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Arab and western media portray terrorism differently

Just as one man's junk is another man's treasure, Mohammed el-Nawawy believes terrorist to some is a freedom fighter for others.

"The concept of terrorism is value-laden," el-Nawawy said. "Terrorism is in the eye of the beholder."

El-Nawawy said words are more than mere symbols, especially in journalism. During his speech Friday at the launching of the Global Media Research Center, el-Nawawy discussed how "terrorism" is portrayed in Arab and Western media coverage.

El-Nawawy, a 1999 doctoral alumnus and professor of communications at Georgia State University, said the general patterns of Arab media coverage of "so-called terrorism" reflect the ideology of the culture.

Differences between American culture and Middle Eastern culture can be seen through choices of terminology concerning terrorism, el-Nawawy said.

He said that Western media use terms like war against terror, rogue states and Islamic militants without realizing the emotional nature of these words.

"This makes journalists act as rhetorical amplifiers for either terrorists or government officials by employing words that indicate a bias out of a lack of a more neutral substitute," el-Nawawy said.

While Western media are calling those who die by strapping a bomb to themselves and then detonating it in a public place a suicide bomber, el-Nawawy said Arab media shy away from this term because suicide is forbidden in Islam. Arab media would use suicidal attacks, unidentified armed men or, if it happened in Iraq, Iraqi resistance.

If an Arab news network used suicide to describe these actions it could lose much of its audience because this can be seen as a legitimate form of resistance. El-Nawawy defined this as contextual objectivity because it is the hybrid struggle of the desensitized message delivered.

Leo Gher, who teaches in the department of Radio-Television, has researched Arab media for many years and was the respondent to el-Nawawy's speech. Gher said that prior to 1995, the government ruled all Middle Eastern media, and once the outlets broke away, the first thing they did was criticize the ruling governments.

Gher said there is a third element to the terrorist versus freedom fighter discussion in Iraq - "gangsterism."

"Many of the horrors being committed today is not by terrorism offensive, but by thugs who capitalize and sell for their own profit," Gher said.

Discrepancies also arise when the situation of terrorist acts and what to call them. El-Nawawy said when terrorism happens outside the Middle East, most Arab networks will call it "so-called" terrorism or attribute the terrorism term to the government official who said it.

He also said that Arab media do not have monolithic coverage of these events because Arab newspapers in London and Lebanon do call them "suicide attackers." However, el-Nawawy said the Arab media are consistent in condemning the 9/11 attacks "as contrary to the spirit of Islam."

There is a symbiotic relationship between terrorist organizations and Arab media because the organizations seek out the media to get their messages out, while providing the media with "exciting" news.

"Modern-day terrorist organizations are becoming more and more media savvy," he said, citing Osama bin Laden, who is also called "Spin Laden" by Middle Eastern news outlets, as an example.

El-Nawawy said the terrorists use the media to acquire legitimacy and achieve political angst and use coercive rhetoric through violence. They also use persuasive language through metaphors, historical references and poetic language.

Many Arab journalists have come under fire for interviewing top terrorist leaders but not reporting them to the police, El-Nawawy said, but these journalists don't see turning over terrorists as part of their job.

"The concept of black and white is very attractive for media outlets because it is simple and easy," he said, "but in many cases there are shades of gray, which is where truth and reality usually reside."

 

 

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