Mainstream media coverage of Islam was overwhelmingly negative by 2015

Evidence

By 2015, Islamophobia had become normalized according to the Media Tenor 2015 report, “Coverage of Islam” (January 1–December 31, 2015). After more than a decade of steady escalation, 2015 witnessed the all-time highest level of negative coverage. Specifically, the report found (1) in television media coverage of religious protagonists, over 80 percent covered Islam and in a negative light; (2) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, nine of ten articles about Islam were negative; (3) coverage of Muslim protagonists focused on the Islamic State (IS) and other “Islamist” terrorist networks (e.g., Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Taliban, al-Shabaab); (4) the increased coverage of mainstream Muslims also tended to be negative (more than 50 percent of reports); and (5) the vast majority of stories on Islam or Muslims focused on war and conflict. To put the media bias into perspective, a study released in November 2015 by 416 Labs, a Toronto-based consulting firm, found that the New York Times portrayed Islam and Muslims more negatively than alcohol, cancer, and cocaine, among other benchmarked words. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 39

Categorization

• XREF: Media salience bias parallels the signal/keynote discussion in The Soundscape — what gets attention defines reality. — connects to: Mainstream media gave Islamophobic commentators hundreds of appearances with minimal scrutiny.
• SHARE: The New York Times portraying Muslims more negatively than alcohol, cancer, and cocaine is a startling single statistic for a media or advocacy friend.