USA: Deconstructing Media Coverage of the “Ground Zero Mosque” · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The logo for Park51
For the past several months, one story has consistently held media attention in the United States.  The story is of a planned Islamic community center a few blocks away from the site of the attacks of September 11, 2001–a site dubbed “Ground Zero”–and has polarized opinion across the media spectrum.  The community center, to be called Park51 for its location, has been called controversial by some pundits and politicians, such as Sarah Palin, because of its proximity to “Ground Zero,” and has caused some to call for the center to be moved.  At the same time, numerous groups and individuals–including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg–have spoken out in support of Park51, reminding Americans of the history of Muslims in the U.S. and invoking the first amendment, which calls for the free exercise of religion.
Beyond the actual situation of the community center is the issue of media coverage.  For months, much of the American mainstream media have referred to Park51 as “the Ground Zero mosque,” implying implicitly that the project is to be built on the actual ground (it isn't) and that the center's sole purpose is as a mosque (also false–the center will include a mosque, along with a swimming pool, theatre, childcare center, and numerous other facets).
Bloggers have jumped in to comment on a number of aspects of the story, from the history of Muslims in New York to the Islamophobia inherent in many arguments against Park51.  Writing for Tabsir.net, one blogger discusses the media hype:
The current torrent of media hype about building a “mosque” near Ground  Zero is part of a deeper Islamophobic fervor in direct lineage with the  same unfriendly folks who have self-righteously hated Injuns, Negroes  and Jews and found verses in the King James Version of the Bible to back  up their hatred.  Today’s New York Times carries a story by Laurie Goodstein about  efforts across the country to stop construction of Islamic places of  worship.  If this is yet another tempest brewed in Tea Party forums, it  looks more like a lynch mob than a ladies aid society brunch.
Moroccan-American writer Laila Lalami would appear to concur; in a blog post, she expresses frustration with the media's exclusion of Muslims in dialogue about Park51:
Notice that, in setting up the two groups of proponents and opponents  of Park51, the Muslims who get mentioned are “former Muslims”, while  the people who bravely stand up for religious freedom include ministers  of every faith, except Islam.  Are we to believe that no Muslims,  whether ministers or not, are taking part in these interfaith groups,  even though the matter at hand is an Islamic community center?
I see this kind of silencing everywhere in our media.  Politicians  constantly talk about the need for “moderate Muslims” to step up, and  when they do, as Imam Feisal Abdel Rauf did when he tried to set up this  community center, it is the extremists among Muslims—both the religious  and the secular—who are given ample room to voice their opinions.   Enough.
At Arab-American blog KABOBfest, author Sana explains the role Muslims have played in the history of Manhattan:
Lower Manhattan is also the final resting place of Muslims and other   Africans, often slaves, who were forcibly resettled in New York when it   was still New Amsterdam.  The African Burial Ground, discovered in  1991, is six blocks away from  the proposed Muslim community center.  Scholars continue to debate the  religious identity of the hundreds  buried there, but the fact that some  of the dead wore shrouds and were  interred with strings of blue beads,  frequently used as Islamic  talismans, suggests Muslim were among the  enslaved people who helped  build Manhattan into a bustling city.
Of course, this history of Islam in lower Manhattan means little to   the families of 9/11 victims who are protesting the proposed center. Far   more troubling than their protest is how readily some political groups   have used this issue to advance their own anti-Muslim agendas.  Comments  by Lazio and Palin are mere drops in an ocean of right-wing  vitriol. In  one outright lie, the Web site of the National Republican  Trust has declared that the organizers of the mosque “intend to erect a  shrine to the 9/11 terrorists.”
Rhetoric that treats Muslim-Americans like hostile foreigners   fundamentally – and intentionally – skews the story of New York and its   Muslim community.
One tactic opponents of Park51 have used in arguing against is comparing Manhattan to Mecca, in that inside Mecca, no Christian or Jewish places of worship may be built.  Blogger Desert Peace debunks that particular argument:
First,  as far as I  know, Mecca has not a single Jewish inhabitant, so why  build a synagogue there?  To start a settlement enterprise there? To  teach Muslims Shulhan Aruch or  Chesronot Shas or other Talmudic  messages?
On the other  hand, New York is home to tens of thousands if not  hundreds of thousands of  Muslims. And the people in charge of the  project are American citizens who broke  no law, committed no crime and  hurt no body. Indeed, if New York Muslims were of  Hitler’s ilk, as the  hateful and provocative signs would have us believe, then  the Jewish  mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, who supports the project, ought  to  be a Nazi supporter.
Not all bloggers support the mosque, however, even within the Arab-American blogosphere.  Iraqi Mojo writes:
However, out of respect for conservative Americans and for the victims  of 9/11, and knowing that the money for the proposed project will likely  come from KSA and maybe other Wahhabi-infested kingdoms, I believe it would be unwise  for Muslims to insist on building a mosque near ground zero.  Having  said this, the actions of New Yorkers and mayor Bloomberg have already  shown that Americans are quite tolerant of Islam and Muslims.