Elizabeth Poole examines the coverage of Muslims in the British press and suggests that although this is largely negative there are opportunities for more positive developments.

Current debates regarding the representation of Islam in the media suggest that Islam is demonised and distorted by the West. Some claim that a shift in the global power equation, due to the collapse of communism, has led to anxieties and attempts by the West to maintain its hegemony. Political Islam, which has emerged out of different experiences of colonialism and oppression, has allowed the West to construct Islam as the new enemy - a global force which represents an ideological and physical threat based on a historically polarised relationship. This, it is argued, has been necessary for the West to both reassert its power over an economically rich area and in doing so defend its supreme Western identity. Consequently, the media, as a hegemonic instrument, demonises Islam, portraying it as a threat to Western interests, thus reproducing and sustaining the ideology necessary to subjugate Muslims both internationally and domestically.

Hence, representations of Islam are seen as reductive and predominantly negative. Muslims are homogenised as backward, irrational, unchanging, fundamentalists, misogynists, threatening and manipulative in the use of their faith for political and personal gain.

Whilst there certainly appears to be evidence for these patterns of representation, I take issue with the homogenisation of the West and its media. Different countries have different political circumstances and motivations which are reproduced and reconstructed in their social systems, including that of the media. Yet, neither are media systems homogeneous. The ‘media’ incorporates a range of communication modes and within these, there are numerous genres, different affiliations, priorities and constraints. The image of Islam will differ according to these and cannot be a unified global image as it is imagined. In addition to this, few writers on Islam’s media image have attempted to examine the issue by systematic empirical rather than rhetorical means, providing mainly selective, anecdotal evidence for their claims. Factors impinging on the process of representation must include, for example, the processes of news production in Britain, the ownership and political affiliations of media institutions and cannot simply be attributed to a historical relationship of confrontation or Western oppression.

I chose to examine British newspaper representation of British Muslims only, to ascertain whether the representation of Muslims within a local context would be more positive and diverse. Taking all 837 articles written on British Muslims between 1993-1996 in The Guardian and The Times (chosen for their different political stances), I examined these quantitatively to establish: what is covered in newspapers in relation to British Islam; how stories are framed. However, quantitative analysis does not allow an examination of the ‘tone’ of articles, whether they are positive or negative towards Muslims. I therefore supplemented this analysis with a qualitative discourse analysis of five predominant stories from 1997, which also included an analysis of The Sun and The Mail, thus taking into account a wider range of public discourse. Here, the aim is only to provide the main findings of the research.

What is immediately obvious is that the main significance and focus on Islam is global. Over the four year period, 1993-1997, there were 8,075 articles on Islam. Only 1,224 of these were about British Muslims, just 15%, (amounting to approximately 6:1 articles a day). Images of Islam, then, in people’s minds will be predominantly ‘foreign’. This is further compounded by a consistent reference to world events in the articles on British Islam, suggesting that Muslims are immutably linked together.

Over the three year period, 1993-1996, The Guardian/ Observer ran 504 articles on British Islam and The Times/Sunday Times, 333 articles. These results show how the volume of news on British Islam reaching various audiences is highly differentiated. The Guardian’s readers are presented with almost twice the amount of material as readers of The Times. The more extensive coverage assigned to minority groups and other alternative issues and perspectives in The Guardian is consistent with the results of other research where it has been seen to express more tolerant and accommodating interpretations.

The topics most frequently associated with British Islam are: its place in the education system; relationships (marriage) between Muslims/Muslims and non-Muslims; Islamic fundamentalism in Britain; political activity; criminal behaviour; entertainment and media; Prince Charles and Islam; beliefs and practices; Muslim-Christian relations; freedom of speech.

About a quarter of stories on education are about the nature and role of Religious Education in schools. These occurred mainly in 1994 following reforms by the then Conservative government to ensure teaching was broadly Christian in character, likewise daily worship. This caused a flurry of debate in the press and was represented within a comparative framework, both with Christianity and other religions. The second most covered story on education was about the funding of Muslim schools in Britain, occurring mainly in 1996 and subsequently. The move from discussion relating to provision within the mainstream system to separate provision marks a shift both in the strength and identity of Muslim communities in the UK, alongside a recognition that the system already in place, based on multicultural policies, was not working. The press debates are symptomatic of the idea that giving Islam equal status to Christianity is a contentious issue and whilst government rhetoric has supported the idea of multiculturalism, this issue has been represented as a problem for British society.

The relationships of British Muslims are featured on the following terms: that a British person converts to marry a Muslim, particularly if these people are in the public eye, or that there is some kind of deviant, culturally abominable or criminal action related to the relationship. Criminality is more significant in the coverage of personal relationships than any other subject. This perpetuates the idea that Muslim law and practice is deviant in its difference from British values and customs, for example, in the practice of underage marriage for girls. Thus, the purpose of articles on relationships is to emphasise cultural difference. The association with conversion then secures the cultural threat.

Stories on fundamentalism usually occur following an international event which provokes press speculation on the Islamic fundamentalist presence in the UK. Consequently, this subject is frequently linked to immigration due to concerns regarding legal dissidents and their activities. The Government is also a key player here as it attempts to deal with the ‘problem’.

The representation of Muslims in politics represents a shift in recognition of their increasing presence in the public sphere. However, what is evident from this research is what could have been an opportunity for more open and positive coverage has mainly been framed through criminality. This insinuates that when Muslims are involved in politics, illegal activity takes place. It also illustrates the tendency to undermine the few Muslim politicians that there are in Britain. The central focus of these articles is corruption in politics, with accusations of bribery and vote-rigging associated with the by-election involving the first Muslim MP in Govan, Scotland, 1995. Its low occurrence in 1994 indicates that the political activity of Muslims has little news value unless it shows them in negative activities and gaining some degree of power.

Muslims continue to be associated with the issue of freedom of speech and the Rushdie affair. This story often serves to illustrate a threat from irrational, antiquated Muslims to British liberal values and democracy. The Rushdie affair was an ongoing news story due to the Iranian fatwa (religious decree) and as a result of this, relations with Iran. Debate throughout this period focused on the annual renewal of the fatwa and measures taken by the British government to pressurise Iran and support Rushdie This suggests that the agenda of Muslims in Britain is being dictated by Muslims outside Britain, that foreign values are impinging on British society. These images sustain and maintain ideas about extremist and fanatical Muslims in the public mind, and marginalise the moderate and pragmatic stance of the majority of British Muslims.

The way these topics are framed then, gives rise to the expression of a few central defining themes. These can be identified in the following ways: that Muslims are a threat to security in the UK due to their involvement in deviant activities; that Muslims are a threat to British mainstream values and thus provoke integrative concerns; that there are inherent cultural differences between Muslims and the host community which create tensions in interpersonal relations; that Muslims are increasingly making their presence felt in the public sphere.

However, we should not, as already mentioned, present representation as completely homogeneous. Although the representation of Muslims has its own dynamics, cultural racism is intertwined with colour racism. Variation also occurs across other levels of difference such as gender, generation and class. Representation also depends on the complex interaction of the political affiliations and interests of papers. Struggles exist between elite conservative and liberal groups in their formulation of Muslims. The Guardian has a greater interest in Muslim issues, is more likely to run stories first and displays an openness which gives voice to alternative representations. The tabloids grant less space to the coverage of minority issues in general and offer closure around this coverage which reflects their populist appeal.

Although the volume of coverage is greater in the liberal press, the readership of the conservative press is higher. Equally, The Guardian’s secular, human rights stance means Islam is often formulated as offensive to its liberal norms. It is therefore more critical of Muslims than other minorities, having a similar framework of interpretation to the other papers. This results, despite the differences, in a negative formulation of Muslims throughout the British press. Alternative perspectives rarely go unchallenged, are expressed irregularly, in the margins of the papers and especially in the unofficial form of letters. Commentary is generally used to promote a more populist perspective rather than criticism.

The discourse analysis in 1997 and the continued monitoring of these papers in 1998 and 1999 shows the persistence and even tightening around this framework. The disassociation by Iran from the fatwa on Rushdie, for example, was framed by scepticism. Elsewhere, acts of fundamentalism continue to be linked to groups in Britain; in relation to Luxor and Osama bin Laden and more recently Abu Hamza and the conviction of British Muslims for terrorist acts in the Yemen. Yet there are spaces of opposition, the representation of the funding of Muslims schools, for example, was considered to be fair by a number of Muslims I have spoken to. Increasingly, then, Muslims are becoming a more powerful lobbying force and have made efforts to create a representative body with whom the government can negotiate. Engaging in a rhetoric of inclusivity, New Labour has appeared to provide some spaces of participation for Muslims in its vision of a plural society. However, questions need to be asked as to whether this has been little more than courting the community. Action such as the funding of two Muslim schools is a way of placating Muslims. Providing small gestures of appeasement which have little impact on the status quo calms protest from Muslims but causes little dissent amongst the majority community. Despite this, these small steps are an improvement on previous relations. This sort of research provides evidence that lobbying by Muslims is having some effect. It also provides an objective and systematic tool for exacting further changes.