How the News Networks Framed the Muslim Community After 9/11

After the attacks of September 11th 2001, it was said that America would never be the same again. The American people were on high alert after these attacks, according to Eisman’s (2003) writing in Critical Quarterly, “53% of the U.S. population changed their plans on that day, including not going to work. In the days after, 9 in 10 people worried about more terrorist events happening and about being a victim of a future attack.” With this heightened interest in internal security, the American people turned to the major news networks such as NBC, ABC, and CBS to gain imperative information. According to Eisman, “more than 74 per cent of Americans ages 18–53 turned to television as their first source of information and guidance in the wake of the attacks.” (Eisman 2003) Thus, giving the major American news networks the power to skew the minds of viewers. This paper will argue that the content and context of the news disseminated to the public by these major news networks, and equally important the content and context of the news not disseminated to the public in the aftermath of September 11th 2001, has had a vast impact on the spread of “Islamaphobia” throughout the United States. According to Halim Rane and Jaqui Ewart, “The term Islamaphobia has been used to describe the contemporary manifestation of Orientalist discourse Like Orientalism, this discourse “does not allow for diversity; contradictions and semiotic tensions are ignored and homogenizing ethnocentric template of otherness assumes that there is only one interpretation of Islam.” (Rane, H. & Ewart, J. 2012) This view of “Muslims being the enemy” is a direct result of the framing given to this group of people by the major American news networks; such as NBC, ABC, and CBS. This paper will look at how this framing has impacted the Muslim community internally and externally, as well as specific examples of how this framing was implemented in to the mainstream news segments in America.

The definition of how a media frame functions is, according to Diana Ibrahim (2010), “to define problems- to determine what a casual agent is doing with what costs and benefits, usually measured in terms of common cultural values, diagnose causes, evaluate casual agents and their effects; and suggest remedies, offer and justify treatments for the problems and present their likely effects.” While fulfilling all the parts of this definition, the framing of news in the media can also also shed light on certain aspects of reality while not doing so to others. Therefore, limiting the boundaries of discussion on certain cultural and contextual problems. This leads one to argue that absolute truth cannot exist in its purest form in the news, due do to inherent structural limitations on being able to disseminate news in a strictly objective manner. To help further explain this point, it is imperative to research the thinking that goes behind the choices made by news-casters and networks in regards to whether or not to include or leave out specific depictions of different events. It is worth noting that the job of a news anchor on a major new network like NBC, ABC, and CBS is to “strive to make sense of the world of his/her audiences by filtering vast amounts of information. His or her job is to distill only the most relevant facts and events, which involves editorial and production-related choices.” Proving, that there can be no form of absolute objectivity in television news because of the inherent capability of the “network heads” to be able to constrain the quantity of information provided on their network, as well as the content of the news being provided to the American people. This paper will analyze specific transcripts and video clips of news content implemented from the major news networks the day of September 11th 2001, as well as a few weeks after the attacks.

On the day of these attacks during the 6:00 P.M. newscast, all three major news networks broadcasted a live press conference with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In this press conference, the mayor warned the American people to not display anger or hatred toward domestic Muslim and Arab communities, basically telling the American people not to participate in hate crimes. On NBC, news anchor Peter Jennings reaffirmed the mayor’s speech by stating: “As the mayor of New York said, there’s no accounting for prejudice and bigotry at a time like this, and people’s passions have boiled over and so has their prejudice and bigotry on occasion. State officials all across the nation have quite sensibly reminded people that terrorism is not automatically associated with Islam.” To enforce this notion in the minds of the American people, the major news networks depicted American Muslim’s as being patriotic and loyal to our nation, being shown on TV, for example, waving the American flag. Trying to instill a sense of compassion for our fellow Muslim Americans. While other Muslims around the world were shown burning the American flag, and waving guns. It was stated by Dina Ibrahim, an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at San Francisco State University, that “the major news networks closely followed government frames of the global Islamic threat in their coverage, while at the same time promoting a message of peace and tolerance to domestic Muslim communities.” (Ibrahim 2010) For example, in the weeks following 9/11 there was a plethora of reports about daily anti-American rallies that hailed high praise for Osama bin Laden taking place in Pakistan. On NBC, Ron Allen shared an interview he had with a young Pakistani man as well as video footage of the aggressive demonstrators present at the rally. In the interview, Allen associated all of Islam with people who were “visibly infuriated with America”, just by conducting this interview at a violent protest. Further proving the point that the major news networks skewed the public eye to view all Muslims as the bad guys, which in turn has led to the vast spread of islamaphobia throughout the nation. Due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of networks painted the image of international Muslims and Islam negatively, the American people were more likely to adopt the belief that being Muslim equates to being a terrorist. Which explains the fact Steve Ross (2013) noted in his Huffington post article, that despite the attempt to stop hate crimes “Islamophobic attacks increased by 1,700% in 2001.”

After researching a plethora of the information and news aired by the major news networks such as ABC, NBC, and CBS in the wake of 9/11 it can be concluded that the way these networks provided this information was a key factor in instilling Islamaphobia throughout the nation. This is further explained by a model of terrorism coverage in the United States provided by Kimberly A. Powell (2011) in her writings in Communication Studies. This model explained that when a terrorist attack took place, the major news networks had all the power in framing the perpetrator to the American people. When the perpetrator was an American Muslim he/she was described with humanlike qualities and their act of terror was justified by finding the reason for the attack, as well as assuring the American people that this perpetrator will not be a future threat to the country. On the contrary, when the perpetrator was a foreign Muslim, the major news networks linked he/she to larger terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, as well as informing American’s that this act was an act of war on America by Islam and posed a future terrorist threat. This is contradictory, because freedom of religion is one of Americas traditional values, yet the “War on terror” is hindering that belief by defining terrorists by their religion. Ever since September 11th, 2001, the American Muslim has had to deal with the stereotype of a terrorist, a person who has malicious intent in mind for America. As argued in this paper, the major news networks are a major reason that this stereotype exists. According to Halim Rane, “the frames used to portray Muslims are deeply entrenched and draw from cultural assumptions about Islam that have developed over many generations. Suggesting, that the persistent representation of the violent Muslim serves a propaganda function as well as being highly profitable.” (Rane & Ewart, 2012) The way in which NBC, ABC, and CBS depicted Muslims promoted the “war on terrorism” and led us to view Muslims and Islam negatively, while at the same time silenced any dissenting opinions.

References

Eisman, A. (2003). The media of manipulation: Patriotism and propaganda — mainstream news in the United States in the weeks following September 11. Critical Quarterly, 45(1–2), 55–72. doi:10.1111/1467–8705.00472

Ibrahim, D. (2010). The Framing of Islam On Network News Following the September 11Th Attacks. International Communication Gazette, 72(1), 111–125. doi:10.1177/1748048509350342

Powell, K. A. (2011). Framing Islam: An Analysis of U.S. Media Coverage of Terrorism Since 9/11. Communication Studies, 62(1), 90–112. doi:10.1080/10510974.2011.533599

Rose, S. (2013). Since 9/11, Racism and Islamophobia Remain Intertwined. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/steve-rose/911-racism-islamophobia_b_3908411.html

Rane, H., & Ewart, J. (2012). The Framing of Islam and Muslims in the Tenth Anniversary Coverage of 9/11: Implications for Reconciliation and Moving On. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 32(3), 310–322. doi:10.1080/13602004.2012.727292