This study is intended to be an initial step towards a deeper analysis of how concrete media messages (in time and location) facilitate cultural perceptions that deliver political language, ultimately channeling policy (locally and globally).
For the UNAOC, research such as this is immensely valuable since the main goal of the organization is to support constructive intercultural dialogue between different cultures and religions of the world. What an individual believes as true knowledge about “the other” is of paramount importance for the establishment of open communication and sincere understanding among different groups. In contemporary societies media messages are the main providers of the information that develops (for the individual as well as for the group) into the perceived truth, understood as unbiased knowledge, of what “the other” is and represents.
The media representation of Islam is repeatedly linked to controversial events and conflicts. One such example is the controversy of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” a local New York City debate that became a US national issue, then a global issue, catalyzing international media attention around this contentious label.
The goal of this study was to observe and analyze the impact that this “non-event” had on media. To do so, the research teams analyzed online and printed media from the US, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.