Mainstream media gave Islamophobic commentators hundreds of appearances with minimal scrutiny.

Evidence

Local and concrete circumstances are thus obliterated. In other words, covering Islam is a one-sided activity that obscures what “we” do, and highlights instead what Muslims and Arabs by their very flawed nature are. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 22 (#expands, via linked claim)

One can make the case that without the media’s attraction to those who traffic in professional Islamophobia, we would know little about Daniel Pipes, Geert Wilders, or Ayaan Hirsi Ali. This begs a larger question, one that is the focus of the next chapter: how much does the media contribute to the problem of Islamophobia? — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 493 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Assiduous research has shown that there is hardly a prime-time television show without several episodes of patently racist and insulting caricatures of Muslims, all of whom tend to be represented in unqualified categorical and generic terms: one Muslim is therefore seen to be typical of all Muslims and of Islam in general. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 216 (#epitomizes, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Media coverage of Islam systematically obscures Western actions against Muslims — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the…, 22; Mainstream American media saturated prime-time television with generic Muslim caricatures. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the…, 216; Western commentators treated eight hundred million Muslims as one undifferentiated thing — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the…, 233 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Media coverage of Islam systematically obscures Western actions against Muslims #expands (0.82) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 22
• The media’s attraction materially amplifies professional Islamophobes’ reach #exemplifies (0.82) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 493
• Mainstream American media saturated prime-time television with generic Muslim caricatures. #epitomizes (0.80) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 216
• Western commentators treated eight hundred million Muslims as one undifferentiated thing #expands (0.78) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 233
• Islamophobic claims of innate Muslim violence persist in mainstream entertainment and commentary. #expands (0.78) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 780
• Mainstream media coverage of Islam was overwhelmingly negative by 2015 #corroborates (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 39
• Ninety-one per cent of press representations of Islam were negative #corroborates (0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 497
• Islamic studies’ marginality lets media spread racist caricatures unchecked #expands (0.74) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 325
• Sustained media smears convinced a large minority that Obama was secretly Muslim #expands (0.72)
• The media is not the origin or sole source of Islamophobia #qualifies (0.72) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 836