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
Figure 8.16
O<strong>the</strong>r Religions
Christianity
Muslim countries
<strong>Islam</strong>
Judaism
The <strong>West</strong>
Tone of reporting towards various
protagonists in media from
non-Muslim majority countries
Statements about individual rights <strong>and</strong>
interactions with governments were key to <strong>the</strong>
analysis. Citizenship <strong>and</strong> integration issues
accounted for 6.2% of all reporting on Muslim-
<strong>West</strong> issues, making it <strong>the</strong> issue area with <strong>the</strong>
second lowest visibility.
Negative Neutral Positive
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Percent of statements
Most reporting on citizenship <strong>and</strong> integration
issues came from non-Muslim majority countries
(63.9% of statements), particularly European
countries. These countries mostly focused on <strong>the</strong>
role that <strong>the</strong>ir own governments play in granting
citizenship rights, enforcing laws, respecting
religious freedoms <strong>and</strong> uniting diverse communities.
Media outside <strong>the</strong> Muslim world focused roughly
equal percentages of citizenship <strong>and</strong> integration
reports on <strong>the</strong> role of governments from Muslim
majority countries (19.6% of statements),
governments from <strong>the</strong>ir own countries (18.8%) <strong>and</strong>
growing Muslim populations (19.6 % of statements).
Of <strong>the</strong> three groups of protagonists, political
protagonists from non-Muslim majority countries
were covered with <strong>the</strong> most balance. Muslims
<strong>and</strong> Muslim majority countries were covered
most negatively. (Figure 8.16)
Media from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia <strong>and</strong> Italy
provided <strong>the</strong> most neutral coverage of citizenship
Figure 8.17
Indonesia
S. Arabia
Italy
France
Spain
Denmark
Russia
Germany
Brazil
USA
UK
Morocco
South Africa
Egypt
Namibia
Israel
Turkey
Pakistan
UAE
Malaysia
Jordan
Lebanon
Palestine
Iran
Tone of Citizenship <strong>and</strong> Integration
coverage per country
Negative Neutral Positive
0% 50% 100%
<strong>and</strong> integration issues. (Figure 8.17) However,
most of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage focused on <strong>the</strong> activities
of <strong>the</strong>ir own governments <strong>and</strong> majority populations.
Italian media reported on citizenship <strong>and</strong> integration
<strong>the</strong> most heavily of any country, providing 11.2%
of all statements for this dialogue issue area. They
struck a largely balanced tone in <strong>the</strong>ir coverage,
with an overall rating on 5.0% negative statements.
But <strong>the</strong>y focused primarily on <strong>the</strong> rights <strong>and</strong>
political interactions of Christians (mainly Catholics)
within Italian society (69.3% of statements).
Muslim majority countries covered citizenship
<strong>and</strong> integration issues more negatively than
media outside <strong>the</strong> Muslim world did, partially
on account of <strong>the</strong>ir very negative tone towards