Pew International Journalism Program

US Media Do Poor Job of Covering Islam, says Muslim Scholar

By Otto Pohl, Fall 2002 Pew Fellow

Washington, D.C. - September 26, 2002. American news organizations are presenting a dangerously oversimplified view of Islam that could exacerbate current global tensions, an expert on the Islamic world told Pew Fellows today.

"At times the discussion of Islam in the [US] media is dangerously ignorant," said Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC. "I would give it an F."

In times of crisis, all governments try to simplify the definition of who is an enemy, said Ahmed, a former Pakistani ambassador to Britain. "The word 'terrorist' has become a catch-all for US government policy," Ahmed said. "When you have 'you're with us or against us' you don't have many nuances. You're simply saying if you're not like me, then I'm not going to accept you." He said it is the media's responsibility to look at Islam in a more nuanced way in order to counteract these tendencies. "I want some in-depth understanding so we can release some of this tension."

The importance of understanding Islam, Ahmed said, was clear from a quick look at the world today. There are 55 Muslim countries and a total of 1.3 billion Muslims. Many Muslims live in countries whose stability is considered critical to the US - such as Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, Turkey, and Pakistan. Iran and Iraq, two of the three countries in what President George W. Bush called the 'axis of evil' are Muslim, and Pakistan, another Muslim state, already has nuclear capability.

Ahmed emphatically denied that Islam is a religion that encourages violence. He said suicide bombings and the murder of innocents are "categorically condemned," and it is only in the hands of extremists like Osama bin Laden that the religion becomes a tool of war. He cautioned against those who say bin Laden's beliefs represent all of Islam. "No one says [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh is representative of Christianity," Ahmed said.

He acknowledged that many in the Muslim world have an equally distorted view of the US. Many Muslims equate the United States with sex and violence, a caricature that "is a failure of Muslim politics," he said. If Americans don't counter with a more nuanced view of the Muslim world, then a clash of civilizations will become more likely.

The problem is not primarily with the "quality press," Ahmed said, but with the mainstream media, and particularly television, which has tended to reinforce Muslim stereotypes. The US government and US media response to 9-11 has reinforced the notion of a "final crusade," Ahmed said. He said journalists are not only observers now but also players, who can affect the tone of the debate.