Speaker Lambastes Media for Sensationalism and Bias towards Islam

The American media received a thorough dressing-down this week at Fletcher, as John Esposito ran through a litany of criticisms of their portrayal of Islam. Esposito is a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he founded the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Over the last 30 years, he said, coverage of Islam in the media has mushroomed. Although there has been a good deal of coverage, unfortunately the thrust of much of the coverage has been sensationalist and fundamentally biased.

Esposito delivered an animated lecture to a full audience in Fletcher’s main auditorium on October 14.. His lecture is the first in a series on “Media and the Middle East” sponsored by the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, headed by Professor Leila Fawaz.

To Esposito, the media’s avid interest in Islam is driven primarily by a desire to understand terrorism. The debate is framed as “getting to know the religion of the terrorists rather than the religion that the terrorists hijacked,” he said. The difference is significant. We would never do the same with Christianity or Judaism: “We wouldn’t try to learn more about Christianity to understand people blowing up abortion clinics.”

The media latch onto Islam, especially Wahhabi Islam, as a quick answer to terrorist violence, he said. Reporters don’t consider whether socio-economic conditions, the Gulf War, Saudi foreign policy, or the American-led invasion in Iraq might be the root causes of anger in the Arab world. They fail to distinguish between the multiple interpretations of Islam in Saudi Arabia and equate Wahhabi Islam solely with terrorists like Osama Bin Laden and supporters of terrorism.

“A market driven by the bottom line, that’s what the media’s about. It’s a corporation like any other corporation,” Esposito said. Reporters work on deadlines and need to boost readership. Ten years ago, when America slumped into recession, most major media companies cut their overseas budgets and the number of foreign reporters. Now, reporters with little or no background in Islam and terrorism are getting assigned to cover these areas. A poor knowledge of Islam, combined with a love for sensationalism, means that the media provide no broader context for the public (and policy makers) to understand Islam.

Esposito cited a study by the University of Rochester that looked at coverage of religion in major newspapers over a two month period. It found that coverage of both Catholicism and Islam was overwhelmingly negative. “What did Catholicism get covered for? Pedophilia. What did Islam get covered for? Terrorism, violence.” How many articles dealt with mainstream belief and practice? Esposito challenged. “If that broader coverage doesn’t exist, what does that mean for the way in which people, citizens as well as policy makers, will contextualize the judgments that they make?”

Another major reason for the disproportionately negative coverage of Islam is the current “neo-conservative dominance” in the media and policy making. “That’s fine,” Esposito said, “but we ought to name the reality.” People are outraged at statements made by Arab reporters, but “look at our O’Reillys or our Safires and Pipes on the Middle East… Al Jazeera is no different than Fox and the New York Post.”

Student reactions to Esposito’s talk were decidedly positive. “He’s one of the foremost scholars on Islam,” said Rudy Jaafar, a first-year MALD student. “I was delighted to hear him… He has his own opinions as to why there is a bias [in the media], because of sensationalism mostly, although I think there are other issues as well...He’s very interesting, very funny, and a great speaker.”

Shane Anthony, another first-year MALD student, also enjoyed the talk, but commented “He could have gone into a little more depth for some of the rationale as to why the media portrays Arabs as it does, and conversely, why it doesn’t talk about the opposite side, on the part of the Israelis.”

Leila Fawaz, head of the Fares Center, said that the Center’s goal is to bring a whole range of opinions through the “Media and Middle East” lecture series. “[Esposito] is on one end,” she said. “His perspective is today in the minority…but it’s a very important voice, because it represents the opinions of most people overseas.”