Comparative approaches to Islam, Security and Television News: Implications for Policy Makers and the Media

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This proposal is based on a 3-year AHRC grant project examining Russian, British and French television news representations of Islam as a security threat. It provided the first substantive, cross-national analysis of this topic, and the only one to draw on a large corpus of television recordings. Derived from a combination of cultural studies and political science methods, the results: (i) complicate conventional wisdoms on the media's depiction of Muslims, and on the responsibilities of public sector broadcasters in areas of cultural sensitivity; (ii) challenge the notion of a homogeneous, pan-European construction of Islam; (iii) illuminate British television coverage of terrorism from a comparative perspective; and (iv) provide insights into the way in which the advent of radical Islamism has influenced diversity management policies across a spectrum of multicultural European nations. The findings have been published in journal articles, edited volume chapters and a co-authored monograph which has just passed final proof stage. The project, conceived before the AHRC's impact agenda had been articulated, and therefore without a formal impact plan, generated unexpectedly intense interest from three specific sets of non-academic research users: broadcasters, foreign policy makers and media monitoring organisations. The aim of the follow-up proposal is, by building systematically on this interest, and by recasting the already completed research findings of our project for non-academic research users, to enhance the knowledge and understanding of key governmental, media and media monitoring organisations in respect of an issue of continuing importance: the media's representation of the Islam-security nexus. The associated objectives are to work with the three groups in order (a) to inform media practices in reporting sensitive issues surrounding Muslims, extremism and security; (b) to shape government interpretations of the way in which these issues affect domestic and foreign policy in a country of strategic importance (Russia); (d) to initiate a cross-cultural discussion by policy-makers and media practitioners of the implications of our research findings for multicultural, multi-faith societies across Europe.We propose three outputs, to be developed in collaboration with, and for the benefit of, partners with whom we have established prior working relationships: 3 policy reports, a policy seminar, and an updated website with user forum (for more details, see under 'Outputs').We will gauge the impact of our activities by requesting regular feedback from our partners. We will ensure that our relationships with them are sustained through knowledge exchange initiatives, via the RCUK's Global Uncertainties network and our online discussion forum, and by generating collaborative research proposals with their involvement.