ABSTRACT
After the attack on America, made in the name of Islam, the media sought to inform an audience admittedly unacquainted with both the religion and a region that is home to more than a billion Muslims. A month after the attacks, Peter Jennings cited an ABC poll indicating that 65% of those surveyed were unfamiliar with Islam; 66% were “worried about a broader war with Islam.”1 Perhaps this latter fact inspired the media to take a pedagogical approach to geography and religion. These instructional moments are the focus of this chapter.
