On Monday, hit TV show 24 will play this season's eighth episode, despite Muslim groups that continue to call it discriminatory.

The season began with fictitious Islamic militants setting off bombs in 10 major U.S. cities.

The show's main character, Jack Bauer, played by actor Kiefer Sutherland, is fighting against a group of Muslim terrorists carrying out this violent campaign, according to www.fox.com/24.

The plot has re-ignited flames between Fox Network and the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed said that her group has been very disturbed by what it perceives as a bias against the portrayal of Muslims on the Fox show in previous seasons.

"We met with Fox to express our concern, and they produced a PSA [public service announcement] with Kiefer Sutherland to remind people that 24 is based on fiction and that Muslims were working to stop the fight on terror," Ahmed said.

The Penn State Muslim Student Association did not return multiple phone calls by press time.

Richard Islam, (freshman-business) a student at Penn State Lehigh Valley, said the show creates an inaccurate picture of Muslims.

"They are depicted as all having hatred toward Americans and whatnot," Islam said.

Islam said, most of the time, there is evidence on the show that leads people to think Muslims committed wrongdoings.

He added Muslims have been known to do more sporadic attacks than other terrorist groups on the show.

Ahmed said most Muslims condemn terrorism and contribute positively to society.

Although some argue that Muslims are depicted poorly on 24, other students believe that they are not portrayed in a biased manner.

"They do a good job with it, and they like to show both sides. There are Muslims that are helping with the CTU [Central Terrorist Unit] who are trying to stop the terrorists. One of the main characters [Nadia Yassir] in this organization is Muslim," Matt Shaffer (junior-music education) said.

Shaffer said that many times, non-Muslim Americans end up being the characters that are behind the attacks on the show.

Jay Hegarty (senior-finance) said current world conditions make this controversy a particularly delicate issue.

"The show is even in its depiction of terrorist groups, but it is different with Muslims because of what is currently happening in the world," he said. "We are not currently fighting the Russians."

Muslims as a community feel somewhat marginalized in the post-Sept. 11 world, and the power of these images does not help the civil liberties issues they are facing, Ahmed said.

Ahmed also said that her group would not have an issue with the program 24 if the depiction of Muslims on television was more balanced.

Jo Dumas, lecturer in media studies in the College of Communications, said it is important for 24's creators to consider how they are representing the people they are showing in the program.

They need to make sure they are not repeating harmful stereotypes that damage society's social understanding of other cultures, she said.

"My own feeling is that it is very important for creators of television programming to represent all people as complete human beings no matter what their human distinctiveness is," Dumas said.