Is the British media Islamophobic?
British Muslims are a minority but the majority of news stories about them are negative. Is it Islamophobia?
We have reported before on the impact 9/11 had on media discourse in the US, and the way American Muslims and their religion have been covered by news outlets – often with fear and suspicion. In 2005, Britain had the 7/7 attacks which also affected the media in the UK.
Read the British press, and not just the tabloids, or go online and there are some scary stories about Muslims – the most recent being one on a supposed ‘secret’ Islamic plot to radicalise school students in Birmingham. There is a steady stream of reports on Muslim women and whether they should be covered or not, sharia law and a recent story on what os being called the ‘surreptitious’ serving of halal meat to ‘unsuspecting’ Britons.
Is the UK, as reflected through its media, Islamophobic? Or is this just a case of a community growing and the news media failing to cover them accurately? The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead now on Islam and the British media.
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