Mission Invisible

The attacks of 9/11 created a philosophical and cultural shockwave felt around the world. For many Canadians, 9/11 also produced feelings of insecurity, vulnerability, and suspicion of Muslims in general. Being Muslim was often seen as being Arab, and diverse Muslim communities were glossed over as if they were invisible. How did these negative attitudes come about? Many point to the role of the news media in framing and contextualizing events post-9/11 and its complicity in reproducing racist images of Muslim minorities. Mission Invisible chronicles varying racialized constructions of Muslim communities in the news during the most significant stage of reportage: the initial weeks in which the events, surrounding issues, and primary actors of 9/11 were all first framed by journalists. In showing how media coverage of Muslim communities was imagined, negotiated, and represented after 9/11, Mission Invisible provides much-needed empirical evidence of how racist discourses are constructed and reinforced by the media in Canada.