Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals (Apr 2006)
Islam and Media Representations
Abstract
For the author of this article, the media’s treatment of Islam has raised numerous polymorphous questions and debates. Reactivated by the great scares of current events, the issue, though an ancient one, calls many things into question. By way of introduction, the author tries to analyse the complex processes of elaboration and perception of the representations that have prevailed during the past century. In referring to the semantic decoding of the abundant colonial literature and iconography, the author strives to translate the extreme xenophobic tensions and the identity crystallisations associated with the current media orchestration of Islam, both in theWest and the East. He then evokes the excesses of the media that are found at the origin of many amalgams wisely maintained between Islam, Islamism and Islamic terrorism, underscoring their duplicity and their willingness to put themselves, consciously, in service to deceivers and directors of awareness, who are very active at the heart of the politico-media sphere. After levelling a severe accusation against the harmful drifts of the media, especially in times of crisis and war, the author concludes by asserting that these tools of communication, once they are freed of their masks and invective apparatuses, can be re-appropriated by new words and bya true communication between peoples and cultures.
