Image of Islam in U.S. Media after 9/11: A Survey of American and International Students
Baker H. Alkarimeh, University of Toulon, France.
Mohammad K. ,Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to survey American and international students to identify their attitudes towards the image of Islam after 9/11 attacks in various U.S. media (TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and electronic).
The study used the survey method and the population of the study included 100 American and international students at Arkansas State University. This study used five research questions that contained 61 variables in addition to demographic variables: gender, age, religion and education. Through analyzing 100 surveys, the study found that the majority of respondents believed that the U.S. media have produced the term of terrorism and they portrayed Islam as a terrorist religion.The results also indicated that the participants believed that the U.S. media portrayed Islamic nations as terrorist groups. However, the international students believed more than American students that 9/11 attacks were the worst because such attacks were associated with religion and they paved the way for increasing violence in the world.
Keywords: Image; Islam; U.S. media; terrorism.