ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces and discusses the three conceptual frameworks (Orientalism, Islamophobia and racism) that underpin much of the research into the representation of Islam and Muslims by the Western news media. All are conflict-based and all reinforce difference. They pit Islam (and the East) against Judeo-Christianity (and the West) and can be expertly employed by political and media elites in pursuit of their agendas. Understanding different ways of thinking about anti-Islamic narratives will help journalists cut through some of the so-called expert narratives and understand how the news media can be complicit in perpetuating anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim sentiment.
