The Embedding of an Islamophobic Trope in the Media: Radical Versus Moderate Muslims

How does the deployment of the label of “radical” to refer to Muslims and Islam operate within contemporary British and, more generally, Western culture as a way of governing, controlling, and policing Muslims? Taking this question as its starting point, this chapter explores the ways in which the very notion of radical Islam or Muslims is constructed in contemporary culture as a core facet of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and a key mechanism of othering Muslims as a threat or menace that needs to be brought to heel. Part of this chapter frames this discourse in light of the well-known “propaganda model” of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky first articulated in their 1988 classic, Manufacturing Consent. In the main, this chapter illustrates the ways in which the media and political classes work in concert to discursively construct the perception of a “Muslim problem.”.