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

<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
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Media Coverage
Key Findings
1. Primacy of international politics:
Coverage of Middle East conflicts dominated
media coverage of Muslim-<strong>West</strong> relations,
giving it a more negative tone overall.
2. Negative tone towards <strong>the</strong> “o<strong>the</strong>r”:
While most coverage of Muslim-<strong>West</strong> issues
contained no positive or negative judgements,
media from Muslim majority countries were
more likely to provide negative coverage of
individuals <strong>and</strong> groups associated with
Christianity <strong>and</strong> Judaism <strong>and</strong> with non-
Muslim majority countries. Conversely,
media from non-Muslim majority countries
covered Muslim majority countries <strong>and</strong>
Muslim protagonists more negatively, but to
alesserdegree.
3. Focus on political <strong>and</strong> militant <strong>Islam</strong>:
Most reports involving Muslims depicted
<strong>the</strong>m engaged in political, militant <strong>and</strong>
extremist activities. In contrast, Christians
<strong>and</strong> Jews were most often presented in <strong>the</strong>
context of religious activities.
4. Education <strong>and</strong> intercultural
underst<strong>and</strong>ing covered most neutrally:
<strong>Report</strong>s designed to inform people about
religious <strong>and</strong> cultural traditions were <strong>the</strong> least
negative <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> second most visible coverage
area. However, <strong>the</strong>y focused primarily on
<strong>West</strong>ern traditions <strong>and</strong> were only covered
heavily in non-Muslim majority countries.
Primacy of international politics
The evaluation of international political issues
in <strong>the</strong> media focused on several key Middle
East conflicts. Among <strong>the</strong> 290,452 statements
analysed in 160 print <strong>and</strong> TV news outlets, <strong>the</strong>se
international conflicts accounted for nearly three-
quarters of <strong>the</strong> overall coverage of Muslim-
<strong>West</strong> relations across <strong>the</strong> five topic areas.
The main topics covered under <strong>the</strong> international
politics rubric were <strong>the</strong> Middle East conflicts
Figure 8.1
International Politics
Education, Intercultural
Underst<strong>and</strong>ing
Economic,
Social Development
Citizenship, Integration
Religion, Ethics, Ideology
Visibility of Muslim-<strong>West</strong> issues
that made news in 2007, including <strong>the</strong> Hamas
takeover of <strong>the</strong> Gaza strip (23.4% of statements)
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (15.3%).
Terrorism (21.9%) <strong>and</strong> terrorism-fighting
measures (9%) were also prominent, as was
<strong>the</strong> war in Iraq (17.6%).
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Percent of statements
Like all <strong>the</strong> five issue areas, more than half <strong>the</strong>
reporting on international politics was neutral
in tone (Figure 8.2). However, because it
contained 34.6% negative statements <strong>and</strong> only
4.4% positive, <strong>the</strong> international politics issue
area had an overall negative tone. It was <strong>the</strong>
second most negative area of reporting behind
economic <strong>and</strong> social development, which
contained 36.4% negative <strong>and</strong> only 4.5% positive
statements, but had much lower visibility.
Education <strong>and</strong> intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing had
<strong>the</strong> most neutral tone of all <strong>the</strong> issue areas
with 7.8% positive <strong>and</strong> 9.9% negative statements,
followed by citizenship <strong>and</strong> integration (25.3%
negative, 7.9% positive) <strong>and</strong> religion, ethics
<strong>and</strong> ideology (33.7% positive, 7.1% negative).
Negative tone toward <strong>the</strong> “o<strong>the</strong>r”
Media in Muslim majority countries struck a
more negative tone than media from non-
Muslim majority countries. <strong>Report</strong>s from media