Media and Minorities

110
Evelyn Alsultany
thousand civilians. Such representations and the policies they inadvertently
or not support are taken to justify the ongoing discrimination against Arab
and Muslims communities in the U. S. and other countries.
Representations of Arabs and Muslims in
the U. S.-American Media after September 11, 2001
In 2004, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) accused the TV
drama 24 of perpetuating stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims.17 CAIR objected
to the persistent portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in the context of terrorism,
stating “repeated association of acts of terrorism with Islam will only serve to
increase anti-Muslim prejudice.”18 CAIR’s critics and defenders of 24 retorted
that programs like 24 are cutting-edge and pertain to one of the most pressing
social and political issues of the moment, the War on Terror, and that CAIR
was trying to obscure the reality of Muslim terrorism by confining television
writers to politically correct themes.19
24 immediately responded to CAIR with two actions. First, it broadcasted
a public service announcement (PSA) in February of 2005 during one
of the program’s commercial breaks. It featured the show’s lead actor, Kiefer
Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer, a counter-terrorism agent who saves the
United States from terrorist attacks by breaking all of the protocols, including
torturing terrorist suspects. In the PSA, Sutherland stares, deadpan, into the
camera as he reminds viewers that “the American Muslim community stands
firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of
terrorism” and urges viewers to “please bear that in mind” while watching the
program.20 Second, a scene was written into one episode in which two patriotic
Arab American brothers tell Jack Bauer that they want to help him fight
terrorists.
24’s efforts to offset the impact of their own stereotyping are not unique
but, rather, are part of a larger trend that came out of the multicultural movement
of the 1980s and 1990s. The movement, which conservatives dubbed
“political correctness,” raised awareness of persistent stereotypes and Eurocentrism
in the media and educational curricula. Many media critics have
17 “Fox TV Accused of Stereotyping American Muslims,” Free Republic, 13 January 2005,
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1320357/posts.
18 “24 Under Fire From Muslim Groups,” BBC News, 19 January 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/
2/hi/entertainment/6280315.stm.
19 Critics of CAIR include www.jihadwatch.org and www.frontpagemag.com.
20 This public service announcement (PSA) was broadcast during one of the program’s
commercial breaks on Monday, 7 February 2005, FOX.
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525300886 — ISBN E-Book: 9783666300882