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Muslim’s Portrayal in International Media: A case Study of

Islamophobia (2019-2022)

Student Name: Izaz Ullah

Student ID # 16239
M.Phil. Political Sciences

Department of Political Sciences

Date of Submission: 01 /07 / 2022
Supervisor: Dr. Aziz

Qurtuba University of Science &Information Technology

Peshawar, KP
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Muslim’s Portrayal in International Media: A case Study of

Islamophobia (2019-2022)

Submitted by

Izaz Ullah 16239

(Scholar Name) ( Scholar ID.)

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Committee (GSC)

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General Format 
Literature Review 
Research Methodology 
References 
Appendix 

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incomplete.
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CONTENTS
Self Assessment Report by the Scholar.........................................................................................3

1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................5

1.1 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................7

1.2 Research Gap.........................................................................................................................7

1.3 Research Questions................................................................................................................7

1.3 Objectives of the study...........................................................................................................7

1.4 Significance of the study........................................................................................................8

1.5 Delimitations of the study......................................................................................................8

1.6 Scheme of the study...............................................................................................................8

2. Literature review........................................................................................................................10

3. Research Methodology..............................................................................................................14

3.1 Research Design...................................................................................................................14

3.2 Source of data collection......................................................................................................14

3.3 Type of data collection.........................................................................................................14

3.4 Data Analysis Techniques....................................................................................................14

References......................................................................................................................................16
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1. Introduction

The past few decades have seen a resurgence of interest, as indicated by extensive

scholarly work examining the relationships between media representation of minorities

and issues concerning ethnicity, race, multiculturalism, and identity politics. However,

today, of all the minorities in world affairs, Muslims and Islam are at the crux of much

censure and debate. Since the events of 9/11, media and political debates surrounding

issues pertaining to Muslims and Islam have narrowed to an Orientalist discourse while

the relationship between Western nations and Muslims has been re-interpreted as a divide

between the West and the world of traditional Islam (Ahmed & Matthes, 2017) .

According to Oxford English Dictionary Islam phobia as “hatred or fear of Islam, esp. as

a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims”. In the context of this reference,

the term Islamophobia firstly used in 1976 in the international journal of Middle East.

The definition of Islamophobia as the alarming and fear of Islam and Muslims.

Abu Dhabi Gallup Center & Gallup (2011) the year 1997 was considered more important

stage in which the debate arises on Islamophobia, while think-tank of British was

recognized for its focused work on multiculturalism which was published a piece of work

titled “Islamophobia: a Challenge for Us All.” In this report, they demonstrated

islamophobia as a terminology which was approved by several in context of clear

interpretation in the progression of existing happening observed by Muslims in Britain.

The terminology of Islamophobia become too used by the media just like an explanatory

word, and also adopted by Muslims as well as the opinion leader.

The anti-Muslim discourse in the Western media began with the Iranian Revolution in

1979 and the ensuing US hostage crisis, and it grew belligerent during the periodic crises
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over Libya and the Middle East in the 1980s (Olmos Alcaraz & Politzer, 2020). In past

decades, wars in Iraq in the 1990s, and the consequent events of 9/11 in 2001, further

amplified the tone and volume of the discourse (Meer & Modood, 2012).

Perceptions of Islam as anti-democratic, and a menace to the West, have persisted since

the late 1970s (D’esposito et al., 1995). However, academic interest in the representation

of Islam in the media grew after the publication of the Runnymede Trust’s report,

Islamophobia: A Challenge for All of Us in 1997. (Edvardsson, 2008) investigation was

one of the seminal studies in this area of research in recent times. Since then a number of

scholars across societies have investigated the relationships between media, Muslims, and

Islam.

It is undeniable fact and not veiled from any intellectual that, the boat of Islam since its

inception has been surrounding by the gale and storms of external manipulation and

conspiracies, which are bruising the Muslim world from all around whether it is

Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Rohingya, Algeria, Kashmir or it is the

confinement of America, France, Australia, Belgium, Demark, Spain, and China.

Everywhere Islam and Muslims are being targeted. There was a time when Anti-Islam

forces wanted to achieve their desired objectives by raising plethora of academic

questions against Islam such as polygamy, divorce, veil, fornication, severe punishment

in case of Fornication, theft, (whipping and cutting of hands) Otherness of Muslims and

subjugation of the women etc. but the complicated knots of these all questions have been

opened effectively in each era (Jalil, 2021).

1.1 Problem Statement

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Islamophobia is an international issue which is sentimentally victimizing the Muslim.

There is mammoth literature available on the causes and effects of Islamophobia. This

research will focus on the proper highlighting of the issue at international fora and the

ensuing endorsement of UNO of this issue under discussion. In the last two decades,

hundreds of studies have investigated the portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the media, to

establish that social resentment, coupled with cultural and economic factors, have led to the

alienation of Muslims from societies. Thus, understanding the focus on Muslim people is

important for global geo-political concerns.

1.2 Research Gap

The study will consider the time frame from 2019 to 2022. In this era islamophobia was

raised internationally by some of the major Muslim countries i.e. Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia

and United Nations (UN) endorsed it successfully. This study will analyze international

media portraying the Muslims as well as also highlight the impact of islamophobia on

Muslims.

1.3 Research Questions

1. How International media portrays the Muslims.

2. What are the implication of Islamophobia on Muslim?

1.3 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are:

 To analyze international media in portraying Muslims.

 To highlight the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim.

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1.4 Significance of the study

The focus of this research is to investigate the portraying of Muslims and

Islamophobia in an international media. The media in all over the world is digitized now and

considered most influential medium, which is shaped the views of people related to every

section of societies. The media perform a significant role in constructing the listener angle

and attitude related to any complication that emerges in the whole world. In this context, the

audiences accept as true and have expectation from media to represent a clear image relate

any type of affair which is happening at both national and international level. A large number

of study and research set up, that an internationally the inclination of media reporting is

highly observed negativity toward Islam and Muslims, by affiliating it with extremism and

terrorism (Istriyani, 2016).

1.5 Delimitations of the study

As every study has, this study will have the following limitations:

 Time Zone: The time frame of the current study will be from 2019 to 2022

 IR Policies: This study is related to the international relations but we know that

Pakistan highlight issue and has its implications on Pakistani politics.

 Data Type: The study is based on secondary data because the data will be collected

from secondary sources

1.6 Scheme of the study

Chapter One: Highlights the introductory arguments about the study, problems

statement, Aim of study, Research Objectives and Significance of study.

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Chapter Two: Discusses the literature review of previous studies considering different

research projects and articles.

Chapter Three: Intends to introduce the methodological issues used in finding out the

materials for this project.

Chapter Four: Findings and Analysis attained from the qualitative methods.

Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation given for subjected research topic

considering the findings and analysis.

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2. Literature review

International Media has played a vital role in the representation of Islam and

Islamophobia. International media represents Islam Sometimes in a negative context

while sometime in a positive way. Actually the teachings of Islam always focus on peace

and humanity but some of the International media group represents it as negative. After

the incident of 9/11, Muslims and Islam have recognized as backward and violent culture

and religion. Muslims communities and their families are mostly victims and targeted by

non-Muslims, victimization of veiled Muslims female and religious men in public places,

as victims and targeted against the law. In present days Islam and Muslims are

represented as a terrorist, illiterate, extremist and backward in international media.

Although the framing of Muslims and Islam, particularly after the 7/7 bombing, 9/11

terrorist attack and Paris attack.

The anti-Muslim discourse in the Western media began with the Iranian Revolution in

1979 and the ensuing US hostage crisis, and it grew belligerent during the periodic crises

over Libya and the Middle East in the 1980s (Humerickhouse, 2012). In past decades,

wars in Iraq in the 1990s, and the consequent events of 9/11 in 2001, further amplified

the tone and volume of the discourse (Ahmed, 2012). Perceptions of Islam as anti-

democratic, and a menace to the West, have persisted since the late 1970s (Esposito,

1999). However, academic interest in the representation of Islam in the media grew after

the publication of the Runnymede Trust’s report, Islamophobia: A Challenge for All of

Us in 1997 (Knott & Poole, 2016).

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Poole and Sandford (2002) investigation was one of the seminal studies in this area of

research in recent times. Since then a number of scholars across societies have

investigated the relationships between media, Muslims, and Islam. Although over the

years the media have paid detailed attention to conflicts involving Muslims and Islam,

there are grounds to assume they have failed to comprehend the sociopolitical and

economic reasons behind such issues. In the generalizability of assumptions, ‘The West’

and ‘Islam’ can be expected to be defined as opposites, propagating the idea of

confrontation.

Scholars have argued that what is said or written about Muslim thought, nature, religion,

or culture in the mainstream Western media is not the same as what is said or discussed

about Africans, Jews, other Orientals, or Asians (Said, 1980). Islam is portrayed as

populated by ‘an undifferentiated mob of scimitar-waving oil suppliers’ or as a religion

of irrational violence that subordinates its women.

In recent research, studies have found that the media represents Islam as a monolithic,

homogenized, or sexist religion (Edvardsson, 2008). Muslims are often framed as

heartless, brutal, uncivilized, religious fanatics (Riaz, 2014), as militants and terrorists

(Ali, 2017; Rehman & Qamar, 2017), or as societal problems (Istriyani, 2016; Sayyid,

2018) within well-constructed war and conflict stories (Poole, 2002). Islam is presented

from the perspective of a ‘white man’s world’ and Muslims are categorized as ‘them’ and

presented as a threat to ‘us’.

Rehman and Qamar (2017) explain the negative representation of Islam and Muslims in

an international media. The media in all over the world is considered most influential

medium, which is shaped the views of people related to every section of societies. The
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media perform a significant role in constructing the listener angle and attitude related to

any complication that emerges in the whole world. In this context, the audiences accept

as true and have expectation from media to represent a clear image relate any type of

affair which is happening at both national and international surface. In western media,

Muslims represented as an “other alien” an international level. After the incident of 9/11,

Muslims and Islam have recognized as backward and violent culture and religion.

Muslims communities and their families are mostly victims and targeted by non-

Muslims, victimization of veiled Muslims female and religious men in public places, as

victims and targeted against the law. In present days Islam and Muslims are represented

as a terrorist, illiterate, extremist and backward in international media. Although the

framing of Muslims and Islam, particularly after the 7/7 bombing, 9/11 terrorist attack

and Paris attack, a large number of study and research set up, that an internationally the

inclination of media reporting is highly observed negativity toward Islam and Muslims,

by affiliating it with extremism and terrorism.

Olmos Alcaraz and Politzer (2020) analyzes the representation of Islam and Muslims in

two Spanish newspapers, El País and El Mundo, two months before and after the attacks

on the Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. The objective of the

research is to determine how representations of Islam and Muslims may have changed

before and after the attacks; and thus to investigate the possible increase of Islamophobia

in the media after a terrorist attack. Four months of headlines were collected and

analyzed from both papers. The results indicate the existence of islamophobia before and

after the attacks in both papers, with some evidence of an increase in islamophobia after

the attack.
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Ahmed and Matthes (2017) reports a meta-analysis of 345 published studies to examine

the media’s role in construction of a Muslim and Islamic identity. A quantitative analysis

highlights the geographical focus, methods, theories, authorship, media types, and time

frames of published studies. A qualitative analysis investigated the most prominent

researched themes. Our findings suggest that a large majority of studies covered Western

countries, while Muslim countries and Muslim media have been neglected. We also

identified an evident lack of comparative research, a neglect of visuals, and a dearth of

research on online media. We found that most studies investigated the themes of

‘migration’, ‘terrorism’, and ‘war’. Moreover, our meta-study shows that Muslims tend to

be negatively framed, while Islam is dominantly portrayed as a violent religion.

Implications of these findings are discussed.

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3. Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design

The study will be Qualitative in nature because it will be based on secondary data which

will be collected. Data will be analyzed through contents analysis. Different themes will

be generated by doing in-depth content analysis. Content analysis is a research tool used

to determine the presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within some given

qualitative data. Content analysis is the study of documents and communication artifacts,

which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video. Social scientists use

content analysis to examine patterns in communication in a replicable and systematic

manner. The study will be based on interpritivisam research philosophy and will use

inductive approach for research.

3.2 Source of data collection

Data will be collected from secondary sources only. Data will be collected through

different interviews already available, NEWS, reports, Speeches etc.

3.3 Type of data collection

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For data collection two major international channels i.e. CNN and BBC will be observed

during last four years from 2019 to 2022. All the content related to islamophobia and

Muslims representation will be extracted and will analyzed through content analysis.

3.4 Data Analysis Techniques

Data analysis will include content analysis by considering the objectives. First the study

will analyze the international media portraying Muslims and then will highlight the

impact of islamophobia on Muslim. Overall, content available at international media will

be analyzed from 2019 to 2022.

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References

Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, & Gallup. (2011). ISLAMOPHOBIA: Understanding Anti-
Muslim Sentiment in the West. Gallup, 1–28. Retrieved from
https://news.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-
sentiment-west.aspx%0Awww.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/pdf/
islamophobia .pdf
Ahmed, S. (2012). Media portrayals of Muslims and Islam and their influence on adolescent
attitude: An empirical study from India. Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research,
5(3), 279–306.
Ahmed, S., & Matthes, J. (2017). Media representation of Muslims and Islam from 2000 to
2015: A meta-analysis. International Communication Gazette, 79(3), 219–244.
Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516656305
Ali, A. (2017). The impact of Islamophobia on the Muslim American community : accounts
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Humerickhouse, E. (2012). The multiple faces of pneumothorax. Avoiding Common Nursing
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Istriyani, R. (2016). Media: Causes and Strategies To Overcome Islamophobia
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