This article examines ‘the West versus Islam’ paradigm in the studies on the representation of Islam and Muslims in the Western media. It argues that while offering insights which uncover the hidden oppressive power that drives the representation of cultural differences, the use of the conflictual model of analysis in exploring media representations of Islam and Muslims provides no space for understanding the creative, dialogic formation in the encounter of individuals and people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. This conflictual model of analysis normally employs a simplistic, binary system of thinking, and is therefore inadequate as a response to the complex challenges faced by a multicultural society. To develop this argument, the article reviews various studies on media representations of Islam and Muslims that have relied on this model. In the light of the inadequacy of the conflictual model of analysis, the article suggests a shift to a dialogic model of analysis as developed in the politics of recognition as an alternative framework that accommodates the possibility of transformation in the encounter of individuals, people and cultures in a multicultural society.

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