"Outside the West, religion is an ever more prominent force in social and political movements of both reform and retrenchment. Across these contexts, no issue in religion is of as much concern as fundamentalism - or rather the fundamentalisms within various traditions - which are seen to be fomentin
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g religious, social, ethnic, and political tension and conflict. The contributions to this volume represent the first effort to look at ‘fundamentalisms’ and the ‘media’ together and address the resulting relations and interactions from critical perspectives of history, technology, geography, and practice." (Publisher description)
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"Die Autorin vergleicht im vorliegenden Buch die Berichtserstattung der globalen Nachrichtensender der westlichen Welt BBC World und CNN International mit dem Sender Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera English ist der erste englisch-sprachige Nachrichtenkanal aus dem Nahen Osten, der via Satellit weltwei
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t empfangbar ist. Aus seinem Selbstverständnis heraus möchte er versuchen, westliche Sichtweisen herauszufordern und einen "anderen Blick" auf die Weltereignisse zu werfen. Anhand der Berichterstattung zum Islam wird im vorliegenden Band geprüft, ob sich dieses Selbstverständnis in den Programminhalten tatsächlich widerspiegelt. Dazu wurden über einen dreimonatigen Zeitraum 707 Nachrichtenbeiträge der Sender inhaltlich und formal miteinander verglichen und Themen und Stereotype in der Islam-Berichterstattung offen gelegt." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This book analyzes media coverage of major news stories in which religion is a major component and recounts how journalist often miss, or misunderstand, these stories because they do not take religion seriously, or misunderstand religion when they do take it seriously. Since religion is a major and
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growing factor in human affairs throughout the world and, hence in major news stories, including those stories often mislabeled “secular,” if reporters do not take it seriously or understand it, then they will be poorer reporters. To the extent that journalists do not grasp events’ religious dimensions, both global and local, they are hindered from, and sometimes incapable of, describing what is happening in the world around us. The book contains six case studies that each describe an important event, issue, trend, problem, or situation, seek to show the centrality of religion to the story, then outline how journalists actually covered it, and how they often got it wrong. The two concluding chapters focus on ways, both conceptual and practical, of improving coverage." (Publisher description)
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"This book examines the development of television in India since the early 1990s, and its implications for Indian society more widely. Until 1991, India possessed only a single state-owned television channel, but since then there has been a rapid expansion in independent satellite channels which cam
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e as a complete break from the statist control of the past. This book explores this transformation, explaining how television, a medium that developed in the industrial West, was adapted to suit Indian conditions, and in turn has altered Indian social practices, making possible new ways of imagining identities, conducting politics and engaging with the state. In particular, satellite television initially came to India as the representative of global capitalism but it was appropriated by Indian entrepreneurs and producers who Indianized it. Considering the full gamut of Indian television - from "national" networks in English and Hindi to the state of regional language networks - this book elucidates the transformative impact of television on a range of important social practices, including politics and democracy, sport and identity formation, cinema and popular culture. Overall, it shows how the story of television in India is also the story of India's encounter with the forces of globalisation." (Publisher description)
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"This publication gives an account of Britons who feel themselves to be the target of antagonism. A joint enterprise of the British Council and a number of Muslim organisations, the book is written in the belief that much hostility and negativity is founded in, and fostered by, misunderstanding. It
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is neither paranoid nor rose-tinted. It does not presume that agreement in all things is possible; but it does work on the basis that disagreement – as long as it is shaped by sound knowledge rather than prejudice – can be useful, constructive, civilised and civilising for the whole of our society. Those in Britain and around the world who write about this country and its people sometimes need reminding that ‘we’ include almost two million Muslims. This is the basis of a new sense of ourselves – even perhaps a much-debated new sense of ‘Britishness’ – and it is important to ensure that it includes all of us." (Introduction)
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"Written by both leading academic authorities and by Muslim media practitioners, 'Muslims and the Media' is designed as a comprehensive and critical textbook and is set in both the British and international contexts. The book clearly establishes the links between context, content, production and aud
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iences thus reflecting the entire cycle of the communication process and revealing the ways in which meaning is produced and reproduced in the news media. Looking closely at the circumstances and politics surrounding the representation of Muslims across a wide range of journalistic genres, at the presence and influence of Muslims in the processes of news production, and the ways in which audiences, both Muslim and non-Muslim, consume this media, the book brings together coherently a wide range of perspectives to provide crucial insights into the representation - and misrepresentation - of Islam and Muslims today." (Publisher description)
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"Die Berichte über die Konflikte in Nah- und Mittelost färben auf die Wahrnehmung des Islam ab - häufig wird er mit Gewalt assoziiert. So fasst Rezensent Volker S. Stahr die keineswegs überraschende These des Islam- und Kommunikationswissenschafters Kai Hafez zusammen, der in einer Langzeitstudi
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e das Nahost- und Islambild der überregionalen Presse in den fünfziger bis neunziger Jahren untersucht hat. Wie Stahr in seiner primär referierenden Besprechung ausführt, macht Hafez vor allem die Wochenpresse um "Spiegel" und "Stern" als Meinungsführer mit "starker Tendenz zu Negativismus und polarisierender Berichterstattung" aus. Die in Umfragen festgestellten Ängste und Aversionen gegenüber dem Islam haben für Hafez auch mit dieser Berichterstattung und ihren Defiziten zu tun, berichtet Stahr. Die journalistische Wahrnehmung beschränkt sich laut Hafez weitgehend auf politische Redaktionen, in den Kultur-, vor allem aber in den Wirtschaftsredaktionen fehle die eigene Betrachtung, hält Stahr fest. "Inhaltliche Untiefen" sowie undifferenzierte und einseitige Berichterstattung in Bezug auf den Islam sind für Hafez ein weiteres Problem. Nach dem 11. September kann Hefez allerdings eine kurzfristige Besserung dieser Tendenzen feststellen, lässt Stahr wissen. So habe es zahlreiche Versuche zur Differenzierung gegeben und viele Medien hätten sich auffällig um eine Trennung zwischen "dem Islam" und den zur Gewalt bereiten Fundamentalisten bemüht." (Rezensionsnotiz in "perlentaucher.de" zu Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 06.09.2002)
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"This volume presents a range of information and analysis on the difficult relationship between the West and the Islamic world. It examines how the Western media has interpreted and misinterpreted Islam, the Arab world and the countries of the contemporary Middle East." (Publisher description)