SAID, EDWARD. Encyclopedia of American Journalism

Edward Said (November 1, 1935–September 24, 2003) is
perhaps best known in the journalism and mass communication field for two books that discuss how the West produces knowledge about the “non-west” in three important
sites of knowledge production—universities, the military
and foreign offices of the government, and mass media. The
books are Orientalism and Covering Islam.
Said’s most important impact on the study of journalism
as an institution and as a practice, is perhaps his elaboration
of Michel Foucault’s theories of the relationship between
power and knowledge. In Orientalism, Said used Foucault
as a fulcrum to lift the veil masking the linkages between
Western imperialism and the production of knowledge
about the “Orient”—which for Said meant the Near and
Middle East (though his ideas have been fruitfully applied
more broadly). For Said, Orientalism is the “systematic discipline by which European culture was able to manage—
and even produce—the Orient politically, sociologically,
militarily, ideologically, scientifically, and imaginatively
during the post-Enlightenment period.” Said calls this process of knowledge production of the Orient a discourse, a
term that refers, in the Foucauldian sense, to the historical
interconnection between institutions, the powerful people
who define the terms of debate and research, and the subsequent texts that emerge from this web of relationships. This
“discursive formation” directs, guides, and massages Western “knowledge” about the Orient so that it takes on certain
shape and form, contains certain themes and emphases that
not only identify the Orient as backward and uninspired but
also establish the West as fundamentally superior.
The title of the second book, Covering Islam, is meant
to convey the double meaning of simultaneously reporting
on and covering up Islam. The subtitle of the book is “How
the Media and Experts Determine How We See the Rest
of The World.” Said’s central criticism of American journalism is that many reporters use the label “Islam” to create unfounded generalizations, often relying on academic
experts (typically American or European), U. S. government officials, and pro-Israel lobbyists who claim to know
the “Arab mind.” The discursive formation of Orientalism,
says Said, explains the prevalence of these unflattering,
negative images and the relative absence from media coverage of the well-researched, more complex views of Islam
that are plentiful in the public realm and available for consultation by reporters.
Despite the structuring power of Orientalism, Said
acknowledges the existence of alternative points of view
written and distributed by a relatively small number of
intellectuals and journalists. For Said, these writers represent an apex of scholarly and journalistic practice because
they reveal that “knowledge” and “news” about Islam is
fundamentally tied to Western domination and conquest of
the Middle East.
The author of more than fifteen books on literary theory,
Middle East politics, and classical music, among other topics, Said earned his BA in 1957 from Princeton. He earned
his MA in 1960 and PhD in 1964, both from Harvard. He
taught Comparative Literature at Columbia from 1989 until
his death in 2003. Said was also a renowned opera critic
and an activist for Palestinian rights.
Further Reading
Ashcroft, Bill, and Pal Ahluwalia. Edward Said: The Paradox of
Identity. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage, 1978.
——. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Vintage,
1981.
——. Culture & Imperialism. London: Chatto and Windus Ltd.,
1993.
——. Representations of the Intellectual. London: Vintage,
1994.
——. Out of Place: A Memoir. New York: Random House, 1999.
Sprinker, Michael, ed. Edward Said: A Critical Reader. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1992.
Hemant Shah

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