Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue

Media Coverage
8Media Coverage
Authors: Sacha Evans, Christian Kolmer, The high volume of reporting on conflicts fuelled
Rol<strong>and</strong> Schatz.
negative presentations of <strong>the</strong> <strong>West</strong>ern <strong>and</strong>
Muslim “o<strong>the</strong>r” across all media outlets <strong>and</strong>
Research Team : Yasser Abu Mulaiek, countries. <strong>Report</strong>ing on o<strong>the</strong>r Muslim-<strong>West</strong>
Sohail Akhtar, Dewi Astuti,
issues, such as citizenship, integration <strong>and</strong>
<strong>Islam</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>West</strong>: <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on <strong>the</strong> State of Dialogue
102
Media Coverage
Zuzana Beluksa, Ali Reza Davari,
Simon Jakobs, Stella Kallaghe,
Atif Mussadaq, Derya Özdeniz,
Denise Schaper, Dimitri Soibel.
How did <strong>the</strong> global media cover <strong>the</strong>
five issue areas highlighted in this
report ? Media Tenor International
carried out an in-depth survey of reporting on
Muslim-<strong>West</strong> issues in 24 countries in 2007.
The survey, undertaken in both Muslim majority
<strong>and</strong> non-Muslim majority countries, indicates
that most reporting on Muslim-<strong>West</strong> issues
was neutral in tone. However, negative coverage
was 10 times more frequent than positive
coverage. This was in part due to a focus on
international politics – including terrorism –
Iraq <strong>and</strong> Israel-Palestine.
religious ethics was less negative, but also
much less frequent.
Examinations of religious <strong>and</strong> cultural traditions
were <strong>the</strong> least negative areas of coverage, but
<strong>the</strong>y focused primarily on majority traditions in
<strong>West</strong>ern countries <strong>and</strong> were not heavily present
in media from Muslim majority countries. Media
coverage bearing on <strong>West</strong>-Muslim issues
accounted for about one-fifth of total media
output in <strong>the</strong> 24 countries surveyed.