“Perception of the representation of Arabs and Muslims in Western Media.”

A report entitled , `The British Media and Muslim Representation : The Ideology of Demonisation (Ameli , Marandi , Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007 for the Islamic Rights Commission explored the relationship between perceptions by and of Muslims and the role of domination and demonisation in the cultural language of the media . The sixth report in the British Muslims ' Expectations of Government series involved questions such as : How has the Western media generally covered Islam and Muslims ? What are the concerns about media reporting and why does representation matter ? What action do Muslims expect the government to

br take to remedy any unfairness

By analysing responses from a nationwide survey of 1125 Muslims , and answers from 57 qualitative questionnaires and analyses of television news , films and English literature this report sought to answer some of these questions and to understand how media can influence public understanding and viewpoints (Ameli , Marandi , Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007

As to the Muslim perception of the media corroborated by a variety of studies , there is a dominant perception amongst Muslims that the media does indeed portray them and their religion in an inaccurate and derogatory manner (Ameli , Marandi , Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007

Effectively then , what the public understand about Muslims in general and British Muslims in particular is understood to deeply related to `British Muslim representation ' not only in the media but also in the whole social systems of the West . Representation is not only about perception , the position of the reader and audience is very critical (Ameli , Marandi , Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007

That is why non-British Muslims and British Muslims do not have a similar understanding of Muslim representation in the media (Hill , 1981 , Fregoso , 1993 and Hall , 1997

Research findings showed that analysis highlighted institutionalized prejudice that was so embedded that anti-Muslim prejudice did not need to be maliciously motivated or intentional as it was structural (Ameli , Marandi , Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007 .These analyses from the outset sought to recognize the many examples of good practice in the media , in particular TV and print media attempts at key times to educate audiences about Islam and Muslims (Ameli , Marandi Ahmed , Kara Merali , 2007 ...