British Islam : media representations and social meanings

This thesis examines meanings circulating about British Muslims in both sections of the British press and its audience. It addresses theoretical questions that have been raised which suggest that in the current political epoch, with its New World Order, Islam has been constructed as the necessary en...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Poole, Elizabeth Anne
Published: University of Leicester 1999
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.696652
id ndltd-bl.uk-oai-ethos.bl.uk-696652
record_format oai_dc
spelling ndltd-bl.uk-oai-ethos.bl.uk-6966522018-04-04T03:29:54ZBritish Islam : media representations and social meaningsPoole, Elizabeth Anne1999This thesis examines meanings circulating about British Muslims in both sections of the British press and its audience. It addresses theoretical questions that have been raised which suggest that in the current political epoch, with its New World Order, Islam has been constructed as the necessary enemy of 'the West'. Consequently, Islam has been demonised in the Western media. This study attempts to verify these arguments and address criticisms of them, specifically the homogenisation of Islam, the West and its media, by concentrating on a specific genre within a specific context: the British national press. The first part of the study entails a quantitative analysis of 800 texts from two British broadsheets, The Times and The Guardian , providing their 'news frameworks' with regards to British Islam. This provides the context for the second part of the research, a qualitative discourse analysis of 159 texts, including two tabloid papers, The Mail and The Sun. Having established the 'preferred' meanings of Islam in a range of papers, reception analysis was included to establish the range of audience meanings, recognising that meanings are not fixed in texts. Particular attention was paid to the variable of cultural proximity, based on the hypothesis that contact with Muslims would work to counter media constructions. Three types of groups were used, Muslims, and non-Muslims with regular, and no contact with Muslims. The findings of this study shows that there is a consistent and limited 'news framework' with some differences between papers in terms of news values, style, presentation and in particular, political orientations. The non-Muslim audience shares their discursive construction of 'Islam within' as a cultural, ideological threat. Contact with Muslims appears to make little difference in understandings of Islam, as race is the dominant signifier. This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the meanings of British Islam circulating within a specific context, in all their forms and variations.302.23088University of Leicesterhttp://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.696652http://hdl.handle.net/2381/30546Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
collection NDLTD
sources NDLTD
topic 302.23088
spellingShingle 302.23088
Poole, Elizabeth Anne
British Islam : media representations and social meanings
description This thesis examines meanings circulating about British Muslims in both sections of the British press and its audience. It addresses theoretical questions that have been raised which suggest that in the current political epoch, with its New World Order, Islam has been constructed as the necessary enemy of 'the West'. Consequently, Islam has been demonised in the Western media. This study attempts to verify these arguments and address criticisms of them, specifically the homogenisation of Islam, the West and its media, by concentrating on a specific genre within a specific context: the British national press. The first part of the study entails a quantitative analysis of 800 texts from two British broadsheets, The Times and The Guardian , providing their 'news frameworks' with regards to British Islam. This provides the context for the second part of the research, a qualitative discourse analysis of 159 texts, including two tabloid papers, The Mail and The Sun. Having established the 'preferred' meanings of Islam in a range of papers, reception analysis was included to establish the range of audience meanings, recognising that meanings are not fixed in texts. Particular attention was paid to the variable of cultural proximity, based on the hypothesis that contact with Muslims would work to counter media constructions. Three types of groups were used, Muslims, and non-Muslims with regular, and no contact with Muslims. The findings of this study shows that there is a consistent and limited 'news framework' with some differences between papers in terms of news values, style, presentation and in particular, political orientations. The non-Muslim audience shares their discursive construction of 'Islam within' as a cultural, ideological threat. Contact with Muslims appears to make little difference in understandings of Islam, as race is the dominant signifier. This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the meanings of British Islam circulating within a specific context, in all their forms and variations.
author Poole, Elizabeth Anne
author_facet Poole, Elizabeth Anne
author_sort Poole, Elizabeth Anne
title British Islam : media representations and social meanings
title_short British Islam : media representations and social meanings
title_full British Islam : media representations and social meanings
title_fullStr British Islam : media representations and social meanings
title_full_unstemmed British Islam : media representations and social meanings
title_sort british islam : media representations and social meanings
publisher University of Leicester
publishDate 1999
url http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.696652
work_keys_str_mv AT pooleelizabethanne britishislammediarepresentationsandsocialmeanings
_version_ 1718619907859415040