60% of British media articles about Muslims are negative: Reports

Ground Report | New Delhi: British media about Muslims; A study found that nearly 60% of online news articles carried negative associations with Muslims and Islam and called for "fair" reporting. The study conducted by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring (CFMM) that the top three news providers that published negative articles about Muslims were AFP, Reuters, and Associated Press agencies. It argued that they "determined the determination of Muslims and Islam" in news reporting.

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British media about Muslims

The report, titled, British Media's Coverage of Muslims and Islam (2018-2020), also presents 10 case studies in which Muslims are misrepresented, maligned, and maligned in major publications, including The damages are paid in nine cases with a public apology.

Among the publications monitored, The Spectator, Daily Mail Australia, Sunday Mail, Christian Today, and Jewish Chronicle found specific anti-Muslim and/or Islamist coverage.

Right-wing and religious publications were found to have "a high percentage of articles containing prejudice, or generalizations or misrepresentations against the belief or behavior of Muslims".

The Times, which published the false "Christian Child Forced in Muslim Foster Care" story – still available on the newspaper's website despite the UK's Press Standards Organization upholding a complaint against it – repeatedly referred to Muslims and Muslim institutions. has been maligned.

negative reporting

Research by the Muslim Council of Britain's Center for Media Monitoring also found that 47% of TV news clips associate Muslims or Islam with negative traits or behaviors.

The new report follows an analysis of nearly 48,000 online news articles and more than 5,500 TV clips, following daily surveillance of coverage that mentions Muslims and Islam, whether by way of passage or the main focus of a story. In form of.

Some 34 mainstream news and current affairs websites and 38 TV channels, including all regional channels, were monitored between October 2018 and September 2019. Wider coverage in 2019/2020 was also examined, including some of the COVID-19 pandemics.

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The online publication with the highest proportion (37%) of articles considered "anti-Muslim" according to the report's methodology was The Spectator. The New Statesman had the highest proportion (16%) of "supporting" articles.

Overall a fifth (21%) of all articles assessed were classified as antagonistic, compared to 3% deemed helpful. Meanwhile, 14% of articles were classified as being biased.

Online publications with the highest proportion of stories were rated as "very biased" (meaning at least four of these five factors: negative behavior, misrepresentation, generalization, lack of proper prominence of the Muslim voice, and association with misleading or irrelevant imagery or headlines) was evaluated. Christian Today (11%), The Spectator (11%), and Daily Mail Australia (10%).

The report found that nearly one in ten articles misrepresented Muslims and/or Islam, 82% of which were in the news (compared to opinions or characteristics). It said that there is misrepresentation in one in four Spectator articles mentioning the subject, followed by at least one in five articles each in Daily Mail Australia and Christian Today.

It said Daily Mail Australia had the highest percentage of irrelevant or misleading headlines (14%), followed by The Sun (6%). About 7% of all articles analyzed included one or more. Generalizations about Muslims and/or Islam while 10% of opinion articles did so.

Islamists everywhere

The report highlights the widespread misuse of the terms "Islamist" and "Islamism" by the British media, pointing to a "scattergun" approach that applies to a startling array of political actors and often makes them illegal. used as a method.

The late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was referred to on several more occasions as an "Islamist", rather than being correctly described as "democratically elected".

In Morsi's obituary, The Times referred to him as a "radical Islamic agenda", without any explanation of what this meant. He was also described as a "radical Islamist" for his "reference to the Prophet Muhammad".

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