how does the media industry profit from the demonisation of islam and terrorism?

strong>key focus points:

1. post 9/11 and the media


2. representation and sterotyping


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-403010/Stereotyping-leading-terror-says-Muslim-Miss-England.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/europe/newsid_9097000/9097203.stm

3. media effects on the audience

http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/3/27/203410/697



4. gender and ethnicity
http://www.colorq.org/PetSins/article.asp?y=2006&m=7&x=7_1


5. liberal plurism



points to be made in the critical investigation:

1. males are portrayed to be terrorists and stereotypically violent, aggressive and oppressive.

2. Islam as a religion is represented to be ‘against the world’ and therefore punish the world by killing innocent people in their attacks, for example, 9/11 and 7/7.

3. terrorism as an act against the world is shown to represent the whole religion of Islam.

4. Islam is constantly in the media spotlight, even in non commercial television channels such as BBC, and it is heavily scrutinised and portrayed to teach its young followers to effectively 'teach he world a lesson'- during a lecture by head speakers of Islamic communities.

5. in comedy movies such as four lions, the protagonists are often shown to be idiotic ans have no sense. they are shown to be forced into terrorism and therefore this stereotypes all Muslim men to be commercially used to create humour within movies.

theories to focus on:

1. cultivation theory
this causes enigma within the audience and then is used to create a false representation of certain minorities. much like the hypodermic needle this moulds wrong stereotypes within reality, and diminishes communities.

2. copycat modelling
although we can assume that terrorism in some movies is shown in a comedic light, it is also possible that people will imitate what they see in the media. they may resort to terrorism or other acts of extremism.

3. hypodermic needle theory
The ‘injected’ audience is seen as passive and powerless. whilst watching the negative portrayal of Islamic believers, the audience is likely to cause moral panic and create stereotypes within reality and label all Muslims as terrorists.

4. uses and gratifications theory
Instead of researching what the media do to the audience, this approach studies what the audience does with the media. This approach also takes account of people’s personalities and personal needs. this may also cause havos in sociery, if yougher viewers decide to act upon illegal activites.