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

Figure 8.14
<strong>Report</strong>ing on different protagonists
related to Education <strong>and</strong>
Intercultural Underst<strong>and</strong>ing
Christianity
Muslim countries
<strong>Islam</strong>
Non-Muslim majority
countries
From media outside <strong>the</strong>
Muslim World
Judaism
O<strong>the</strong>r religions
Secular Ideologies
of 74.8% of statements from media in Muslim majority
countries. Only a quarter of statements focused on non-
Muslim majority countries, Christian or Jewish protagonists.
This observation is consistent with Media Tenor’s long-term
analysis of Arab satellite TV news, which indicates that
Arab media feature infrequent educational programmes
about outside religious faiths. But media from non-Muslim
majority countries, which produced most of <strong>the</strong> reporting
on this issue area, also concentrated on <strong>the</strong> traditions <strong>and</strong>
faiths of <strong>the</strong>ir majority populations – devoting 70.3 % of <strong>the</strong>
statements related to education <strong>and</strong> intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing
to protagonists representing ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> Christian or Jewish faiths.
Both Muslim majority <strong>and</strong> non-Muslim majority countries
covered <strong>the</strong>ir “own” side more neutrally than <strong>the</strong>y covered
<strong>the</strong> “o<strong>the</strong>r”. Muslim majority countries did so more
dramatically. The overall rating that media from Muslim
majority countries communicated towards <strong>Islam</strong>ic
protagonists was 3.8% positive statements. The tone that
<strong>the</strong>se media communicated towards <strong>the</strong> “o<strong>the</strong>r side” was
21.1% negative statements.
From media within <strong>the</strong>
Muslim world
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Percent of statements
The most extreme example of this difference in tone was in
Iran, where coverage of <strong>Islam</strong>ic protagonists had an overall
aratingof84.7%positivestatements,<strong>and</strong>coverageof<strong>the</strong>
“o<strong>the</strong>r” side had a rating of 51.3% negative statements. Media
in Iran focused heavily on protagonists representing <strong>Islam</strong>
Figure 8.15
Russia
Italy
France
Spain
Brazil
Egypt
Denmark
USA
Germany
Israel
S. Arabia
South Africa
UK
Lebanon
Namibia
UAE
Malaysia
Indonesia
Jordan
Turkey
Pakistan
Morocco
Palestine
Iran
<strong>and</strong> Muslim majority countries in this issue area (90.0% of
statements), which explains why <strong>the</strong> country’s overall rating
on this issue area was <strong>the</strong> most positive of any country.
(Figure 8.15)
Tone of Education <strong>and</strong> Intercultural
Underst<strong>and</strong>ing coverage per country
Negative Neutral Positive
0% 50% 100%
Journalists in Russia, Italy <strong>and</strong> France covered education <strong>and</strong>
intercultural underst<strong>and</strong>ing most neutrally. But <strong>the</strong>y mainly
explored <strong>the</strong> traditions <strong>and</strong> cultural practices of Christians.
Morocco <strong>and</strong> Palestine had <strong>the</strong> most negative coverage
<strong>and</strong> dedicated most of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage to exploring how <strong>the</strong>
traditions <strong>and</strong> belief of Muslims are threatened.
Citizenship <strong>and</strong> Integration
This issue area centres on challenges related to <strong>the</strong> assimilation
of different religious, ethnic <strong>and</strong> cultural groups into a society.
<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 Media Coverage
115