Veiled Voices: Western Journalism and the Muslim Women’s Oppression Fallacy

Reich, Alexis

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Veiled Voices: Western Journalism and the Muslim Women’s Oppression Fallacy Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/s1784m59s

Abstract

The focus of this project is Western media coverage of Muslim-majority countries. My research shows that, in the Western world, there is a clear lack of attention devoted to international journalism, which contributes to the superficial and often inaccurate coverage of Muslim women. Not only does low funding by Western media organizations for international coverage contribute to a mismanagement of resources for journalists, but to a poor cross-cultural understanding amongst reporters and their audiences. I conclude that often local reporters in perceived “developing” countries are dismissed by their more powerful Western counterparts, and are only used to serve the Western media, denying locals agency over their nation’s representation. This leads to poor quality reporting, contributing to poor quality stories that often misrepresent the people being featured. Such representations not only serve as an injustice to the people portrayed, but could contribute to global misunderstandings, which has a huge potential cost in terms of international understanding, diplomacy and human rights advocacy. This thesis is divided into two sections: an overview of scholarly literature on Western media and Muslim women, and a creative section consisting of three free-standing pieces of journalism. The first creative product is a personal essay based on my experience as a foreign reporter covering the medical delivery of virginity certificates to young women in Morocco. The second product is a profile of Zahra Hankir, a Lebanese-British journalist who reports in the Middle East and edited the book, “Our Women on the Ground,” a compilation of essays by Arab women reporting from their homelands, including my last profile subject. The third product is a profile of Aida Alami, Moroccan foreign correspondent for The New York Times and journalism advisor to the program I was on in Morocco.

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