Shura - Discussion: How The American News Media Reports Stories Related to Islam and Its Impacts on Muslims Living in the United States

Senior Honors Thesis

Defense Presentation

By Maral Cavner

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

Shura: How the American News Media Reports on Islam and Its Impacts

on Muslim Americans’ in the United States

Research Questions1. How do Muslim individuals living in the United States

feel about their portrayal in the American news media as a whole?

2. Do Muslims living in the U.S. feel their portrayal in the news (be it positive or negative) impacts the way non-Muslim Americans regard them? If so, how?

3. What would Muslims living in the U.S. like their counterparts in the U.S. to see, read or hear about on the news in relation to Islam in order to help combat misconceptions about their faith?

4. Do Muslims living in the U.S. feel that liberal versus conservative American news media sources portray their stories related to Islam differently?

Research Design

• Three Sample Groups Interviewed:

o 1) Emory University Muslim undergraduates: four males and four females.

o 2) Media Informants: one Muslim female.o 3) Religious authority figures: two male

imams.

Recruitment of Sample Group Members

• A variety of different methods were used for recruitment including:o Social media (Facebook and LearnLink

groups), oAttending Muslim Student Association

events at Emory University, oCalling and emailing mosques with a

official proposal, ando The network connections of Dr. Cherribi.

Procedures of Interviews

• Setting: a location of the interviewee’s choosing.• Informed Consent: was given in writing and

verbally.• Recording and Transcription: Each interview was

recorded by a digital recorder in order to assure the accuracy of given answers. After the conclusion of the interview, the recording was transcribed and then erased.

• Risks to Participation: none.• Benefits to Participation: no direct benefits to the

interviewees. • Confidentiality: no names are reported and

codes/pseudonyms are used to identify interviewees.

Hypothesis• “That Muslim-Americans’ lives are

negatively impacted by their characterization within the American news media, specifically in terms of the ways that non-Muslim individuals in the United States regard them.”

• Status of Hypothesis Today: supported through interviewee data.

Summary of Findings From

Interviews,

Part 1: The Obtainment of News

• A unanimous movement towards “fast” sources of news and away from print media.

• The emergence of social media as a means of accessing news for all females interviewed.

• With one exception, all individuals interviewed cited at least one non-American news media source which they “relied on primarily for their news.”o Pew found that 92% of Americans rely on multiple national news media

sources. Why do Muslims in the U.S. feel the need to rely on at least one international news media source?

Summary of Findings From

Interviews,

Part 2: Islam in The American News

Media

• “I think that what is most striking, is that I do not feel like the representation represents me at all. I feel there is a huge disconnect between Muslims in the American news media and Muslims that I am around on a day-to-day basis and also the person that I am.” -Male undergraduate at Emory #2.

• All individuals interviewed expressed remarkably similar sentiment: they value, want, and need a more holistic presentation of news in the U.S. to help people understand their faith and all of its 1.6 billion followers, not just a few.

Summary of Findings From

Interviews,

Part 3: The Desire for

Contextualization

• The prevailing desire was for more contextualization.

• “(American news media sources) Portray anything Islamic, Islamic voices, as very one dimensional. Those are just terrorists and those are just radicals…They also do not contextualize. They just might show a story and there is no background to it. So there might be bombing and they might just show that, (but) maybe what was the situation there? For example, what were the policies of the embassy that was bombed?...(They) will only show one aspect and then you lose everything. Then they can distill everything down to Muslims are extremists.”

-Female undergraduate at Emory #1.

Summary of Findings From

Interviews,

Part 4: Conservative Leaning

American News Media

• Not a single individual interviewed expressed that they watched any conservative American news media sources.

• Fox News is “frankly terrible.” Female undergraduate #2.

• Why? Two primary reasons cited by interviewees:o 1) They are the worst in passing judgment.o 2) They fail to provide enough (or any) contextualization for

the viewer, reader or listener.

Summary of Findings From

Interviews,

Part 5: Impacts of American News

Media

on Muslim-Americans

• Two Primary Misconceptions Develop:• 1) That Muslims are represented in a singular

category, as a singular type of people.o “I think that the largest misconception about Muslims is that we are all

the same kind of people.” Media Informant #1.

• 2) The widespread association of Islam and violence, particularly against women.o “I think there is a large misconception about Muslim women especially

that they are inferior and that Islam promotes lack of equality between men and women and that they do not have the same freedoms, but I do not think that that is true or, there are going to be conservatives found within any religion that uphold certain ideals.” Female undergraduate #2.

How Can the News Dispel Misconceptions about Islam?

• “Me speaking from the experience of being a journalist…and how flakey, frankly we are about stories; we are not going to stay on something forever, we are not going to give something the depth and the context that a lot of people might expect from us because we have to move on and we do not have enough time or minutes in the show…We obviously cannot have someone go on and explain a point in twenty minutes when we only have two minutes for the segment (on television).” -Media Informant #1

• In this sound bite culture, how can time constraints reconcile themselves with contextualization?

Interviewees’ Solutions to

American News Media’s Portrayal

of Islam• A basic and straightforward desire from the

media:• “I think just simple stories about Muslim people doing

normal things, like going to PTA meetings, taking their kids to soccer games, being good doctors, whatever it may be...I think that the radical needs to be counterbalanced to the normal and I think that the radical gets too much American news coverage and (if) people see the news stories about ‘this Muslim man who helped out at a school, he was a fireman’ (or) whatever it may be, I think that that would be the best and most productive way to counteract the images about Islam in the American news media, mostly (in) conservative outlets, but not exclusively so.” Male undergraduate #1.

Life as a Muslim Inside of Emory University and Outside

of It • “I do not think my treatment

has been altered because I am Muslim.” Female undergraduate #2.

• However, male undergraduate #3 spoke of a key distinction between being a Muslim at Emory University and outside of it:o “…I think that Emory has a

very accepting culture, but it has kind of blinded me to the realities that are external to Emory University.”

Conclusions

• Can twelve words really sum up 20-25% of the world’s population?o Living in at least fifty-seven countries, who speak

different languages, follow different customs, and believe in different interpretations of their faith.

• Responsibilities of the media and media consumers.o To present stories in context as professional journalists.o Those who receive information have the responsibility

to to understand that contextualization is central to understanding any story.

• Thank you!