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Media, Crime and Racism pp 139–160Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

‘Ta-Ta Qatada’: Islamophobic Moral Panic and the British Tabloid Press

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture ((PSCMC))

Abstract

The racialised ‘Muslim Other’ has since 9/11 become the pre-eminent ‘folk devil’ in the global ‘West’. Morgan and Poynting (2012) argue that the moral panic framework, suitably developed to recognise the contemporary globalisation of the process, can usefully comprehend this construction of the global Muslim figure of evil and moral threat. This chapter examines the media-driven furore in 2012 over the detained London-based Muslim cleric, Abu Qatada, as a case study exemplifying this. The so-called hate preacher and supposed fundamentalist Islamist proponent of terrorism is quite a stock figure in the global iconography of Islamophobia, and Abu Qatada provides a clear instance. The symbiosis between crusading populist media and political leaders determined to outbid each other in their tough profile in the ‘war on terror’ is well demonstrated by this case. It also illustrates the ideology of purported ‘failed multiculturalism’ and supposed excessiveness of ‘human rights’ promoted in recent neo-conservatism, as well as some characteristic ideological elements of contemporary global Islamophobia.

The right place for a terrorist is a prison cell. The right place for a foreign terrorist is a foreign prison cell, far away from Britain.

UK Home Secretary Theresa May (2012a)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We will discuss later how Abu Qatada’s human rights are deemed irrelevant; he is regarded as not human in that sense.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Anneke Meyer

  2. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Scott Poynting

  3. Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Scott Poynting

Authors
  1. Anneke Meyer
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  2. Scott Poynting
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Monish Bhatia

  2. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Scott Poynting

  3. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Waqas Tufail

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Meyer, A., Poynting, S. (2018). ‘Ta-Ta Qatada’: Islamophobic Moral Panic and the British Tabloid Press. In: Bhatia, M., Poynting, S., Tufail, W. (eds) Media, Crime and Racism. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71776-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71776-0_8

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71775-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71776-0

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