WHEN THE MEDIA POPULISM FOLLOWS THE POLITICS POPULISM

Abstract

After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in New York, the Islamophobia of the Western liberal world is deepening, which implies prejudice, irrational hatred, fear and intolerance towards Islam and Muslims. The aim of this paper is to research the media use of Islamophobia in the function of promoting populist political ideas and creating an image of Islam as dangerous, so that Islam is characterized as an aggressive, militant and radical religion. Islamophobia as a means of populist politics is the result of ignorance and manipulation based on ignorance. In this paper, as a method of research, monitoring of media reporting and propaganda of almost all major Western media, both written and electronic is used, primarily of the US CNN and FOX, and the British BBC, who in a sensationalistic way employ a specific terminology that is used only for Islam as a religion: „Militant Islam”, „moderate Islam”, „Islamic radicalism”, „Islamic fundamentalist”. Ignorance about Islam and inconsistent media coverage have produced fear of Islam and Muslims, and thus the ghettoisation of Muslims in Western countries, as pointed out by many experts in the academic studies, including Edward Said, Davor Marko, Asef Bayat, Mohammad Elmasrija, L. Benstead, E. Lust, D. Malouche, G. Soltan, J. Wichmann, and others.

What some Muslims do cannot be considered as sui generis of Islam, and especially not the terrorism, behind which certain groups are hiding and using Islam to justify the violence, calling themselves an „Islamic state”. Linking Islam with terrorism and legally accepting the term „Islamic State” instead of the so-called „Islamic State” or the selfproclaimed „Islamic State”, means that the war on terrorism is a priori interpreted as a war against Islam. The paper also analyzes the ethically problematic phenomenon that the religious identity of terrorists is emphasized only when it comes to Muslims, while, for example, the killer Anders Breivik, who committed a terrible crime and partly justified it with Christianity, was not shown as a Christian terrorist in the media. Inconsistent media reporting has led Islam to become synonymous with violence in the consciousness of many people, not only in the West, but also beyond. On the contrary, Islam rests on the principles of non-violence, peace and forgiveness. Therefore, the academic discourse on „Islam as a dangerous religion” should explain why the debate on Islam is still one-dimensional.