Arabų įvaizdžio transformacijos Lietuvos spaudoje

Abstract

Arab countries around the world are distinguished by the contradictory treated faith of Islam which is vividly associated with terrorism and Arabs as being terrorists. This image is affected by September 11th events. Though a decade passed, in the media the Arab’s image is still related to terrorism. The media formulate public opinion in the society ant can create some images which are not always true. The media have a great power to represent social reality through its own eyes; news and events are colored and explained by the notion in the society. Because media often light up only negatyve terroristic events only rarely analyzing and connecting the surroundings, it have made influence on understanding the Arabs as “terrorists”. Though Arab countries themselves are tired from being presented like this, they do not want to be exploited. This is perfectly illustrated by the wave of revolutions seen in the main Arab countries, where people try to demonstrante for the world and their own governments that they are tired of being exploited, they are eager to defend their own rights and seek for democracy. The research shows that Arabs are discriminated due to their ethnical origin but mostly due to religion. So in real life, Arabs are discriminated due to islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia. When Lithuania became the member of the European Union (EU), the question of inadequacy became especially actual. Ethnic inadequacy and xenophobia phenomena are discussed in the media vividly. The specialist of the Institute for Ethnic Studies Dr. Monika Frėjūtė-Rakauskienė states (2009) that the situation was influenced by two factors: Firstly, when the borders were opened, the immigration streams increased together with the media’s attention to the groups of immigrants (Chechens, Muslims, etc.). Secondly, as Lithuania is a EU country, the political, racial and ethnic principles of inadequacy and prevention of xenophobia are very important and mutual to all countries in the EU. This includes the media as well, which formulate social regulations for some ethnical, religious, racial and other groups.