53% of Americans think that coverage of Islam and Muslims by American news organizations is generally unfair to Muslims and Islam.

Evidence

Yet there is more than anecdotal evidence to indicate a strong double standard when it comes to identifying terrorism. A 2019 University of Alabama study found that terrorist attacks committed by Muslims currently receive 357 percent more media coverage than those committed by white men. In another media study by Georgia State University, researchers analyzed terrorist attacks in the United States from the years 2011 to 2015 and found that there was a 449 percent increase in media coverage when the perpetrator was Muslim compared to when the perpetrator was a white non-Muslim. This same GSU study found that Muslims committed only 12 percent of attacks during the five-year period studied, but received over 40 percent of total news media coverage during that same time (an over-representation of over 340 percent). — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 217 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Coverage of the Persian Gulf War bolstered the modern image of the menacing Arab, synonymous with Muslim, in the mind of the American viewer. The Iranians at the center of the hostage crisis were not Arab, and the Iranian government the United States tapped as the embodiment of Islamic fundamentalism was a Shiite-controlled state, whereas Hussein himself was a secular Sunni Muslim. But these distinctions were unimportant to most Americans, who conflated Iranian with Arab and had no clue what Sunni or Shiite meant. Saddam Hussein, whom the news media focused on by way of special reports, vignettes, and documentaries, succeeded his old foe, the Ayatollah Khomeini, in becoming the new embodiment of Muslim terror. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 254 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Among American Muslims who said it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. in recent years, the second most-answered reason for this was ‘negative media portrayals.’ In addition, 53% of Americans think that coverage of Islam and Muslims by American news organizations is generally unfair to Muslims and Islam.; Among American Muslims who said it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. in recent years, the second most-answered reason for this was ‘negative media portrayals.’ In addition, 53% of Americans think that coverage of Islam and Muslims by American news organizations is generally unfair to Muslims and Islam. However, it is not just the media that is guilty of this tainted image of jihad. Islamophobes also have a hand in the way jihad is portrayed to the American public. Prominent Islamophobes like Pamela Gellar, Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson, and Frank Gaffney, as well as others, portray jihad as Muslims’ attempt to force non-Muslims to convert to Islam and eradicate those who refuse. They establish non-governmental organizations and carry out campaigns dedicated to the portrayal of Islam as a violent religion and use their own interpretation of jihad as proof.; Muslim-perpetrated attacks receive dramatically disproportionate news coverage — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 217 (+1 more)

Related

• Among American Muslims who said it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. in recent years, the second most-answered reason for this was ‘negative media portrayals.’ In addition, 53%… (similarity 0.89)
• American media conflated Iranians, Arabs, Sunnis, and Shiites into one Muslim menace. (similarity 0.88)
• Muslim-perpetrated attacks receive dramatically disproportionate news coverage (similarity 0.87)
• Among American Muslims who said it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. in recent years, the second most-answered reason for this was negative media portrayals. (similarity 0.85)
• Jihad, which has come to be perceived as ‘holy war’ in American media and by many Americans, is a hot topic of debate throughout the world but especially in the West. (similarity 0.85)
• Western media coverage of ordinary Muslims stayed at 0.1 percent from 2001 to 2011 (similarity 0.85)
• Ninety-one per cent of press representations of Islam were negative (similarity 0.85)
• Representations of jihad in American film and television are also very relevant to how Americans view jihad and Islam. (similarity 0.84)
• News networks willfully ignored Hussein’s secularism to fit him into the Muslim-terror role. (similarity 0.83)
• Disproportionate media coverage reifies fear and mistrust of Muslims (similarity 0.83)
• Large minorities of Americans hold unfavorable views of Islam and Muslims (similarity 0.83)
• Media bias against Muslims remains as prevalent today as in 1997 (similarity 0.83)
• Media coverage of Muslim violence superficially supports an Islam-violence link (similarity 0.82)
• Powell’s study also claims that the media is much more likely to blame religion for the actions of Muslim terrorists than for white non-Muslim terrorists. This is evident in CNN’s description of… (similarity 0.82)
• Sustained media focus reframed Muslim citizens as enemies of the state (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Among American Muslims who said it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. in recent years, the second most-answered reason for this was ‘negative media portrayals.’ In addition, 53%… #expands (0.75)
• Muslim-perpetrated attacks receive dramatically disproportionate news coverage #corroborates (0.50) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 217
• American media conflated Iranians, Arabs, Sunnis, and Shiites into one Muslim menace. #corroborates (0.40) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 254