

Conspicuous media manipulation had begun in the summer of 1980 as Edison of New York had succeeded into provoking the American nation against the oil-sources of Arab. Successful in giving rise to a pseudo nationalism OPEC was made the organization of terrorists. Issues regarding the image of Islam from the vantage point of the West and the United States surface as the history of Islam and Christianity tell about us and them. Interestingly this other has made the Orient emerge as formidable foes and as a result Islam too had become a threat to Christianity. From the Middle Ages Islam was considered to be a demonic religion as great Islamic armies have threatened and colonized Europe, Islam was the version 2 of Christianity. But as time passed Islam lost its glory and Europe had ascended. Though great powers of the East like India and China had confirmed their submission, Islam remained as a constant threat as oil prices started to rise in the 1970s. The Islamic conquest seemed eminent once again as Iran occupied the center stage in 1978. Never before was United States so helpless a nation. Starting from geographical position to supplying oils during a period of energy scarcity everything was right for Iran. The typical angry Arab image of Khomeini overtook the media. The American hostage of Iran situation of 1979 had taken the world by storm, as the aftermath of that was the up rise of a uniformed revulsion towards Islam. The pessimistic presentation of Islam had taken a common form where writers such as Naipaul, John Updike and many Islamic writers had taken a stand against Islam. For this fixed framework of Islam, understanding of Islam has been a

difficult thing to achieve as the ironical victory of darkness over light occurred. From then on Iran was considered to be the major devil and also Islam. Fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups emerged like Hezbollah but nobody even gave a second thought that they were an unyielding group of people fighting for South Lebanon against the Israeli occupation. So the Islamic challenge remained and new plots were devised to deal with this challenge. Firstly media was used to circulate Khomeini as terrorist and introduction of legislation by the Clinton government penalizing any business with Iran. For Naipaul, Islamic fundamentalism is substance less and he certainly breaths contempt for Islam which is the reason why Africa and Asia are not civilized. As a result writings of Islamic writers can be of no value as long as Islam is there because in their writings Muslim sense of justice does not matter. What does matter is what United States associate with Islam. The labeling game had started long ago which ensures of blocking the path of thinking around it. Everybody is convinced by their religion and understands according to it. Now, this labeling has two levels of meaning. One by which we know whether someone is a Muslim or a Christian. Another is that of which we associate with that label. For example, Islam; terrorist, angry, explosion. The question remain that how many are actually thinking before associating the qualities with Islam. The mass generalization , the labels have usurped which relates to an American talking about Islam or a Muslim who talks about the west is by its very mutable nature, dangerous. So now it has become The West vs. Islam because Islam is an assumed entity as great as the west. Ragged articles on the newspapers may lie behind the cause of Islam to assume such positions. For writers like John Kifner who make parallels between Islam as a complete code of life which doesnt separate the church and the state and Marxism without giving a second thought, the whole scenario becomes very real. Now the fight of Islam vs. the west is very conspicuous as Islam penetrates into the academia because never before were

there so many Americans who asked questions about Islam. This obsession increases because of the sheer number of Muslims living in those parts. Because of the past glory of Islam over the Europe, Islam continues to become an eminent threat. Moreover the hostility increases through the writings of poets and novelists. Islamic writers have never been included in the history and fairy tales of Arabian Nights are all of the literature known to the western world. Because of the Islamic world (Africa & Asia) were supposed to be ruled by the Europeans, the answer of such depiction of Islam can be found. Though United States have multilateral conversations with the Islamic world, the view still remain the same because US sees Islam as a policy which can bring forth military threat. Thus the understanding of the Europe and America differs for European countries led expeditions into Africa but all of the cultural academic understanding of America has had no relevant substance. The founders of Islamic Academic programmes in America had little recognition where as in England they did. That is the reason why Berque and Hourani had successors. The understanding of Islam has been narrowed down but this has not refrained America from generalizing Islam. Positive news on understanding the concept of Islam has remained out of the media where acts of violence of the Arab world have the media engaged. If Islam did question the conscious the crescent of crisis was getting revived in 1979 as the world leaders formed a group which issued the repot of Oil and Turmoil Times magazines article was adorned with a painting which alone defined the difference of understanding of Europe and America regarding Islam The Militant Revival. Writings on Islam failed to reach a larger audience because they were not considered to be intellectually heavy enough to command a large audience. Expert opinions were absent because when the African and the Arab nations were fighting among themselves a surrealist image of the nations were portrayed in the expert writings as if the war was waging on a distant planet. Modern Islamic writers put little effort in

their writings to adapt Islam to the modern changing world for which the notion of Islam remained that of the classical. Whose field is by the way modern Islam their studies are shaped by agreed upon framework or notions shaped by their peers. If anybody does try to work on modern Islam it becomes an issue of state policy. As a result the scholars funding would be affected and he will forever remain a mediocre. During the Shahs regime in Iran funds were provided but it was tied militarily and economically to US. Thats why the research paradigm was curtailed and research regarding contemporary political situations was held. Besides Iran there were Intellectual failures in Lebanon because of the civil war. Yet Lebanon has been able to maintain its stability among the Arab nations but the beginning of the civil war was questioning the modernization of Lebanon involving the public. Lebanon has been successful in maintaining its structures. The experts themselves failed to understand the label of stability for the country Lebanon was getting torn apart from the inside by the emergence of Shia population, confessional loyalties and ideological currents. The blindness of the American policy left the experts unacknowledged and the over estimation about Iraq happened. Muslims who were so negatively represented and oppressed succumbed to the decision of the west. Islamic scholars failed to command the situation in strong language and the media also fell into the trap of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. America took interest in drawing out the flaws of the Islamic system and the whole system of Iran in 1978 crumbled. Determined by US the elites fled. The revolution was somehow predicted by the some experts like James Bill but the recommendation to open the system had failed for millions of people had already risen against it. Bill did mention of the politics of the media on that part and how US had manipulated them. This remains as the attitude towards Islam. The role of the scholars remain vague maybe because they have found out a thin line to walk upon where they remained credible figures to the government as well as to

the intellectual community because they failed to address this animosity towards Islam. Intellectuals from the Islamic world were unheard of and others couldnt work with full independence. Islam had always remained in the framework of orientalism and with the emergence of the scientific age the march was to stigmatize Islam with such frameworks. Islamic scholars who did try to clarify the objectivity and scientific impartiality about Islam but in all the Academia around the world they were kept under a shroud of darkness. Whenever the tension between the Occident and the orient rose the west resorted to the more scientific approach of representation. Because of such negative representation Islam appears as a threat and Muslims think the direct actions to be aggression against Islam. The understanding about orient underwent some changes during the occupation of France and England over the Islamic East. The major changes didnt come in the era of Napoleon Bonapartes occupation of Egypt rather under Silvester de Sacy. Through the advancement in science the studies regarding the Orientals changed but the view of the politicians remained the same. Making the Orientals as lesser, there was an effort to make the incomprehensible Oriental comprehensible. Since the World War II United States assumed power over the world and changed its policies to control whole world more likely the East. With its covert operations and the use of electronic media the Islamic world has ever been the talked of topics through the manipulation of the media. It is through the media that the Islamic world is represented as oil-suppliers or terrorists. This has made the Islamic world prone to military aggression. Thats why the situation today remains that of the same from the colonial era of the British and France. After the World War II the world was divided into three parts. Europe was assigned the post war recovery, Soviet Union emerged as the most formidable foe of America and the third world countries became the arena of competition. With the modernization theory United States took control over the third worlds and with the necessity

of additional sums Europe got into the act. Also then came the policies and the example is clear for Vietnam. To tackle communism, anti-communist regimes appeared and US got the power to intervene into the internal affairs of weaker countries in the name of modernization. Orientalism was connected with backward Islam which needed much scientific improvement and progress. Mysteriously Islam survived all that came towards it and the west took it as a competition to display its prowess. Iran seemed only to be the success story of this modernization theory but other Islamic world had somehow failed to this theory. Though the revolution of Iran during Khoeminis regime werent willing to accept a government which was not Islamic and not their own. This upsurge of Islam in media and all the presidential candidates being Christians the orientalist view towards Islam intensified. The generalization of Islam in name of orientalism began. These generalizations are quite clear through Conor Cruise OBriens comments on Islam as breeding grounds for terrorism. Hostility towards Islam increased and important people like Pope John Paul II and Solzhenitsyn were being treated nicely by the media for their hostile comments towards Islam. The Islamic world retreated into itself. America took over the media and started to act like treacherous friend who mourned for the loss of the Islamic countries. America was so busy plotting for the Middle East that they did not heed the words of George Ball who said that the tragedy of Vietnam might lead to Pacifism and isolation. This after all was the inherent motto to let the issue of Vietnam rest forever. One way Israel was able to avoid such aggression was that they kept their religious fanaticism out of the media and allied with America to accomplish their purpose. In the end its the big multinational corporations which matter in the US policy making against Islam. Known as the oil reservoir the Islamic countries were always the ones first to be blamed for any kind of terrorist activities because for the big corporates, war is money.

II. Communities of Interpretation

The dramatic oil price rise in 1974 by OPEC brought United States to its knees. Driven to the back foot United States couldnt let themselves be bullied by former colonies and that was pretty much clear through Robert W. Tucker and Daniel Patricks writings. Though these oil controlling countries only tried even the odds between us and them, United States couldnt stand the eminent threat of interdependence. In Tucker and Moynihans articles, these countries were mentioned having no identities. They were just oil controllers. Strategies were suggested keeping in mind the fact that the principle possessor of power might no longer remain the generators of order in the world. According to Moynihan these third world people were just modern simulacra who were once colonized. The focus shifted progressively from Vietnam to third world countries to Islam. The comfort of American lifestyle was being disrupted because no one actually knew for sure whether there was an oil shortage or not. Suddenly Arabs holding guns started to appear on the media and the Islamic assertiveness was clear when they did not back out of the Ramadan War 1973. The western encroachment strategy becomes clear if we think about the countries which were almost unknown to the world suddenly became the news. Sheikh Yamani became the news just because he was from oil rich Saudi Arabia. Nobody questioned and the generalization became evident when the name Islam now a day denotes to an unstated assumption. Michael Walzer in his essay The Islam Explosion, mentions some unpleasant events of the Islamic world and identifies a similarity behind them. Firstly, they were a threat for the west. Secondly, they were driven by frightening moral fervor. Thirdly, they erase the line of superior and inferior. According to him the reason for them was Islam. These writers go above political and scio-economic situations to blame Islam blindly. Islam thus became an entity without history which only produces violence, fanaticism and despotism. Just like Flora

Lewis four part series on New York Times which concluded that Islam was against us. This polymorphous status of Islam makes unrestrained comments possible. Samuel P. Huntingtons Foreign Affairs article denotes this situation with Islam as cold war. Huntington borrowed his idea from Bernard Lewiss essay where he explains Islam being angry at modernity. For writers like them Islam has now become the enemy of the state for a westerner. Whenever examples are required for fundamentalism Muslim mobs from Karachi, Cairo or Tripoli is shown. Now the world has been divided into two parts, pro and anti-American. The reason for it is not Islam but aspects of society of the west and media representation of Islam. A number of consequences have followed like Islam having a fixed picture which is stereotyped. The reductive image of Islam has made us and them. The politics of this information can tell us about the medias treatment of Islam and the cultural attitude towards it. This does not conclude that a real Islam exists somewhere but rather it is a faith. No one need be Muslim or of Islamic background to have that faith. This simple blurred distinction causes the problems when Islam is blamed when someone is doing something in the name of Islam. The different interpretations have the nations at each others throat but we tend to forget that we live in a manmade world where religions are just conventions. In C.Wright Millss words, we live with other humans and receive meanings from others. These meanings explain how we respond to things. The whole cultural apparatus is based on meanings shared by others. Through radio, television, newspapers or cinema Islam is conveyed to us but if the image is that of a Islamic mob chanting anti-American slogans then the message is a negative one. Islam also appears in journal and magazines too but it is certain that the images just do not appear out of reality. Television or mass media also have rules and conventions, according to which they shape their news. We must keep in mind that they work in a political context and they have their own TRP to care for. News agencies work with their own

motto so to say news just doesnt happened it is made to fulfill their own agenda. While at the same time non-western news are said to be propagandist. It is evident through the work of the experts that how a media shapes its news. Firstly, the reporter himself has internalized values. This comes from his education, religion, nationality, ethics etc. Secondly, Loyalty and patriotism is another working issue which makes the reporter think his country is superior and that his country is threatened by foreign countries. American media collects information on the outside world working inside a framework of policies. It is only when conflicts with that policy occur the media tends to show independent news but how far can they really go? When journalists work abroad they need to translate that news into his own language working with a language which is unknown to him. For that he takes the help of his fellow colleagues and keeps in touch with the embassy on what is tom be conveyed. Also he needs to keep in mind his company on what kind of news they want. Lastly, the editors edit the report who themselves work in an environment of political and ideological constraints. American media stress things for an American. This biased view is not the result of some kind of conspiracy rather the culture. American is a country of many cultures, so it always felt the necessity of a standard culture. In this search the rhetoric of American-ness has been created. The work of reporting for America follows an invisible consensus which applies and maintains pressure over the media. This consensus is conspicuous on the American hostage situation on Tehran. The political, geographical and historical issues were left out focusing only on the hostage taking of Tehran. The big news agencies like CNN, CBS or New York Times work to fabricate the news. It becomes their responsibility because of the sheer number of audience they have. Americans also have little opportunity to view Islam other than coerce. First thing is that when they hear about Islam they tend to think either they will go back to the dark ages or democracy is threatened. Then theres the Islamic world fighting

against each other like Sadats comment of Khomeini being a lunatic. These all go into producing a negative image of Islam. The double binding by the media has generated an animosity between the Occident and the Oriental, in turn making the Occident appear as devil. The Islamic countries have become the consumers of western media. English being the International language students and scholars of the Islamic world have become dependent upon western libraries. These dependencies are changing the image of Islam. Where in the Islamic world Islam is being used in politics the image remains ever that of a black one. The first problem lies in the interpretation of Koran. Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses seemed to interpret Koran in a different way but the immediate reception was bad. Secondly, because of the many interpretations there are many schools within the Muslims. Because of such contradictions many labels have been created for Islam. Now, when we say Islam or Islam one needs to simplify which school of Islam s/he is referring to. According to Rodinsons third level of analysis tells us because of the different interpretations there are different sects. The orthodox Muslims define the deviations as heretical. The best example is of the Ishmaeli sect which started in the middle ages continues today through Aga Khans followers who dissolve their lives in debauchery. This third level of Islam creates fundamental orthodoxy. The dispute between the Sadat government in Egypt and his opposite Muslim fundamental parties occurred on this basis. All the three level with its past present and history and western media implications on it can explain why Islam is viewed so negatively. The Islamic and Western scholars are in conflict in tracing back the history of Islam. Because of the so many variations of school within Islam and conflict of interpretation the western scholars get their necessary ground to denominate Islam. Because of these different interpretations the ones who are writing history have to keep in mind that the history of Islam cannot be explained properly excluding geographical positions,

economic needs and the interest of dynasties and rulers. Islam is used in political terms and in most countries except Lebanon and Israel who are Jewish, most other Islamic countries explain their state apparatus in Islamic terms like in Saudi Arabia. The states which are under governance of the stronger sects like the states under Saudi Arabia or Iran feel themselves to be compromised. This dominant power use Islam as an ideology to unify them and drive back the outside threats. This in turn causes both external and internal pressure. These contradictions cause even more varieties of Islam. The misinterpretation occurs when the resurgence of Islam is felt by the westerners but very few have tried to know the true Islamic teachings which is still practiced outside the media. As every war has two sides through this conflict the west as well as the Islamic countries is getting united. The exaggeration is also made from the Islamic side too when it is thought that the west is there to simply fight off Islam. Islam is the only religion which is open to interpretations and debates but everyone looks to overlook this fact of accommodative interpretation. Though the West control the media the Islamic world is dependent on it and at the same time the Islamic world cannot complain that they are lacking in oil. These finger pointing needs to be stopped though much work is going still there are a lot of improvements to be made. To dismiss the myths of stereotyping of the Orientals and the Islamic world the media has to give the world a new opportunity. The Muslims on the other hand must emphasize their goal of forming and living a new form of history. The Shariati ideas of Islam must be rejuvenated and understood to its utmost to free Islam from its shackles and all the dogmas that persist. As there are many contradictions within Islam like the orthodox wave and the opposing forces which caused the Iranian revolution still poses a threat. The irony of the matter is that what the west sees as dogmatic is the matter which the modern Muslims themselves are trying to forsake.

III. The Princes Episode in Context

The Islam which is before us is both, our failure to represent it properly and a governments marginalization. The encounter of us and them is still vigilant and theres a lot more than which meets the eye. Through examining one example it can be made clear. When in 1980 the film Death of a Princess by British filmmaker Anthony Thomas came out it created world around debates. It created tension between Saudi Arabia and the British because the film had portrayed Saudi Arabia justice system and Islam negatively. It covers a reporters quest to uncover the real reason behind the Princesss death. Firstly he ventures into Beirut then to Lebanon and Palestine. The Palestinians describe the Princess as an outcast in search for freedom and the Lebanese describe her as the embodiment of the inter-Arab struggle that tore them apart. At last Saudi Arabia kills her unjustly, the royal hiding behind a shroud of Islam. The openended conclusion of the does not suffice for the film ending. The film was immediately banned because of such accusations. Nobody actually thought that this was the most impressive film by a non-Muslim ever made and Thomas has his reasons to reach a wider audience when he based his film on Saudi Arabia. The myth of Islamic law was Islamic punishment came into being through media. In order to control the false circulation about Islam through the western media became another issue for the west. For the west Saudis came about as the defender of Islam. The PBS played the real politics here by holding a discussion with relatively unknown individuals who ensured a balanced view of the scenario. The Saudi regime was not in a place to deny the staging of the film nor could they circulate awareness for Islam. Neither there was any strong American constituency to defend the politics that was going on nor was there any way for the regime to defend Islam against western monopoly. As a result the accusations made by Saudi remained a trifle one. The western media as well as ever stereotypes TV shows. Therefore a Muslim

appearing in their racist TV shows become the ideal for all Muslims. The text books, novels, films present a distorted image of Muslims. The Academic studies do not allow one to comparatively study the religions and their history. The Banning of any recent books on Islam as Militant also add to this act of distortion. After the Princess controversy Saudi forgot to take arms against an insulting article by Eric Hoffer in the American Spectator. A previous futile resistance might have been the reason. Anything that went against the American interest, were the Americans fast to react. Ever since 1978 Camp David Peace treaty by Saudi, the image of Saudi Arabia and the faults of the regime started appearing constantly on the newspapers. The CIA has been in direct guidance in manipulating such news. So everything about the Islamic world started appearing negatively resulting in the Gulf crisis and War in 1990. Saudi or Arabs came to be known as medieval, bloodthirsty savages. The discomforted has been furthered by the Princess episode. Now every time a question is raised it becomes a clash between Muslim identity and the western civilization and war seems eminent from that process. Films like Jihad in America by Emerson furthers the negative image of Islam where it shows that the United State itself now has become the battle ground and theres an angry Islamic mob out there who hates the very essence of west and ready to strike at any given moment on the innocents. Emerson was called by the media after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and he without hesitation asserted that it is the work of the Middle Easterns. But as it turned out it was to some home grown extremist, white Protestants, he was never heard from again. It is no doubt that he will be called on again in times like this whose film draws amazing parallels between Islam, Jihad and Terrorism. These bold assertions of Emersonian films have an advantage that there is no one to counter them. These views also sprout from the Anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel. The nonMuslim bombers, the military occupation of Islamic borders and strikes against innocent

Muslims, all these are carefully left out of Emersons film to give rise to a feeling of hatred against Islam. For now lets hope that the labels will lose their imprisoning power and from us and them we will become we. But before that media literacy is a must to drive away the obscurity that exists.

Chapter 2 The Iran History

III. Unexamined and Hidden Assumptions

Unexamined assumptions about the East have been the major culprit in making Islam as it is today. That is what happened during the Shahs regime in Iran. Even with ex-Shah disposed the new shah couldnt fulfill the asking of the media. According to them Iran fell into another form of blood bath. It is when the reporter opinions take the form of prophecy does it become dangerous. It is when the Islamic revolution is in question does it become a topic to assume upon without any restrictions. For example if Patrick Henry said give me liberty or give me death, he will not become a fanatic, its only when Shia mobs chant for their freedom for which they are willing to die do they become fanatics and extremists. The Islamic belief systems like Jihad

are misinterpreted and even extremely related with Islamic history like Edmund Bosworth to say that all the political activity on the Islamic world for the last twelve hundred years can be explained through Jihad. The reality is replaced with the reporters own explanation, for example when CIA overthrew Mohammad Mossadegh it was not seen as a big deal. Another country intruding in the internal affairs of another was pardoned by simply saying countries such as United States who are entitled with great power can change governments. In fact United States pardoned him who was devoid of moral principle. It was the fault of Iran for what it had done to the US Embassy but not United States fault for over throwing Mossadegh. Not much thought of assumptions from reporters such as Conine who mentions that unsettling influences of Western-style modernization this inevitably concludes west as modern and east as backward. Nothing is said about the American companies who look for oil from the area but if the people say anything against the Shahs regime as they were assumed tortured, they would be denying their history. Not following the modern constitution was the mistake that Khomeini had made, as if United States was the democracy. Everybody failed to see that the big corporates had pressured United States into bringing the ex-Shah here and hold the hostage situation. Media focused on Khomeini who had been blamed for the according to whom he was trying to mitigate his domestic problems. Turning the media on the non-westerners during the time of the presidential elections is a well thought of strategy, for it would make the president seem like he was protecting the state from all these outside extremists and the same time making the Islamic leaders seem like desirable to Islamic norm which will eventually achieve US policy and prolong the crisis in those states. It is only when Sadat supported the US issue (Camp David Agreements 1978) did he became a patron of US and the focus of the media until his assassination. The total manipulation occurred through the media. As US was involved with the Middle-East very little

got out to the media because of CIA and FBI. Israel on the other hand was in help with the US protecting themselves and getting their criminals across the border who were involved with the bombing acts. US people who were involved illegally with Nicaraguan contras got little of the medias attention. News about other places concerning Saudi or Kuwait got out. Only the news about Mecca takeover was in media which was one of the selective news to be criticized on Saudis vulnerability. There will be much distinction made with invasion of Afghanistan but very few news will be about pro Islam. The good deeds which the Islamic leaders are doing will catch less media attention but more attention will be given why US invested more money on Saudi rather than Israel. Media will always be biased for their oil-rich allies and absence of fairness will be there when it comes to reporting.