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Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

In this study I will be looking at the representation of Muslims in the British press during and following the London 7/7 terrorist attacks of the public transport system, including the underground and a double decker bus. I am specifically interested at looking at the 7/7 attacks and the media hype surrounding the prominent attack on British citizens.

I plan to observe how the British media communicated and reported the terrorist attacks, which were conducted by a radical Muslim group. I aim to discover whether the reporting’s by the British press reflected objectively or negatively on Muslims as a whole as a response to the attacks on July 7th 2005. As well as this, due to the 7/7 bombings being direct attack on British citizens by the radical Muslim group, I plan to find out whether ideologies surrounding Muslims, whether new or existing, were exaggerated by the British press during and immediately after this time.

Within society stereotypes are commonly used and therefore neutralised without the consumer acknowledging the use of them. This is useful in society as it places each individual relative to others around them in society, whether on a national or international scale, creating an establishment of personal and social identity. These stereotypes, or ideologies, are frequently communicated through the language or discourses used by the media to represent individuals or groups of people. The use of these ideologies allows a social segregation and distinction between different classes of people in the social hierarchy, which is relative to each individual society. Thompson (1990:7) describes ideology as something that ‘can be used to refer to the ways in which meaning is served, in particular circumstances, to establish and sustain relations of power’. Meaning can be symbolized in a number of different forms, from signs and images to everyday language, all of which can be used in context to build ideologies that ‘establish and sustain relations of domination.’ (Thompson, 1990:7).

As for Western Society, and more specifically in Britain, the dominant group is that with the most power and influence. From an economic perspective, the most prominent consumer in Western society is the white middle class. Therefore, within Western media, ideologies and discourses used will be more favourable towards this group in society as well as having a greater overall representation in national news. When concerning ethnic minorities, the representation and discourse used can have a stronger connotation among national society and the ideologies they hold concerning other cultures, whether nationally or internationally, creating a resounding sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Chapter 1

Literature Review

This chapter will be exploring the contextual study of representation in the media in relation to race, culture and specifically Islam. The use of Othering and ‘us’ and ‘them’ in British media will be highlighted to introduce the use of ideologies and discourse and their roles in establishing social hierarchy in addition to social, national and personal identity. Following this, the literature review includes a contextual and historical look at Islam as portrayed by the British media as a threat to the West, drawing on existing research.

Othering and the use of ‘us’ and ‘them’

The majority of an individual’s worldviews are constructed through the information they receive via communication and society (Karin Kamppi, 2008). The mediums of communication that inform its subject have the ability to connect the subject to reality and their place in society and their own cultural world (Kamppi, 2008). The way in which an individual places themselves and their own identity is determined by the organization and structure of their surroundings. For a definition of one’s own identity and ‘self’, and within a social sphere the ‘us’, to exist, a consciousness of the other ‘them’ must also exist (Kamppi, 2008). Othering structures and organizes the distribution of power within a society, and therefore is never regarded as an equal. The ‘other’ will always be regarded as inferior and determined by its differences to the dominant culture rather than its similarities (Kamppi, 2008).

By acknowledging an individual or an entity as the ‘other’ means to disenfranchise or marginalize that individual, as described by Betsy Bach (2005) in her research of the organizational tension of othering. When the othering is concerning a specific group or individual, it subjects that group to segregation and inferiority by the dominant grouping. Bach (2005) notes that the inferior groups or ‘others’ are regarded by the dominant group as passive, interchangeable and without feelings or emotions. When groups are othered and therefore objectified, broad ideologies and generalizations surrounding the objectified group emerge (Bach,2005).

In the study of the ‘us’ and ‘them’ theory concerning war propaganda and Islam and Muslims in Western sources, Karim (2004) argues that although newspapers are theoretically supposed to be objective sources of news, it is inevitable that national newspapers will in many ways reflect that nations foreign policies in its communication of the news. Consequently, there will always be a resonant depiction of ‘us’ and ‘them’ concerning white nationals in western society in relation to other cultures both nationally and internationally. Karim (2004) further notes that the government’s evident influence over the communication of the news in western sources, and the segregation of western nationals and other cultures, allows a justification for Western governments if they were to ‘launch military attacks on ‘opposing’ countries.’ The selective reporting in western newspapers means that ideologies creating this sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ separates nationals from the international ‘others’.

The sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and the context in which it is used in mass media communications is firmly secured through the use of ideologies. Although the sense of exactly who the ‘we’ are and who ‘they’ are, is entirely dependent on the society in which it is present. For example, the ethnic minority or other culture in a society will always be represented as the ‘other’. Mass media communications transfer these ideologies through their use of discourse in their representation of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Discourse and Ideology in the media

Stuart Hall (2003) acknowledges the commonplace use of ideologies in speech as a medium that provides a means of locating individual and collective identity within society. These ideologies, or stereotypes, themselves the product of society, extinguish the need to withhold excessive information about others in order to make sense of one’s own place in social relations. Hall establishes that these ideologies are communicated in the form of discourse, which used contextually can mean completely different things from one time to another. He stresses that when such discourse is used regularly it becomes normalised and therefore neutralised in society, giving way for ‘inferential racism’(Hall,2003). ‘Inferential racism’ is ‘neutralised representations of events and situations relating to race which have racist premises and propositions inscribed in them as a set of unquestioned assumptions’ (Hall, 2003; 91). This means that racist statements can be produced and communicated without the consumer recognizing the racial connotations behind the seemingly innocent statements. When these ideologies are used consistently in western media it further cements ideologies as fact rather than common representation, with the unaware consumer as a social by-product.

The media hold a strong power of influence over the opinions and ideologies held by the British public, highlighting the impact of inferential racism and the national representation of ethnic minorities. Where this concerns foreign policies or international reporting, the audience as a consumer has a reduced ability to supplement the information they receive from national newspapers, thus limiting their information and perspective concerning ethnic minorities and further empowering ideologies transferred through mass media communications (Pinn,2000).

In his study of image and representation within the media, Nick Lacey (1998) observes that due to the Marxist nature of society in western countries, where there is an apparent social hierarchy, it is only natural that there are subordinate groups. Within society and the media, the most influential and dominant classes will determine the social ideologies as represented by mainstream media. In western society the most dominant class is the white middle class and therefore is the most represented in western mass media communications, this creates subordinate groups from any ethnic minorities outside of this dominant group. These subordinate groups within western society can become ‘pariah’ groups (Lacey, 1998), or, minorities that are under-represented in western media. Due to the under-representation of these groups, few instances of negative representation can become a generalized representation for an entire group, race or culture.

Fairclough (2009) defines discourse and ideology in terms of globalization as ‘how particular discourses of globalization systematically contribute to the legitimation of a particular global order which incorporates asymmetrical relations of power’ (Fairclough, 2009;320). In his study of language and globalization Fairclough establishes that discourse within the facet of globalization has several different functions, including: representation as well as misrepresentation of globalization; to be used rhetorically to provide a specific perspective, which could be used in the framework of politics; as a form of encouraging the exaggeration, dissipation and reproduction of ideologies; the ability to concoct imagery of future projections of circumstances in the future world (Fairclough, 2009). The war on terror, as declared by the USA and featured in newspapers across the western world following 9/11 sets an example as a use of discourse for political propaganda. Fairclough (2009) perceives the war on terror as entirely ideological, used by the US as a legitimization to extend their global hegemony.

The media however do not determine or fabricate the social ideologies represented through mass media communications. Ideologies are a social product generated through many contributing factors, including politics, history and current affairs. The media play the role of communicators, and therefore only hold the power to communicate, exaggerate or dissipate ideologies already held in a national society, which are constantly subject to change. The under-representation of ethnic minorities, and if those representations are negative, are the main factors that can lead to the stigmatization of other cultures in society(Gandy, 1998).

Islam as a threat to the West

In his studies on communication and race Gandy (1998) concludes from his research that western news is predominantly more inclined to report negative news about racial minorities. This negative news is primarily made up of reporting’s of misdemeanours, conflictions or of failures. The issue that arises from these reporting’s is that, when sustained in the news throughout a prolonged period of time, these ideologies become commonly regarded as fact. As there are fewer representations of racial minorities, those of which are largely negative, these reporting’s have the power to completely stigmatize an entire culture or race within a society (Gandy, 1998). Gandy acknowledges that these reporting’s and thus representations of ethnic minorities are inclined to change as a response to an ‘assessment of changes in the market.’ (Gandy, 1998;165). For example, if a negative event concerning an ethnic minority were to occur, representations of that ethnic minority in the press would reflect that negativity. Equally if something positive would occur, the representation would reflect positively. As the media itself is a business, this model of adjusting representations to social demand is a way of catching the greater market and audience for the media, which in western society is the middle class white.

The stigmatization of ethnic minorities and the ‘others’ through major news organizations in Western culture has become so normalised that it passes by hardly recognized in society. These radical ideologies are generally deemed to stem from far-right opinions and racism; however negative ideologies in western society regarding Islam are becoming more prevalent in normal society (Pinn,2000).

In her studies concerning the influence of the media on ethnic-religious integration in Europe (2000), Irmgard Pinn establishes the existence of three most prominent topics featured in western articles about the Islamic religion. The first of these is the perspective of Islam from a political viewpoint, focusing on cultural aspects both within the Muslim communities and as a part of international relationships. The second topic is from the perspective of national and domestic politics, predominantly the reporting of conflictions between nationals and Muslims and the immigration of Muslims and the consequent threat of this immigration. The third most prominent topic as highlighted by Pinn (2000) is that of Islam as an enemy or threat against the west, both on a religious basis, against the Wests Christian roots and as a general threat of global hegemony. Whereas articles and discourses of this nature would have previously been associated with far-right political newspapers and regarded as somewhat racist reporting, the prolonged use of discourse about Islam being used in ‘normal’ national newspapers has neutralised the images and ideologies being portrayed.

Following the 9/11 attacks, Western Media were under pressure from military and governments to represent their voice in the patriotic support of the ‘war on terror’ (Steuter & Wills, 2009). This meant employing the discourse of both these authorities when war reporting, and subsequently ending with reporting that was not representative of the truth, but rather a narrow perception, which has been criticized as propagandistic (Steuter & Wills, 2009). News coverage regarding Muslims following the attacks is demonstrated to have been reinforcing the already established Western political Ideal of Muslims as the enemy. Steuter & Wills (2009) research points to the use of military discourse and the dehumanization of Muslims to reinforce the enemy othering of Islam, at the same time representing Muslims as expendable in Western Society. Using the othering in mass media communications to exaggerate the existence of an enemy is exasperated during times of war, as emphasizing the ‘otherness’ is essential to lay the foundations for military action (Steuter & Wills, 2009).

Following the attacks of the London underground system on the 7th July 2005 by a terrorist group that were Muslim and had declared a war on The west, the British media focused much of their reporting on the association of Muslims as violent fundamentalists (Baker,2010). In his report of representations of Islam in British Broadsheet and Tabloid newspapers, Baker (2010) looks at E.Richardson’s (2004) research, which determines that given a choice between journalists reporting negatively or positively about Islam, western reporting would favour towards the negative. He establishes that existing research points towards the top representations of Muslims as a terrorist, military, democratic and sexist and social threat (Richardson as cited by Baker, 2004). These representations communicated by the British Media used the face of the Muslim terrorist group, which is a very small minority of all Muslims, as a broader generalization for an entire religion (Baker,2010). Baker looks at an analysis conducted by Patel (1999) of television reports which states that ‘At the hands of the Western media British Muslims face marginalisation, having their beliefs and practises ridiculed and degraded on a daily basis’.

In conclusion it is evident that the use of othering in the media is as important as it is prevalent in the founding of social and cultural identity and hierarchy. Because of the social, historical and political foundations of the ideologies used to represent ‘us’ and ‘them’, however, there will always be a subordinate group. The subordinate group in terms of this study is Islam, and due to historical incidents of terrorism conducted by a small percentage of this cultural group, the media have been able to use ideologies to indirectly stigmatize an entire culture in Western society. Nonetheless, regardless of the power of communication, the media can only control to a certain extent the ideologies that they communicate through discourse. Newspapers enable the reproduction of existing ideologies, helping to maintain social stereotypes through selective reporting. This study will analyse ideologies of Islam as communicated through discourse in the British media following terrorist attacks in London. The following chapter will discuss the research methods and processes used to conduct this research.

Chapter 2

Methodology

This chapter will introduce the methods used to conduct the research of this study. A justification will be given for the chosen case study of The Daily Mail accompanied by the organization and selection of research material. This chapter will also touch upon an introduction to the research method of Critical Discourse Analysis, how it is appropriate for this study and a look at successful uses of this research technique as previously demonstrated by alternative scholars. Finally, this chapter aims to lay out the structure of the following research.

I will be focusing my study on the reporting’s surrounding the attacks released by the British tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail. The Daily mail is a popular right-wing newspaper aimed at the white lower-middle class as their primary audience. The Daily Mail has historically been criticized for their right-wing reporting and their representation of other cultures and cultural integration in Britain, and therefore is an ideal case point for the purpose of my study. Although The Daily Mail have a well-established stance on cultural integration in Britain, I plan to ascertain whether the attacks of the London public transport services of 7/7 resulted in a shift or exaggeration of already existing ideologies concerning Muslims in this newspaper.

The study will be conducted using the qualitative and quantitative method of critical discourse analysis. From the archives of The Daily Mail, 15 articles have been selected surrounding the lexis of Islam and the 7/7 terrorist attacks. My searches for the most relevant articles for my study were chosen between the 7th July and the 7th August every year between the dates of 07/07/2005 and 07/07/2007. These dates were specifically chosen to be in a close time scale to the attacks, as any radical ideologies are likely to be increased due to a heightened public interest around these times. To find articles most relevant to my study and most representative of ideologies surrounding Islam I used keywords in my search. These keywords were made up of: Islam; Muslim; 7/7; Attacks; Terrorism; Terror; Fanatic; Radical; Allah; Mosque; Burqa and Qur’an. From the results accumulated by these keywords, within my selected dates, I decided which articles to use based on the most relevant or most frequently occurring articles.

Critical Discourse analysis (CDA) will be used to analyse the language used in each article, looking at lexis, content and themes and the ideologies depicted through the use of linguistics, and where the audience are placed through these techniques. CDA aims to establish how discourse in both social and political text as well as speech can reproduce, endorse or dissipate social inequality and abuse of power (Van Dijk, 1998). CDA focuses on determining the meaning s behind language used in text and their relation to society. Fairclough and Wodak (1997: 271-280) summarise a few of the principal beliefs of Critical Discourse Analysis in the following list:

1. CDA addresses social problems

2. Power relations are discursive

3. Discourse constitutes Society and Culture

4. Discourse does ideological work

5. Discourse is historical

6. The link between text and society is mediated

7. Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory

8. Discourse is a form of social action

CDA works on the foundations that discourse in texts and speech are in direct collaboration with society and therefore hold a deeper meaning than the words printed on paper. It is possible to use CDA to analyse texts, as texts are constructed from individual or collective viewpoints, communicating specific values or worldviews, reliant on the author of the material to determine their outcome (Bogren, 2010). One of the main functions of language, as described by Eckert & Mconnell-Ginet (2003), is to enable the labelling of categories, which is essential in the production and reproduction of social hierarchal structures. Because of this, CDA has frequently been used by researchers to examine social power issues within speech and text.

In Creutz-Kamppi’s (2008) research ‘The Othering of Islam in a European context- Polarizing discourses in Swedish-Language dailies in Finland’, discourse analysis is used to break down the meanings behind discourses used in the description of Islam in Swedish-Language newspapers. Creutz-Kamppi structures her research by organizing her main focuses into sub-sections which include: The discourse of violence; the colonialist discourse; the discourse of secularization and the discourse of the clash of civilizations. In each of these sub-sections an example of discourses from selected articles is given, as well as an analysis and explanation of the lexis and discourses used.

The technique of organizing the research into sub-sections throughout Kamppi’s study worked well to communicate the results of the research, and a similar method will be used throughout this study. The sub-sections throughout the course of this research will focus on deconstructing the discourses of the chosen articles, looking at: Violent discourses; religious discourses; discourse of British policies and discourse of Islamic segregation in Britain. Any other relevant findings will also be explained along with an analysis of the accompanying photographs to the articles, including an explanation as to the potential meanings behind the photographs.

Chapter 4

Data Presentation and Analysis

This chapter will be presenting the main body of research for this study and the analysis of this research. Discourses approached in the analysis of each articles will include: Violent discourse- looking at any language with violent connotations within the context of Islam, including depictions of both verbally and physically threatening or destructive incidents and images of aggression; religious discourse- this section will be looking at any discourses directly related to the Islamic religion and the context in which it is used, whether in a positive or negative light; Discourses for British Policies, including British foreign policies in relation to Muslims in Britain; Discourses of Islamic segregation in Britain- this chapter will be focusing on discourses that aid in the othering of Islam and construction of ideologies that communicate Muslims as separate from the secular Britain. Any other relevant findings within the articles will also be analysed, including the use of emotive language to create sensationalism within the news stories. Any relevant accompanying photographs to the articles will also be briefly looked upon and analysed as a support to ideologies created through the discourse of the texts.

Violent Discourses

Since the terrorist attacks of 7/7 on the underground system and bus in London, the British media continued to follow in America’s footsteps, waging war on terrorism and turning their attention to the Islamic religion in the Western World. The Daily Mail’s reporting’s of Islam after this time was increasingly in relation to terrorism or conflictions involving the religion within British Society. Within the timeframe of this research, the British newspaper included almost no coverage of the religion that wasn’t in some way related to terrorism. Due to a bombardment of news stories consistently marrying the images of Islam and terrorism, the consumer is provided with violent images of Islam as a religion, suggesting violence within Islamic beliefs.

All 15 articles selected for the research use the lexis of terror as a basis for the news story, frequently repeating the words ‘terror’, ‘terrorism’, ‘terrorist attacks’ or ‘bombings’. As well as this violent sensationalism is apparent in most articles, with phrases such as ‘kill without mercy’ (see fig.3), ‘death and destruction’ (fig.1), ‘Islamic terror plots’ (fig.3). More prominently, one article headlined ‘One in 11 British Muslims backs suicide bombers’ states that Muslim fanatics ‘continue to peddle a message of hatred in the UK.’ (fig.15).The verb ‘peddled’ demonstrates hatred as something being traded or distributed, likening ‘hatred’ to a product supplied by Muslim Fanatics.

The lexis of terror and Western hatred in relation to Islam is supported through all 15 articles with defining images of violent behaviour, regardless of whether Islam is the cause of the violence. In an article headlined by the emotive rhetoric ‘How much blood must be spilled’ (see fig.1) a constant repetition of ‘terror attacks’ is used alongside violent imagery of ‘slaughter’, ‘maimed’, in references to actions taken in name of Allah. The phrase ‘innocent blood’ is used throughout the article, creating a clear distinction between the innocent victims of the attacks and the Islamic extremist villains. Throughout the article there is no distinction provided to differentiate between the Muslim terrorist group responsible for the attacks and the rest of the Muslim community, stigmatizing the Muslim community as violent in its nature.

Similarly a second article documents violence surround Muslim communities in Britain following the 7/7 attacks (see fig.2). Although the story is detailing violence towards the Muslim community rather than by it, the words ‘attacks’ and ‘bombings’ are repeated numerous times throughout the article, reminding the consumer about the reasons behind the violent ‘backlash’. The article describes violence against the Muslim community, documenting cultural conflictions in relation to Islam including being ‘yelled at’, ‘threatened’, ‘Hijabs pulled off’ and ‘guns pointed at them’. Although the incidents reported were violence towards the Muslim community, the article provides constant reminders that they are in retaliation to the attacks against Britain, urging British Muslims to ‘contact the police with information about individuals they suspect of extremism.’ This enforces an image that racial attacks aimed at the Muslim community are as a result of a backlash to the terrorist attacks committed by an Islamic terrorist group, and a product of the Islamic religion.

Terrorism as a product of Islam is also a theme noted in figure 12. The article profiles several British Muslim terrorists that have been convicted for their terrorist actions. The article highlights previous character flaws and convictions of the terrorists before their conversion to Islam. The subjects of the article are depicted through their violent tendencies, being described as ‘convicted sex-offender turned committed Jihadist’, ‘ruthless overlord’, and interest in material that ‘praised suicide bombings’. The focus on the subject’s conversions to Islam, following already violent behaviour suggests that the Islamic religion and beliefs appeals to members whose beliefs have roots in violence. Although Islam is mentioned throughout the article, there is no mention of the al Qaeda terrorist group they belonged to, other than in the headline ‘The bombers: Jihadist fervour drove al Qaeda terror cell.’ Because of this, the consumer is led to believe that the terrorist actions committed were due to the beliefs of the Muslim religion, rather than the extremist beliefs of the terrorist group they belonged to.

The violent discourse throughout the articles tend to lean towards the lexis of terror surrounding the Islam as a religion, whereas little definition is given about the beliefs held by the majority of Muslims, focusing on the actions of Muslim fanatics and extremists. Where