Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Filipino Muslims are marginalized in Philippine society, even in their own homeland, Mindanao. Through the years, the American colonial and the Philippine governments have implemented policies that have benefited the Christian population but pushed the Muslim community, literally and figuratively, to the periphery of society. Unfortunately, colonial legacies and ideologies are no longer limited in state policies but are also promoted through the Philippine media today. My argument in this study is that the Philippine media adopted their way of representing the Filipino Muslims and Islam from our colonizers, especially the Americans, who became the first media practitioners and moguls in the country. I believe the current (mis)representation of Filipino Muslims in the media is a product of their resistance against American occupation in the country. According to Edward Said, this is Orientalism, or the Western style of (mis)representing the East, where Muslims are located. The theory asserts that the West is using the media to promote their ideologies against the Muslims to establish their supremacy over the latter. However, a recent study done by Lisa Lau argued that Orientalist ideas are now being promoted by Orientals themselves, a phenomenon she termed as re-Orientalism. This means Orientalized Filipinos, who are the Christianized ones, are now the ones misrepresenting the minority Muslim population. Given the current Philippine administration’s dedication to addressing Muslim conflict in the country, I believe there is really a need to decolonize our media. I share Said’s belief that the solution to this conflict will require overcoming the racist legacy of Orientalism that stresses the separation of people from each other. Keeping in mind the power of the media to promote ideologies, I analyzed media texts, specifically the articles published by “Inquirer. net,” one of the leading online news publication in the Philippines, and uncovered Western ideologies in them. This was done to answer the problem of this study, “How does “Inquirer.net” employ Orientalism when representing Filipino Muslims and Islam?” Through this study, I want to characterize Filipino Orientalism as a form of neo-imperialism driven by the racist legacy of the Philippines’ colonial past.