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

Figure 8.18
Malaysia
Egypt
Indonesia
Morocco
France
Namibia
Spain
Italy
S. Arabia
Denmark
Turkey
Brazil
UAE
Israel
Russia
USA
Germany
UK
South Africa
Jordan
Lebanon
Pakistan
Iran
Palestine
Tone of Economic <strong>and</strong> Social
Development coverage per country
Negative Neutral Positive
0% 50% 100%
<strong>West</strong>ern governments <strong>and</strong> Jewish <strong>and</strong> secular protagonists
(average rating 47.9% negative statements). However, <strong>the</strong>y
focused most of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage on Muslims <strong>and</strong> domestic
governments, <strong>and</strong> did so with a more balanced tone.
Palestinian <strong>and</strong> Jordanian media provided <strong>the</strong> most
negative assessment of this issue area (54.3%). Most of
<strong>the</strong>ir negative coverage focused on <strong>the</strong> conditions of
Muslims under Israeli occupation.
Economic <strong>and</strong> Social Development
Economic <strong>and</strong> social development included reporting on
Muslim-<strong>West</strong> partnerships designed to improve living st<strong>and</strong>ards
<strong>and</strong> promote peace. Economic <strong>and</strong> social development
topics accounted for 7.2% of all <strong>the</strong> reporting on Muslim-
<strong>West</strong> issues. Coverage of this issue area often focused on
conditions that impeded development. As a result, it had
Figure 8.19
<strong>the</strong> highest share of negative reports of <strong>the</strong> five issue areas,
with an overall rating of 31.9% negative statements.
However, negative reporting was to some degree offset
by coverage of development assistance <strong>and</strong> concrete
economic partnership initiatives. Journalists in almost all
24 countries highlighted a few examples of successful
economic restructuring <strong>and</strong> foreign assistance programmes.
At <strong>the</strong> same time, reporting on some continuing efforts,
such as relief from <strong>the</strong> tsunami <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pakistani earthquake,
were not heavily covered.
Media outlets from all countries focused on conditions
among Muslims in <strong>the</strong> Middle East. The situation in
Palestine alone accounted for 41.6% of statements. Most
development programmes were reduced to foreign aid,
primarily that given to Iraq <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> discontinuation of
<strong>West</strong>ern assistance to The Palestinian territories. In
general, Muslim majority countries covered economic <strong>and</strong>
social development issues more heavily <strong>and</strong> negatively
than media from non-Muslim majority countries. Muslim
majority countries produced 62.1% of <strong>the</strong> statements
related to this issue area with an overall rating of 39.5%
negative statements.
Tone <strong>and</strong> volume of Economic <strong>and</strong>
Social Development topics
Social unrest
Situation of refugees
Increasing deaths
Lives of individuals
Collective life of society
Negative Neutral Positive
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Percent of statements
Malaysia <strong>and</strong> Egypt covered economic <strong>and</strong> social
development most neutrally, <strong>and</strong> focused astrongmajority
of <strong>the</strong>ir coverage on protagonists representing Muslim
majority countries (Figure 8.18). Media from Palestine
covered this issue area with <strong>the</strong> highest frequency of any
<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
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