British Media Biased against Muslims: Report
A report published by the Muslim Council of Britain's Center for Media Monitoring found that British media tends to be biased against Muslims and Islam and portrays them in an antagonizing way.
-
The report found that almost 60% of the articles and 475 of the clips portrayed Muslims and Islam negatively
A published report reveals that British media coverage of Muslims and Islam showed misinformation, stereotyping, and Islamophobia, mentioned Middle East Eye.
The report, published by the Muslim Council of Britain's Center for Media Monitoring (CfMM), analyzed over 48,000 online articles and 5,500 broadcast clips between October 2018 and September 2019.
It found that almost 60% of the articles and 47% of the clips portrayed Muslims and Islam in a negative way.
According to the Middle East Eye, the report, titled British Media’s Coverage of Muslims and Islam (2018-2020), showed that publications in British media outlets such as The Times, The Spectator, Daily Mail Australia, Mail on Sunday, Christian Today, and The Jewish Chronicle, antagonized Muslims and Islam.
"Higher percentage of articles, either demonstrating a bias against or generalizing or misrepresenting, Muslim belief or behavior" was found in right-wing and religious publications, mentioned the report.
National broadcasting channels were biased against Muslims more than regional ones, the publication found upon analyzing the TV clips.
It also noticed that right-wing media is "left unchallenged when making generalizations against Muslims, including promoting falsehoods."
CfMM Director Rizwana Hamid said that "it is time for the industry to admit that, on occasion and too often when it comes to Muslims and Islam, it gets things wrong," reported the Middle East Eye.
Alison Philip, an editor for The Mirror, said the report "shows how much we as journalists must question ourselves and the work we are producing in relation to reporting of Muslims and Islam."
The report showed that almost one in ten online articles misrepresented Muslims and Islam.
Famous news agencies Reuters, Associated Press, and AFP were at the top list of outlets that associate Muslims with negative behavior and activity.
Regarding the Palestinian cause, the agencies referred to the Gaza Strip as being ruled by the "Islamist militant" group Hamas, while not mentioning the Egyptian and Israeli occupation siege that was described by the Norwegian Refugee Council as "the world's largest open-air prison."
The report concluded that these agencies were "incubators of negative aspects and behaviors" connecting, often entirely unnecessarily, Muslims and Islam to terrorism, violent political events, and strife in the Middle East.
