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
dealt with international politics in European media
outlets. This is less than <strong>the</strong> percentage of coverage
devoted to this issue area by <strong>the</strong> media in <strong>the</strong> two
Muslim majority countries in Sou<strong>the</strong>ast Asia –
Malaysia <strong>and</strong> Indonesia – which suggests that
<strong>the</strong> religious affiliations of consumers may be a
better predictor of <strong>the</strong> salience of International
Politics in a country than are military engagements.
Media in Muslim majority countries devoted an
average of 78.4% of <strong>the</strong>ir issue coverage to
international politics. Non-Muslim majority countries
devoted an average of 63.7% of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage to
this issue area. Italian media covered international
politics with <strong>the</strong> lowest frequency of any country
(45.8% of statements).
Despite <strong>the</strong> visibility gap between media from
Muslim-majority <strong>and</strong> non-Muslim majority countries,
international politics formed <strong>the</strong> bulk of every media
outlet’s coverage of Muslim-<strong>West</strong> issues. In terms
of coverage from individual countries, Indonesia
covered international politics with <strong>the</strong> highest
frequency, devoting to it 94.6% of its coverage
(Table 8.2). Whereas a high percentage of
Indonesia’s coverage of international politics
focused on <strong>the</strong> topic of politically motivated crime
or terrorism, most o<strong>the</strong>r countries focused on
Middle East conflicts, such as Palestinian infighting
in <strong>the</strong> Gaza strip. Media from both Muslim majority
<strong>and</strong> non-Muslim majority countries covered this
topic with a similar tone <strong>and</strong> frequency.
There were significant differences between Muslim
majority <strong>and</strong> non-Muslim majority countries in <strong>the</strong>
amount of coverage devoted to specific topics
related to international politics. Whereas media
from Muslim majority countries covered Israel-
Palestine in 20.7% of <strong>the</strong>ir international politics
coverage, media from non-Muslim majority
countries did so in only 9.3% of statements. These
media outlets instead focused more heavily on Iraq
(20.1% of coverage) <strong>and</strong> terrorism (27.7% of coverage).
Table 8.2 Percent of coverage devoted to
International Politics per country
Country Percent of coverage
Indonesia 94.6%
Egypt 85.7%
UAE 82.2%
Lebanon 81.6%
Malaysia 80.0%
Palestine 77.5%
Iran 77.1%
USA 76.3%
UK 76.1%
Morocco 75.8%
Jordan 75.3%
Denmark 74.7%
Turkey 72.7 %
Israel 72.3%
Pakistan 71.6%
Saudi Arabia 66.9%
Brazil 66.2%
Germany 65.3%
Spain 63.3%
Russia 59.4%
Namibia 59.2%
France 56.4%
South Africa 49.5%
Italy 45.8%
Average 72.5%
Media from Muslim majority countries only devoted
15.9% <strong>and</strong> 18.1% of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage to <strong>the</strong>se
topics, respectively. All reporting on <strong>the</strong>se topics
was more negative than positive.
Saudi Arabia’s reporting was <strong>the</strong> most neutral
of any country in its reporting of international
politics (overall rating 13.9% negative statements;
80.8% neutral statements (Figure 8.11).
In general, media from non-Muslim majority
countries reported on international politics
slightly more neutrally, with an average share
of 63.1% neutral statements in media from
non-Muslim majority countries versus 60.5%
neutral statements in media from Muslim
majority countries.