ISIS or rather an Islamic state is a term used to refer to a group of violent and extreme Jihadists, who presently control Iraq and Syria. As the extremist group of Jihadist continue to make headlines in local, national as well as global media, many people are wondering what the group wants. ISIS claims to have its actions rooted in the principles of Islam, despite the many attempts by other Muslims to refute the idea, which has seen Muslim across the Globe misrepresented and radicalized. The Islamic State is in the process of establishing a radical, extremist state, known as a caliphate and led by a supreme ruler, who will lead the group towards bringing about the apocalypse. Members of this extremist group believe that only Muslims are the only pure beings and that the rest of humanity is unclean, thus the use of the term Kafiri to prefer most especially to Christians. Basing their actions on fulfilling the will of Allah, the group is determined to cleanse the world through an apocalypse, even if it means its members die since they believe they will go to Jana for fulfilling what the group deems as ‘Allah’s will.’ The group’s notion, beliefs and practice have led to the misrepresentation of all Muslims by association, across local, national as well as global media platforms.
ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi deems himself as the caliph or ruler and he is the foundation upon which the rhetoric of the extremist group is founded. The caliph’s profound knowledge of Islamic scripture, which dates back to the seventh- century, is attributed to the groups conduct as it reportedly draws from a violent vision. Many Muslims from across the globe have outrightly denied any truth of the claims of ISIS, but the media still misrepresents them even in light of historical evidence of the difference in the practice of the Islamic religion (Dagli, 2015). There have been various incidences in which the media have misrepresented innocent and peace-loving Muslim in light of the extreme and radical practices and actions of ISIS.
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On the 16th of August, 2016, Times of India wrote an article on an assault on “a hijab-clad mother-daughter-duo.” In the article, the two were spat on and called ISIS by a women in the U.S. The hate crime was committed amid the growing incidences of Islamophobia as covered and misrepresented by local, national and global media. According to the two women, they were harassed and physically attacked for wearing hijabs around the neighborhood of the West Rogers Park in the U.S. The women also said that the woman who attacked them physically and verbally assaulted by hurling anti-Islamic insults at them. Apparently, even the Chicago police were present during the incident yet; they did not take the matter seriously or help them. A video shot by one of the women shows the attacker hurling insults, at the hijab-clad mother-daughter Muslim duo, by shouting “...you ISIS! ...you ISIS (Times of India, 2016)”
The story above is among the incidences where the media is seen as misrepresenting Muslims since nowhere in the story does the article point out the innocence of the duo against the allegation of being deemed as ISIS. Similarly, the video was sent across different social media platforms without any form of clarification of whether or not the allegations were true, thus the misrepresentation of Muslims as they are being likened to ISIS for being Muslim. The misrepresentation could be as a result of the inability for certain media platforms to differentiate between extremists Islamic practices and those of rational Muslims (Babad, 2005). For instance, certain Muslims went to social media to denounce association with ISIS, yet some media outlets still misrepresent Muslims on account of religion and ISIS. There have been other incidence where Muslims have been misrepresented and the fact that the media covers such stories without verifying and making clear factors such as the innocence of victims such as the hijab-clad mother-daughter-duo.
In another isolated incidence, the media is also seen as indirectly misrepresenting Muslims, by covering only stories that show victimization of Muslim because of ISIS. The media fails to give attention to the active protests by fellow Muslims against ISIS, yet they cover stories, without even demonstrating the innocence of the victimized. A biased media can be reported to have certain characteristics of misrepresentation as it can also be characterized by bias. By observing silence with regards to the anti-ISIS campaigns/Anti-extremist marches, the media is misrepresenting Muslims o the account of ISIS (Embury-Dennis, 2017). An instance in which the media treated the Muslims against Isis/Anti-Extremist Marches, demonstrates a form of misrepresentation because it was not given as much attention and airtime as other Muslim victimization stories. The march by thousands of Muslims in London against the extremist group ISIS did not receive much mainstream media attention r airtime, which shows a lack of representation of the sentiments of many Muslims, thus media misrepresentation.
Muslim misrepresentation on account of ISIS by the media as demonstrated above can occur directly or indirectly. It occurs directly when the media covers Muslim, ISIS-related hate crime stories, without necessarily providing clarity on the innocence of the victimized Muslims. Similarly, by failing to give airtime to stories where Muslim are actively protesting against ISIS and the extremist movement, is a way of misrepresentation by the media. The media appears to glorify more the victimization than the dissociation, thus misrepresenting the fact that Muslims deny involvement in any of the extremist’s activities of ISIS (Babad, 2005). Therefore, the media should avoid bias to ensure proper representation of Muslims without necessarily associating them with the extremist group, ISIS.
References
Babad, E. (2005). The psychological price of media bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied , 11 (4), 245.
Dagli, C. K. (2015). The Phony Islam of ISIS. The Atlantic .
Embury-Dennis, T. (2017, October 3). Thousands of Muslims March Against ISIS In London. INDEPENDENT . Retrieved December 1, 2017, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslims-march-london-protest-isis-terrorism-ashura-islam-peaceful-demonstrators-a7980476.html
Times of India. (2016, August 16). Hijab-clad Muslim women assaulted, called 'ISIS' in US. The Times of India World. Retrieved December 1, 2017, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Hijab-clad-Muslim-women-assaulted-called-ISIS-in-US/articleshow/53721086.cms
