ABSTRACT
This chapter is being written in a period of tumultuous politics, a phase in which it appears that the neoliberal status quo has been replaced by something abnormal, in which the “Western” world has been rocked by a shift to nationalist populism—in the US by the election of Donald Trump and in Europe by the decision by the UK to leave the European Union (popularly known as “Brexit”). 1 Identity politics have been central to populist groups who have used this as a rallying point to shore up support for their political projects, by emphasizing the negative effects of diversity, blaming immigrants and ethnic minority groups (and the “elites” that support them) for a variety of social problems. The largely conservative mainstream media have followed their lead and placed these issues at the forefront of coverage. This chapter will examine how this has played out with particular reference to the UK as a case study and the media’s representation of Muslims. Muslims have been a target for populist groups as the rise of political Islam and the influx of refugees from the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) region, particularly Syria, has increased their visibility in the news. This chapter will question this “newsworthiness” with reference to the political context and news values. The chapter aims to chart the representation of ethnic minority groups in contemporary Western news media, outline important concepts and theories for understanding these representations, introduce key thinkers and research that has analyzed the representation of Muslims, and explore the methodologies of these studies, before outlining future directions for research. The impact of digital technologies will also be considered, alongside the production context and the issues this raises for audiences. The aim of the chapter is to show how, using a case study of Muslims, due to the context in which news is produced, minority groups are Othered in the news. This dehumanization allows them to be scapegoated and subject to restrictive policies which favor dominant groups in society.
