After 9/11, there was an increase in both the incidence of hate crimes and government policies that targeted Arabs and Muslims and the proliferation of sympathetic portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. media. Arabs and Muslims in the Media examines this paradox and investigates the increase of sympathetic images of “the enemy” during the War on Terror. Evelyn Alsultany explains that a new standard in racial and cultural representations emerged out of the multicultural movement of the 1990s that involves balancing a negative representation with a positive one, what she refers to as “simplified complex representations.” This has meant that if the storyline of a TV drama or film represents an Arab or Muslim as a terrorist, then the storyline also includes a “positive” representation of an Arab, Muslim, Arab American, or Muslim American to offset the potential stereotype. Analyzing how TV dramas such as The Practice, 24, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, and Sleeper Cell, news-reporting, and non-profit advertising have represented Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, and Muslim Americans during the War on Terror, this book demonstrates how more diverse representations do not in themselves solve the problem of racial stereotyping and how even seemingly positive images can produce meanings that can justify exclusion and inequality.

"Inspired by overtly negative coverage by the Western mainstream press of Muslims in particular, and minorities in general, this book asks: Why are negative narratives and depictions of Muslims and other minorities so hard to change? News reports about Islam and Muslims commonly relate stories that discuss terrorism, violence or other unwelcome or irrational behaviour, or the lack of integration and compatibility of Muslims and Islam with Western values and society. Yet there is little research done on how studies on media reports about minorities seemingly fail to improve the situation. Combining empirical research with a structural analysis of the media industry, this volume presents evidence for the maligned representation of minorities by media corporations, analysing why negative narratives persist and outlining how these can be effectively transformed. It is an outstanding resource for students and scholars of media, religion, culture, sociology, and Islamic studies, and is also of benefit for journalists, media representatives, and activists looking to effect change for minority representation in the media industry specifically or in society at large"--

After 9/11, there was an increase in both the incidence of hate crimes and government policies that targeted Arabs and Muslims and the proliferation of sympathetic portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. media. Arabs and Muslims in the Media examines this paradox and investigates the increase of sympathetic images of “the enemy” during the War on Terror. Evelyn Alsultany explains that a new standard in racial and cultural representations emerged out of the multicultural movement of the 1990s that involves balancing a negative representation with a positive one, what she refers to as “simplified complex representations.” This has meant that if the storyline of a TV drama or film represents an Arab or Muslim as a terrorist, then the storyline also includes a “positive” representation of an Arab, Muslim, Arab American, or Muslim American to offset the potential stereotype. Analyzing how TV dramas such as The Practice, 24, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, and Sleeper Cell, news-reporting, and non-profit advertising have represented Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, and Muslim Americans during the War on Terror, this book demonstrates how more diverse representations do not in themselves solve the problem of racial stereotyping and how even seemingly positive images can produce meanings that can justify exclusion and inequality.

Although they are typically portrayed by the media as dangerous extremists in distant lands, Muslims in fact form a permanent, peaceful and growing population in nearly every Western country. While Westerners are now more commonly seeing mosques in their neighborhoods or scarved Muslim women in their streets, misperceptions and stereotypes remain. With expanding numbers and desires to protect their rights and identities, Muslims are coming into more and more into the public view. In Muslim Minorites in the West noted scholars Haddad and Smith bring together outstanding essays on the distinct experiences of minority Muslim communities from Detroit, Michigan to Perth, Australia and the wide range of issues facing them. Haddad and Smith in their introduction trace the broad contours of the Muslim experience in Europe, America and other areas of European settlement and shed light on the common questions minority Muslims face of assimilation, discrimination, evangelism, and politics. Muslim Minorities in the West provides a welcome introduction to these increasingly visible citizens of Western nations.

Muslims have featured in many of the more significant news stories of the past few years - yet shockingly very few of these stories have been about anything other than the 'war on terror'. This urgently relevant book examines the role and representations of Muslims in the news media, particularly within a climate of threat, fear and misunderstanding. Written by both academic authorities and media practitioners, "Muslims and the News Media" is designed as a comprehensive and critical textbook and is set in both the British and international context. Bringing together a range of insightful perspectives on the subject into a coherent whole, the book clearly establishes the links between context, content, production and audiences, thus reflecting the entire cycle of the communication process. It reveals both the ways in which meaning is produced and reproduced in the news media, and the ways in which audiences themselves, both Muslim and non-Muslim, use or consume this media. Significant too and discussed here is the role of Muslims themselves in the processes of news production. Clarifying the circumstances and politics surrounding the representation of Muslims across a range of journalistic genres, "Muslims and the News Media" provides crucial insights into the representation - and misrepresentation - of Islam and Muslims today.

Inspired by overtly negative coverage by the Western mainstream press of Muslims in particular, and minorities in general, this book asks: Why are negative narratives and depictions of Muslims and other minorities so hard to change? News reports about Islam and Muslims commonly relate stories that discuss terrorism, violence or other unwelcome or irrational behaviour, or the lack of integration and compatibility of Muslims and Islam with Western values and society. Yet there is little research done on how studies on media reports about minorities seemingly fail to improve the situation. Combining empirical research with a structural analysis of the media industry, this volume presents evidence for the maligned representation of minorities by media corporations, analysing why negative narratives persist and outlining how these can be effectively transformed. It is an outstanding resource for students and scholars of media, religion, culture, sociology, and Islamic studies, and is also of benefit for journalists, media representatives, and activists looking to effect change for minority representation in the media industry specifically or in society at large.

Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America’s aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America’s demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society, this book is an in dispensable read for understanding how our past continues to shape our present—to the detriment of our nation’s future.