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
114
Media Coverage
Figure 8.12
countries. Broadly speaking, coverage of
educational <strong>and</strong> intercultural issues included
any attempt by <strong>the</strong> media or outside groups
to educate <strong>the</strong> public about cultural institutions
<strong>and</strong> religious faiths.
Education <strong>and</strong> intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing was
reported <strong>the</strong> most neutrally of <strong>the</strong> five issue
areas (overall rating 2.2% negative statements).
But it was also <strong>the</strong> area of coverage with <strong>the</strong>
largest visibility gap between Muslim majority
<strong>and</strong> non-Muslim countries. Non-Muslim countries
devoted 11.8% of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage to this issue
area; Muslim majority countries devoted only
4.9%.
Egypt
S. Arabia
Indonesia
UK
Spain
Germany
Italy
Israel
Brazil
Russia
Denmark
USA
South Africa
UAE
Pakistan
France
Namibia
Turkey
Malaysia*
Lebanon
Morocco
Palestine
Jordan
Iran
Tone of Religious, Ethics <strong>and</strong> Ideology
coverage per country
Negative
0% 50% 100%
* Low basis
Neutral Positive
Figure 8.13
Religious fundamentalism
Social stability, peace
Democracy, sovereignty
Tone of top Religious, Ethics,
Ideology topics
Freedom of press
Negative Neutral Positive
Extremism
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Percent of statements
The main topics reported in coverage of
education <strong>and</strong> intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing –
religious practice <strong>and</strong> teachings – were
characterized by more than 90% neutral
statements. However, most of this neutral
reporting came from non-Muslim majority
countries (70.0% of statements) <strong>and</strong> focused
primarily on Christian protagonists (40.0%).
(Figure 8.14) Less than a quarter of statements
included in <strong>the</strong> issue area of education <strong>and</strong>
intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing described Muslims,
<strong>and</strong> even fewer of those statements were
published outside <strong>the</strong> Muslim world. Therefore,
coverage of attempts to educate <strong>West</strong>ern
audiences about <strong>the</strong> religious practices <strong>and</strong>
teachings of <strong>Islam</strong> was relatively scarce.
On <strong>the</strong> whole, media from Muslim majority
countries covered educational <strong>and</strong> intercultural
underst<strong>and</strong>ing issues slightly more neutrally
than media from non-Muslim majority countries,
with an overall rating 1.0% positive statements
in Muslim majority countries versus 3.7%
negative statements in non-Muslim majority
countries. However, like <strong>West</strong>ern countries,
most of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage focused on <strong>the</strong>ir native
religion <strong>and</strong> culture. Muslims <strong>and</strong> protagonists
from Muslim majority countries were <strong>the</strong> focus