Western media criticism of Qatar ‘old orientalism refashioned for modern audience’
ISTANBUL (AA) – As Qatar makes history as the first Muslim country to host the FIFA World Cup, the language of Western media outlets about the tournament is being criticized as racist, Islamophobic, and orientalist.
Western criticisms of Qatar are “not about human rights, and the inconsistency is very clear. It is the old orientalism which was refashioned for a modern audience,” political scientist Muhammad Jalal, a lecturer and host of the Thinking Muslim podcast, told Anadolu Agency.
“Some of the old orientalist tropes have been wheeled out time and time again in the media. Arabs and Muslims are depicted as only being useful for producing oil and spending lavish amounts of money in Western capitals,” he said.
Touching on the negative effect of Western media narratives on Muslims, Jalal said: “If you have the press constantly describing you as thieves, as terrorists, as murderers, as people who don’t have the basic qualities of civilization that Europeans have, then over time the European public would see you in this one-dimensional way.”
Jalal called most of media headlines about Qatar “manipulative,” highlighting the cover of French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine showing Qatari footballers as terrorists holding guns in their hands.
He said that there is some truth in the criticisms directed at Qatar over migrant workers, but added that the figures of workers who lost their lives during the construction of the stadium are misleading.
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