Lewis ( 2001 ) points out that the footing for cultural and ethno-national sentiments are non merely a affair of traditional hates. but there should besides be attempt to understand what cultivates these sentiments. Media portraiture has become one of the societal communications. Therefore. Hossein-Zadeh ( 2005 ) considers it a major vehicle of the sentiments sing the issue. Some of the major grounds that he believes that the media’s attack in showing events and issues is centered on its personal motives. deficiency of apprehension and position of background issues as good their ain personal positions.
The suggestion is that what makes the headline is designed to catch the attending of the populace or to prolong involvement in an issue. Imai ( 2006 ) points out that there is a inclination for sentiments to acquire out of control. because issues are frequently personal or have important emotional deductions. and frequently become foundation of utmost positions of the cultural and ethno-national issue. The issue of cultural and ethno-national struggles has been a focal point of the media for a figure of old ages and no other part has been cited for the phenomenon as the Middle East.
On the 6th day of remembrance of the September 11 onslaughts on the World Trade Centers in New York by Muslim radical Al-Qaeda. Khouri ( 2007 ) reflects on how the issue has become a motive. if non a justification. of struggles with and within the Middle East. There are surveies that highlight the extended history of these struggles that involve assorted cultural and spiritual groups in the part ( Lovgren. 2004 ) . One can easy convey to mind the proposition that the struggle of the Crusades persists. moreover that these struggles are cardinal can ne’er co-exist. as suggested by Samuel P. Huntington’s clang of civilisation thesis ( Imai. 2006 ) .
Which is an sarcasm since. harmonizing to Nanda Shrestha and Kenneth Gray. there been a by and large good-humored relationship between the Middle East and the West for the past twosome of hundred of old ages before the twentieth century ( 2006 ) . The part has become a focal point because of the significance of the part function in universe economic sciences. political relations and international security. Developing peace and development for the part has been cited as a demand to stabilise the world’s oil markets and to pull off efficaciously trade and migration between Europe and.
A good illustration of an issue has been the negative sentiment of Muslims of the western states. in peculiar the United States. which has brought the issue of terrorist act to the heads of planetary attending. Lewis ( 2001 ) reflects that the negative image that Muslims and Americans have of each other is one that has been cultivated and reinforced over a period of clip that it has become hard to follow the beginning of the sentiments.
The struggle was featured by American telecasting world show 30 Days. where a devout Christian David Stacy. who had expressed negative sentiments about Muslims. to populate in a Muslim community for a month ( Doggart. 2005 ) . The thirty-day anthology documented Stacy’s experience life as a Muslim in the United States and a reversal in his positions about the faith. A reappraisal of the beginning of Stacy’s sentiments indicates that his positions were extremely influenced by 9-11 and subsequent narratives about Muslim extremists linked to terrorist motions.
Similarly. Lewis ( 2001 ) probe about the prevalence of Muslim “rage” is said to root from what has been seen as a deliberate and insensitive intervention of Muslim and Middle East sentiments. These include land colony issues after the World War II. struggles during the Cold War. economic trade stoppages and even the amusing portraiture of Muslims and Arabs in amusement plans. Lewis believes that issue has been made personal and used in propaganda to warrant military and political action against the United States featured in popular local or collectivist media organisations.
Imai ( 2006 ) believes that the media should non be considered as an impartial beginning of information since they are vulnerable to the motives of the province. its directions and the personalities that deliver the intelligence. Furthermore. by accepting that the struggles are due to ideological differences. Khouri ( 2007 ) points out that many of the issues that are most critical in the Middle East. The suggestion that struggles are based on ideological difference suggests small levity for via media or co-existence.
Therefore. the thought of a “clash of civilization” promoted by the mass media preempts the development of existent solutions. This is non to state the there are no ethnicity or culturally based struggles. However. there should be realisation that they can be considered as an embracing account to the hostility that has developed between Muslims and the United States. Without a uncertainty. mass media has been instrumental in the liberalisation of information and a vehicle to foreground the public’s sentiment.
Equally much as it reports public sentiment it besides molds it because of its prevalence and pervasiveness in modern societies. In issues related to cultural and ethno-national sentiments. this relationship is made even more sensitive by the human involvement of issues. At the same clip. mass media is an endeavor. economic or otherwise and hence has its ain docket and motives. In decision. there should be realisation that regardless of how true the media is. it presents a limited position of an issue.
