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Alexandria, June 17th, 2010. The Conference “Initiatives in Education, Science and Culture Towards Enhanced US- Muslim Countries Collaborations” at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is dominated by one question: Why has there been so little change since President Obama addressed the Islamic World in Cairo just a year ago? His intentions could not have been better, and the carefully chosen phrasing, location and timing seemed to mark “a new beginning”.

Hope for a new, trusting relationship between the USA and the people in the Middle East focused on 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 feel, think and live.

President Obama arrived in Cairo not only as the new head of the U.S. government, but also as the foremost 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 Abrahamitic religions. But there was little room for contemplation of such fundamental questions in an era dominated by the 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 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 TV 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 did not last. Most recently, the Swiss vote to have no additional minarets being built and the debate over burqas have received attention, changing overall coverage back – 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 new law against burqas, or right-wing parties attacking Islam 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 make it into the news, nine out of ten times it is because the ones chosen represents an extreme perspective.

But at the same time, a question should be put towards to Imams: How many have an active relationship with the media? Similar to the Catholic Church, there is the impression that 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 at least Obama gain momentum from his trip to Cairo? In the first months after his speech, international media continued their enthusiastic portrayal of the first non-white President in the White House. But after his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Price – without 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 in the Middle East need actions to follow up on the words. There have been many events and initiatives organized by Islamic countries und the U.S. Government since the Obama speech one year ago in the fields of business, education, science and culture – but they have been largely invisible . If all this work does not make it on the agenda of opinion-leading media around the globe, the stereotype-driven perception of the “other” will not change.

Roland Schatz is founder and editor in chief of the international Media Tenor Research Institute, www.mediatenor.com and co-founder of the C1 World Dialogue Foundation, www.c1worlddialogue.org

For this report 231,906 statements about religion and secular ideologies have been analyzed in 40 international TV media for the period from January 2009 to April 2010.

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