Why Obama's Cairo speech didn't change perceptions

By Roland Schatz
founder and editor in chief
Media Tenor Research Institute

At the gathering at the Bibliotheka Alexendrina, the dominant question is why has there been so little change visible since President Obama made the effort to address the Islamic world in Cairo just a year ago. His intent couldn't have been better, and, combined with the carefully chosen phrasing, location and timing, it seemed all the criteria were in place when it came to making those words matter.

President Bush had been out of office for almost half a year. Hope for a new, trusting relationship between the United States of America and the people in the Middle East was based on the inauguration of a new president who was perceived as someone who listened, someone who reasoned, and someone who cared about how people in other parts of the world felt, ticked and behaved.

As always, it takes two to tango. President Obama arrived in Cairo not only as the new head of the U.S. government, but also as the number one representative of the Western concept of living based on Christian beliefs and values. He wanted to open a new chapter in the dialogue between the three Abrahamic religions. But there was little room for contemplation of such fundamental questions in a time dominated by the continuously unsolved problems in Palestine, the new uncertainties in Turkey, and the ongoing killings and other crimes perpetrated in "the name of God," a concept which criminals have tried to abuse for their trivial, non-religious purposes. On top of this, the trust meltdown after the economic crisis served to discourage even those who had been so willing to make change happen.

During the first weeks after the speech, Obama managed to have an impact on the leading drivers in perception: journalists as television network news gave more airtime to religious leaders talking about Islam. ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC seemed interested in covering Muslims in ways not solely related to terrorist attacks. But that change didn't last long. Most recently, the Swiss vote to have no additional minarets being built and the debate over burqas have received attention, changing overall coverage back to being driven by stereotypes. When it comes to news selection Islam only seems to be newsworthy to the Western evening news programs if there is a new terrorist attack, a government legislating against burqas, or right-wing parties abusing religion in order to gain awareness in impending elections.

The old journalistic principle of giving airtime to the subjects one writes about seems to have been forgotten when it comes to covering events related to Muslims. Imams are seldom quoted at all, much less ever given the opportunity to be interviewed in prime-time. When Imams do make it into the news, nine out of ten times it is because the ones chosen represent an extreme perspective.

But at the same time, a question should be put towards the imams: how many have an active relationship with the media? Similar to the Catholic Church, there is the impression that the imams love their lack of visibility. However, in today's world, reputations are easily destroyed by hiding away and letting others do the talking and writing.

Did Obama at least gain momentum from his trip to Cairo? During the first months afterward, the international media continued their love-affair driven portrayal of the first non-white president in the White House. But after his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, while also not being visible as a change-maker at the Copenhagen Conference, that positive rating vanished. One year later, Barack Obama is facing almost the same skepticism abroad that he has had to deal with at home.

People, both in the U.S. as well as those in the Middle East, need actions to back up the words. There have been many events and initiatives being organized by Islamic countries and the U.S. Government since the Obama speech one year ago in the field of business, education, science and culture, but they have been largely invisible . But if all this work remains almost uncovered by the opinion leading media around the globe, the stereotype driven perceptions of "the other" will not change.

Roland Schatz is founder and editor in chief of the international Media Tenor Research Institute, and co-founder of the C1 World Dialogue Foundation.

By Roland Schatz |  June 16, 2010; 11:28 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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