Muslim community alleges media bias

Muslim community alleges media bias

Bombing coverage seen as supporting stereotypes, racism

By Philip Iglauer

The destruction of human life in the Oklahoma City bombing
shocked and pained many across the nation. Others wondered how such
an incident could happen in the United States.

But in the midst of all this emotion, many also are criticizing
the media’s coverage of the incident as intensely prejudicial
against Muslim and Arab American communities.

Much criticism has come from Muslim and Arab Americans and
others who believe the recent news coverage promoted stereotypes
that are endemic of a broader misperception of these two groups in
the United States.

"If a Muslim is involved in some crime, then the word ‘Muslim’
becomes the common identifier of that person," said Omar Hamoui, a
second-year computer science student. "They are not calling the two
in custody now ‘Christian terrorists.’"

Initially, various media speculated that those responsible for
the bombing were Muslim. However after further investigation and
two arrests, government officials concluded that the perpetrators
were allegedly from a domestic anti-federal government group called
the "Patriots."

Hamoui explained that the bias in news coverage of the bombing
is typical of a broader misrepresentation of Arab and Muslim
Americans portrayed in the media in various formats.

PBS’s Frontline documentary "Jihad In America" is one example of
the media’s skewed coverage, in this case describing Muslim student
associations as terrorist fronts and Muslims as dangerous, Hamoui
added.

Phil Piga, PBS spokesman, disagreed with that characterization
of the documentary.

"This is in no way a sweeping indictment of people of the Muslim
faith," Piga said.

"Disclaimers are made in the beginning of the show that this is
not an indictment of people of the Muslim faith."

But that isn’t enough for Rushdi Abdulcarder, former president
of UCLA’s Muslim Student Association. Abdulcarder questioned the
newsworthiness of writing an article on media stereotypes of Muslim
and Arab Americans.

"Is (bias against Muslims) something new?"Abdulcarder said.
"(These stereotypes are) the baseline of misrepresentation and
outright lies about Muslims.

"We’re known as camel-riding Arabs or sword-wielding terrorists
… this is nothing but the baseline," he said.

Another student likened news coverage of the Oklahoma City
bombing to a recent story about a South Carolina woman who
allegedly killed her two children. Susan Allen, who is now on
trial, initially lied to police about the circumstances surrounding
her children’s death.

"(When) she said it was a black man who did it, everyone
jumped," said Qamar Huda, a history graduate student.

Not only did media coverage of the bombing anger some people, it
also caused concern about the safety of family and friends.

"My father was very worried about us leaving the house. Because
of the bias in the media, there was a violent reaction against all
Muslim groups," said Nahid Hamoui, a fourth-year molecular biology
student.

Still, Heidi Pokoray, spokeswoman for NBC, maintains that the
network’s coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing was not biased.

"The only thing I have to say about the Middle Eastern thing is
that everyone was just scared, and parallels were made to the New
York City bombing," Pokoray said.

Two years ago, a bomb ripped through the New York City World
Trade Center parking structure and afterwards, several Muslims were
placed on trial for the bombing.

As a result of these perceived parallels, a man was stopped
several times on his way from Oklahoma City to Jordan, and was
eventually forced to return to the United States in order to clear
his name.

Jim Hilvert, executive director of the L.A. Branch of the
National Conference of Christians & Jews, observed a change in
the tone of media coverage once some of the suspects were
determined to be caucasian.

If it was not going to be "Islamic terrorists," Hilvert said,
"Then we were willing to say (the bombers were) crazy, or nuts.
That wasn’t the assumption when it was thought to be Islamic."

The Oklahoma City coverage is a good example of people’s
tendency to jump to conclusions when they hear things, Hilvert
said.

"We need to be careful before we assume guilt. We have a moral
and ethical responsibility to fight against those immediate
assumptions.

"I understand why that may be your initial reaction, but we must
as moral, ethical people, strive for the truth," Hilvert said.

One student related an experience in Westwood Village the day of
the bombing.

"Me and two of my friends were going out to lunch. We went to
the ATM on the corner of Kinross and Westwood to withdraw some
money, when a man approached us," recalled Rumi Cader, a member of
the UCLA Muslim Student Association.

"He yelled ‘It’s those damn Muslim Iranians again! And you’re
going to pay for it!’" Cader said.

Beyond incidents of hate and prejudice, there may be broader,
political ramifications against Muslim groups as a result of biased
media coverage.

Currently, there is an Anti-Terrorist Bill before Congress that
could ultimately be used to target Muslim groups, Abdulcader
said.

"The Anti-Terrorist Act, in fact, will not help prevent
terrorism, but will be used to target Muslim-American
organizations," Omar Hamoui explained.

"Anyone suspected of being a terrorist who is not a citizen can
be deported without a trial. So this can be targeted against many
Muslim Americans," he said.

Inflammatory stereotypes of Muslims also permeate the movies and
other entertainment, Hamoui added.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t fighting the Patriots in the movie
True Lies, he was fighting the Crimson Jihad," he said. "So, it’s
the entertainment industry (that portrays this bias) too."

"The media creates the equation that terrorism equals Muslim,"
Nahid said.