>> Support materials: Chapter 19


Chapter 19: Global risk and the surveillance state

 

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Case studies Video clips Weblinks Further reading Podcasts

 

Case Study

Terrorism and the media
Since September 11 in 2001, there has been intense media interest in terrorism—attacks on symbolic targets attract widespread attention. The focus of these types of terrorist attacks is to have an impact on an audience: in a globalised society, this audience is the world. The mediation of newspapers, television, and the internet of this impact to the audience is well known by terrorist groups, which frequently use the media as a way of gauging the effect of their acts. The media itself also wants to have an impact on its audience—television networks want advertising money, newspapers want subscriptions—so 'the important questions are not do the media "play up" or "play down" risk—but which risks attract attention, how, when, why and under what conditions' (Kitzinger 1999, p. 62). This raises the question of how the media reports acts of terrorism (see Altheide 1987). Turk comments on their representations:

When people and events come to be regularly described in the public as
terrorists and terrorism, some governmental or other entity is succeeding in a
war of words in which the opponent is promoting alternative designations
such as 'martyr' and 'liberation struggle'. (2004, pp. 271–2)

Turk illustrates his point further by claiming that few acts of terrorism acquire a proper label in the media:

In official public usage, terrorism is far more likely to refer to incidents
associated with agents and supporters of presumably foreign-based terrorist
organizations such as al Qaeda than with the violence of home-grown
militants acting in the name of such groups as the Animal Liberation Front,
Earth First!, or the American Coalition for Life Activists (one of whose
founders, Paul Hill, was executed in Florida on September 3, 2003, for
murder, not terrorism). (2004, pp. 272–3)

He further criticises the one-sided role of the media and its caricatures of terrorists, which often depicts them as crazed bombers and gives little recognition to the reasons behind violence (Turk 2004). Indeed, 'sometimes a "risk story" acts as a vehicle for other agenda' (Kitzinger 1999, p. 13). The media, too, reflect cultural and ideological preferences and are an important actor in producing and reproducing hegemony (Altheide 1987).

More and more scholars are devoting their time to investigating the increasingly important role of the media in society and to issues of objectivity, democracy, citizenship, and censorship (Anderson 2005). The media plays an important role in reporting terrorism, but also in reinforcing the dominant hegemonic paradigm. Terrorists use the media as a way of gauging their acts' impact. Since the impact on an audience is a specific aim of terrorism, the mediation of this news is an important actor. How the media reports acts of terrorism is a crucial issue.

References
Altheide, D. 1987, 'Format and symbols in TV coverage of terrorism in the United States and Great Britain', International Studies Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 161–76.
Anderson, A. 2005, 'Media and risk' in Beyond the Risk Society, G. Mythen & S. Walklate (eds), London: Open University Press, pp. 114–31.
Kitzinger, J. 1999, 'Researching risk and the media', Health, Risk and Society, vol. 1, Iss. 1, pp. 55–69.
Turk, A. 2004, 'Sociology of terrorism', Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 30, pp. 271–86.

Discussion questions

  1. What examples of media bias or sensationalism in the reporting on terrorism can you think of?
  2. In media accounts of terrorism, is it possible to identify objective reportage amid propaganda from terrorists, governments, and media organisations alike?

Case Study 2

The perceived Muslim threat
Gabe Mythen and colleagues' (2009) interviews with British Muslims showed that many, in the light of negative depictions of Muslims in the British media, downplayed their 'Muslimness'. This included not wearing beards, not wearing the hijab, and not partaking in other 'suspicious' behaviour such as wearing backpacks. The participants felt that due to the way they were being portrayed in the media, they were subject to prejudice. They also felt that they were being rendered into stereotypes and caricatures.

Similarly, Anne Aly's (2007) enquiry into Australian media discourse found that there was a clear bias against Muslims. She found that the popular media discourse depicted Islam as fundamentally incompatible with Australian (Western) ideals and values and, as such, that Australian Muslims were also victims of negative stereotyping in the media. Aly found that this discourse placed Muslim Australians outside of mainstream Australia and turned them into the Other. This had effects on Australian Muslims' self-perceptions and experiences of identity; the young people interviewed by Aly (2007) found that post-9/11, the media's focus on Muslims and terrorism was making them feel different, especially if they wore the hijab.

Indeed, after 9/11, more hijab-wearing women have reported racist attacks than other Muslims (Dunn et al. 2007). These anti-Muslim sentiments can be seen as an expression of what Kevin Dunn and colleagues refer to as 'new racism', which differs from the old racism and its notions of racial supremacy in that it operates 'to reinforce cultural privilege' (Dunn et al. 2007, p. 567).

In recent years, there has been public debate in many countries over whether the hijab and burka should be banned under the pretence of secularisation, women's liberation, and conformity to the dominant culture. Overt symbols of other (namely Christian) religions have not been the subject of such attention.

References
Aly, A. 2007, 'Australian Muslim responses to the discourse on terrorism in the Australian popular media', Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 27–40.
Dunn, K., Klocker, N. & Salabay, T. 2007, 'Contemporary racism and Islamaphobia in Australia: Racializing religion', Ethnicities, vol. 7, pp. 564–89.
Mythen, G., Walklate, S. & Khan, F. 2009, '"I'm a Muslim, but I'm not a terrorist": Victimization, risky identities and the performance of safety', British Journal of Criminology, vol. 49, pp. 736–54.

Discussion questions

  1. Is banning the hijab and burka about liberating Muslim women, or is it an example of new racism?
  2. How has the 'war of terror' since September 11 impacted on Muslim communities in Australia?