Muslims in Western Media: New Zealand Newspapers' Construction of 2006 Terror Plot at Heathrow Airport and Beyond

Abstract

This study critically examines the representation of the 2006 “suspected aircraft terror plot” at Heathrow Airport in London by three mainstream newspapers in New Zealand—the Otago Daily Times, the Press (Press) and the New Zealand Herald. It seeks to illustrate how these newspapers espoused an Orientalist view of “Islamic Other” in framing the issue by representing Islam and Muslims as a threat to “the West” as well as to New Zealand. It is argued that in reporting the issue, these newspapers provided extraordinary emphasis on Islamic terrorism that was extrapolated from the event but they maintained their categorical silence when the initial sensationalizing representations were found to be questionable, as evidence did not fully support the scale of the Orientalist representation. In trying to explain this media frenzy, we point to the existential fear of New Zealand society about Islam and Muslims both globally and locally. We argue that this typical media representation aimed at controlling discourses and discursive formations about Islam and Muslims in society by overfeeding media consumers with ideologies so that they do not have an opportunity to internalize alternative discourses.

Notes

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35. “The Western” supremacy can be found in his speech. For example, in a statement he maintains: “If they [Asian/Chinese] can't accept that we are in a free country in a free society, with free speech then they really came to a wrong country. If they want to go to a country that is full of fear, where people aren't allowed to speak out, they really need to go back to whatever country they came from”. For this reference, see McAvinue, op. cit., p. 1. The report published under the headline: Anti-Chinese Government leaflet sparks racism fears: May 31, 2013 (ODT).

36. See news report: MP slams Muslims and gays: August 27–28, 2006, the Press.

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61. Ibid., p. 7.

62. Poole, Reporting Islam, op. cit., p. 23.

63. van Dijk, “Discourse and manipulation”, Discourse & Society, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2006, p. 370.

64. Ibid., p. 370.

65. Ibid., p. 364.

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83. van Dijk, “Discourse and manipulation”, op. cit.

84. Ibid., p. 365 [emphases added].

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88. Entman, “Framing: Towards clarification of a fractured paradigm”, op. cit.

89. Ibid., p. 52 [original italic].

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93. See Hafez, Arab Media, op. cit.; Maira, “Belly Dancing”, op. cit.; Poole, Reporting Islam, op. cit.; Richardson, (Mis)Representing Islam: The racism and rhetoric of broadsheet newspapers, 2004. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

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95. Campbell, Race, Myth and the News, op. cit., p. 7; van Dijk, “New(s) racism”, op. cit., p. 36.

96. van Dijk, “New(s) racism”, op. cit., p. 36.

97. The slogan TERROR ALERT appears in the ODT from August 12, 2006, the second day of coverage; TERROR PLOT REVEALED appears in the NZH from August 11, 2006, the first day of coverage; and AIR TERROR PLOT appears in the Press from August 11, 2006, the first day of coverage [original emphasis].

98. News report: Aircraft Terror Foiled: August 11, 2006 (ODT).

99. News report: Air Terror Plot Foiled: August 11, 2006 (Press).

100. News report: Worldwide Travel Chaos: August 11, 2006 (NZH).

101. Ibid.

102. News report: Aircraft Terror Foiled: August 11, 2006 (ODT).

103. Brasted, “Contested Representation in Historical Perspective: Images of Islam and Australian Press, 1950–2000”, in Ather Farouqui, ed., Muslims and Media Images: News versus Views, 2009, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 58–84.

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105. Karim, Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence, 2000, NY: Black Rose Books; Poole, Reporting Islam, op. cit.; Said, Orientalism, op cit.

106. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, New York, NY: Pantheon, 1981, p. 1.

107. Publication date: August 12–13, 2006.

108. News report: Plot Secrets Revealed: 12–13 August, 2006 (NZH).

109. News report: Terror Cells Watched for Months (ODT). August 12–13, 2006.

110. News report: Ritual of Denial Must Stop Now (Press): August 12, 2006.

111. Gendzier, “Dying to forget: the U.S. and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction”, Logos, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2003, p. 17.

112. Taylor, “Can the information war on terror be won? A polemic essay”, Media, War & Conflict, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2008, pp. 118–124.

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115. Kellner, “9/11, spectacles of terror, and media manipulation”, op. cit., p. 69.

116. Kamalipour, “Forward”, in Tomasz Pludowski, ed., How the World's News Media Reacted to 9/11, 2007, Washington: Marquette Books, Llc., p. 20.

117. News report: Ritual of Denial Must Stop Now (Press). August 12, 2006.

118. News report: Airline Terror Planning Echoes Plot by World Trade Centre Bomber, (NZH) August 12, 2006.

119. Kellner, “9/11, spectacles of terror, and media manipulation”, op. cit., p. 44.

120. Ibid., p. 44.

121. News report: Suspects Questioned; Terror Threat Still ‘Critical’: August 14, 2006 (ODT).

122. Allen, “Justifying Islamophobia: A Post-9/11 Consideration of the European Union and British Contexts”, American Journal of Islamic Social Science, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2004, p. 2.

123. Ibid., p. 2.

124. van Dijk, “New(s) racism”, op. cit., p. 36.

125. Allen, “Justifying Islamophobia”, op. cit., p. 1.

126. Poole, Reporting Islam, op. cit.; Richardson, (Mis)Representing Islam, op. cit.

127. Richardson, (Mis)Representing Islam, op. cit., p. 113.

128. Richardson, “British Muslims in the Broadsheet Press: a challenge to cultural hegemony?” op. cit.

129. Kellner, “9/11, spectacles of terror, and media manipulation”, op. cit., p. 44.

130. Terror Cells Watched for Months: August 12–13, 2006 (ODT).

131. Deadly plane Blast Plot Bears All the Signs of the ‘Big One’: August 14, 2006 (NZH).

132. This comment appears with a photograph of the Secretary and inserted with enlarged font and all together occupied more than two columns in the front-page banner news. See news report: Aircraft terror plot foiled: August 11, 2006 (ODT).

133. News report: US Steps up to Red Alert for First Time: August 11, 2006 (Press).

134. This anonymity of the source is frequent in these newspapers, especially in the context of making any direct comments.

135. Original quotation mark.

136. News report: US Steps up to Red Alert for First Time: August 11, 2006 (Press).

137. See news report: Spy Operation on Alert for Dozens of Plot: August 21, 2006 (NZH).

138. This comment, presenting a pregnant girl's frustration and anger on the occasion of a ‘possible Muslim terrorist attack’, is highlighted and inserted with bold fonts inside the full-page lead news—Plot secrets revealed: August 12, 2006 (NZH).

139. Holohan, “New Labour, Multiculturalism and the Media in Britain”, in Elizabeth Poole and John E. Richardson, eds., Muslim and the News Media, 2006, London: I. B. Tauris, London, pp. 13–23.

140. Ibid., p. 13.

141. Halliday, “Anti-Arab Prejudice in the UK: the ‘Kilroy-Silk Affair’ and the BBC Response”, in Elizabeth Poole and John E. Richardson, eds., Muslim and the News Media, 2006, London: I. B. Tauris, London, pp. 24–26.

142. Ibid.

143. Search for Common Ground: Muslim, Non-Muslim and the UK Media, A report commissioned by the Mayor of London, 2007. London: Greater London Authority, City Hall. Available online (accessed on March 12, 2008): http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/equalities/docs/commonground_report.pdf.

144. Richardson, (Mis)Representing Islam, op. cit., p. 120.

145. News report: Anger Fuels Denial Culture: August 14, 2006 (Press).

146. News report: Suspect Held over Jet Plot: August 17, 2006 (Press).

147. News report: Bin Laden's ‘Helping Hand’: August 14, 2006 (NZH).

148. News report: Terror Cells Watched the Intensification of This “Foiled Plot”: August 14, 2006 (ODT).

149. Publishing date: August 14, 2006.

150. Original emphasis.

151. Altheide, “The Columbine Shootings and the Discourse of Fear”, American Behavioral Scientists, Vol. 52, No. 10, 2009, p. 1355.

152. van Dijk, Racism and the Press, op. cit., p. 4.

153. See for example, Feddersen, Political parties and the framing of Muslims and Islam An analysis of the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, PhD thesis, Univerisity of Geneva, 2014: Sensoy and Darius Stonebanks, “Introduction: Voice & Other Acts of Insubordination” in Muslim Voices in School: Narratives of Identity and Pluralism, Özlem Sensoy and Christopher Darius Stonebanks, eds., Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. ix-xix. Smith, “Anti-Islamic Sentiment and Media Framing during the 9/11 Decade”, Journal of Religion and Society, Vol. 15, 2013, p. 12.

154. E.g. Terror Threat Is Still Critical (15 August, 2006 [Press]), Suspects questioned: terror threat still critical (August 14, 2006 [ODT]).

155. News report: Aircraft Terror Suspects in Court: August 23, 2006 (NZH).

156. van Dijk, “New(s) racism”, op. cit., p. 36.

157. Ibid.

158. Campbell, Race, Myth and the News, op. cit.

159. Ibid., p. 7.

160. Entman, “Young Men of Color in the Media: Images and Impacts”, Background Paper, 2006, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Washington: The Dellums Commission, US.

161. In fact, only the Press published one report on August 24, 2006. Other two newspapers—the ODT and NZH—stopped publishing news reports after August 23, 2006.

162. Editorial: Terrorism beyond imagination: (NZH). August 12, 2006.

163. Editorial: Plot foiled: (Press). August 14, 2006.

164. Ibid.

165. Kumar, Islamophobia, op. cit.; Kumar, “Framing Islam: The Resurgence of Orientalism During the Bush II era”, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2010, pp. 254–277.

166. Bottici and Challand, “Rethinking Political Myth: The Clash of Civilizations as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”, European Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2006, pp. 315–336.

167. Altheide, “The Columbine Shootings and the Discourse of Fear”, op. cit., p. 1355.