A crisis in class: The intersection of Islamaphobia and FOX news

Islamaphobia in the news. 

There is a crisis in the American Media. It is not just the overly corporate driven networks that are controlled by interests from advertisement profits, or the overly ratings driven 24 hour news cycle, the crisis in American media is of style, class, and sophistication.

Days ago, Steve Emerson’s appeared on Fox News and claimed, “In Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in,” is just the latest in another round of sinister and Islamaphobic remarks from another fool stirring fears from an uneducated viewer.

What most Americans don’t know, Birmingham is a vibrant British city acts as bedrock of ethnic and social diversity for the entirety of the UK. Birmingham is Britain’s second-largest city and the home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish, Christian, Sikh, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Hindu, Buddhist, and roughly 20% of Birmingham contains a diverse set of Muslim residents.

Emerson, an alleged American “terrorism expert”, appeared on Fox News channel, citing complete fabrications that plays on many viewers naivety because most Americans have never travelled to Birmingham and many American’s simply don’t know that Emerson is talking absolute malarkey.

Emerson’s effort at stirring angst and fear to lift FOX’s ratings, and gain advertisement momentum is not only appalling, it demonstrates an ongoing theme within the conservative American television news industry.

FOX’s theme since 9/11 is an overtly Islamaphobic and racist rant against the minorities including the greater Islamic world. This is well documented in Robert Greenwald’s OUTFOXED documentary, yet despite FOX’s misrepresentation of the Islamic world it still maintains its position at the top of American viewed media.

So what is the takeaway from Emerson and FOX’s rant? In all reality, when it comes to foreign affairs, and understanding the world outside of America, it is just best to choose a different channel.

FOX is terrific on critiquing the left in America, and it has an extraordinary ability to uncover corruption within labor unions, and overspending in the government, but FOX’s overtly racist, and Islamaphobic rant hurts the average American civic perspective. America is rooted in its first amendment that contains the freedom of religion. Americans exist today as a cultural melting pot with all religions. When Americans start believing the malarkey from individuals like Emerson, America turns away from its identity as the “land of the free”, to the land of the closed-minded.

Jake Diliberto is a Political Scientist, Ph D. candidate at the University of Birmingham, resident scholar on US National Security & research fellow at the Centre for International Policy. Specialised in Religious Conflict and Guerrilla Warfare. He served as a US marine in Afghanistan and Iraq.