The Role of Fox News in Producing Fear of Muslims
Fox News, one of the most popular news sources in the country, is also one of the most notorious producers and perpetuators of fear of the general Muslim culture in America. Fox uses the idea that "through American television people passively receive ideologies" to propagate Islamophobia in America [1]. The news channel twists its stories, relying on the fact that people will automatically lend credibility to an "official" news source in order to create a fear of Muslims not only to create dramatic, fast-selling news, but also to create social constructs that will benefit the US Government's political goals. Thought not quite as bad as MSNBC, a recent study shows that less than half of Fox's content is factual news. Despite receiving heavy criticism, Fox News continues to leverage yellow journalism, sensationalist headlines, and exaggerations of stories in order to mold the public opinion in a cast that they have prepared: namely, one that is highly Islamophobic. Several examples and incidents of Fox's determined goal to further outcast Muslims include:
The "Ground Zero Mosque"
Fox first created this controversy when an Islamic community center was proposed to be built in Manhattan. Although the center was not very close to Ground Zero, and there were to be many other facilities besides a religious center, including a gym and recreation rooms for community programs, Fox decided to use the sensationalist term "Ground Zero Mosque" to describe the proposal. A title that touches such a raw American nerve demonstrates Fox News' desire to create an association between Muslims and 9/11, and hence an association between Muslims and violence in America. After a large national outrage that Fox sparked, the community center story was dropped for a short while, but in reality Fox didn't stop their Islamophobic efforts there. Fox would continually revisit the subject, claiming that community activities were no longer being held in the center, in the place of strictly religious activities. Fox clearly shows a desire to paint Muslims as a threatening force that is trying to take over Western culture with their "evil" religion. The video on this is shown below.
Shariah Law in Minnesota
Just one of many other examples of Fox's anti-Muslim campaign, Fox reported that Minnesota was "on its way to being America's first Somali-Muslim state." The report stated that taxi drivers in the state would not drive passengers who did not obey Shariah law, and cashiers at a local Target would not handle pork products. Two seemingly small instances of individuals exercising their rights to freedom of religion were disproportionately made into a large scandal by Fox and called "an onslaught against...culture and law" to again create anti-Muslim sentiment in the US. By allowing the cashiers what they asked for, Fox asserted that Target had "agreed to go along with Shariah Law" as if Target was ceding to a hostile Muslim takeover. The report also mentions hallucinogenic drugs in parallel with the Muslim culture in question to again attach a negative, dangerous connotation to Islam. This story is similar to Douglas Kellner's idea of television mythology "naturalizing the dominant institutions and way of life" [1]. Muslim way of life is being painted as unnatural; if we allow it to exist we are sacrificing the dominant, "natural" culture in America. More in the video below.
The "Ground Zero Mosque"
Fox first created this controversy when an Islamic community center was proposed to be built in Manhattan. Although the center was not very close to Ground Zero, and there were to be many other facilities besides a religious center, including a gym and recreation rooms for community programs, Fox decided to use the sensationalist term "Ground Zero Mosque" to describe the proposal. A title that touches such a raw American nerve demonstrates Fox News' desire to create an association between Muslims and 9/11, and hence an association between Muslims and violence in America. After a large national outrage that Fox sparked, the community center story was dropped for a short while, but in reality Fox didn't stop their Islamophobic efforts there. Fox would continually revisit the subject, claiming that community activities were no longer being held in the center, in the place of strictly religious activities. Fox clearly shows a desire to paint Muslims as a threatening force that is trying to take over Western culture with their "evil" religion. The video on this is shown below.
Shariah Law in Minnesota
Just one of many other examples of Fox's anti-Muslim campaign, Fox reported that Minnesota was "on its way to being America's first Somali-Muslim state." The report stated that taxi drivers in the state would not drive passengers who did not obey Shariah law, and cashiers at a local Target would not handle pork products. Two seemingly small instances of individuals exercising their rights to freedom of religion were disproportionately made into a large scandal by Fox and called "an onslaught against...culture and law" to again create anti-Muslim sentiment in the US. By allowing the cashiers what they asked for, Fox asserted that Target had "agreed to go along with Shariah Law" as if Target was ceding to a hostile Muslim takeover. The report also mentions hallucinogenic drugs in parallel with the Muslim culture in question to again attach a negative, dangerous connotation to Islam. This story is similar to Douglas Kellner's idea of television mythology "naturalizing the dominant institutions and way of life" [1]. Muslim way of life is being painted as unnatural; if we allow it to exist we are sacrificing the dominant, "natural" culture in America. More in the video below.
Bill O'Reilly, one of the premier anchors on Fox News, and host of "The O'Reilly Factor" misuses his great influence on the minds of television viewers to lead them to believe that all Muslims are dangerous, and that the Muslim culture is one that is invasive and threatening. According to an article by Salon.com, on October 8, 2010, O'Reilly broadcasted the idea that "Muslims are people to be feared" to his audience, which is a ridiculous generalization that directly leads to the spread of Islamophobia in America. Read the article here. Additionally, O'Reilly interviewed Juan Williams, and played off of Williams' comments about fearing getting on to a plane with Muslims to create the idea that Muslims and the religion of Islam in general are dangerous to people's everyday safety.
Cheap tricks and deceiving maneuvers such as these certainly do not provide viewers with a "fair and balanced" view of the world, which is ironically the slogan of Fox News. A news channel that would allow a man such as Bill O'Reilly to fill one of their most viewed time slots is obviously one that cannot be trusted to show the people of Islam and Muslim culture in an unbiased fashion.
Cheap tricks and deceiving maneuvers such as these certainly do not provide viewers with a "fair and balanced" view of the world, which is ironically the slogan of Fox News. A news channel that would allow a man such as Bill O'Reilly to fill one of their most viewed time slots is obviously one that cannot be trusted to show the people of Islam and Muslim culture in an unbiased fashion.
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[1] Newcomb, Horace. Television: The Critical View. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1987.