Monthly compndium

330 Pages·2017·5.97 MB·English

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Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media (CRIGM)
Department of Media and Communication Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Sector H-10,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
Monthly Media Watch

Islam and Muslims in the Global Media
April & May 2017

Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media (CRIGM)
Department of Media and Communication Studies
International Islamic University Islamabad-Pakistan

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Table of Contents

Page No.
1. About the compendium 5
2. Editorial 6
3. Introduction 7
4. How to read it 9
5. Methodology of Data Collection 10
6. Summary Analysis of the US Print Media Contents Against 11
Islam and Muslims (April & May 2017)
7. Summary Analysis of the European Media Contents Against 12
Islam and Muslims (April & May 2017)
8. Highlights of Negative Contents from Western Media (April 13
& May 2017)
9. United States: News Stories Published in United States & 39
North American Print Media Containing Islamophobic
Contents
10. Europe: News Stories Published in European Print Media 176
Containing Islamophobic Contents
11. Australia: News Stories Published in Austalian Print Media 243
Containing Islamophobic Contents
12 Social Media: Islamophobic trends in Social Media 265

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About the Compendium

This is a monthly compendium of news reports and judgement pieces published in the Western media
during April and May 2017 on issues related to Islam and Muslims. The Western media is generally
found to be painting Islam and Muslims as a global threat and danger for the world peace. It has
launched an unethical smear campaign against Islam and Muslims , which is becoming intense by the
day and from the standpoint of the Western media audience such an unfair portray al of Islam is likely
to be highly Islamophobic and conflictual.
To monitor and catalogue the ever-increasing frequency of the Western media’s negative packaging
of Islam and Muslims, the Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media( CRIGM) collects
within two covers the news stories and leading articles carried in the Western press every month. The
articles are culled based on the known indicators of Islamophobia. and found abundant negative
contents, highlighted, and published them in a bound form. CRIGM is not only observing western
media on issues concerning Islam and Muslim societiesb ut has an eye out for the entire array of the
Western media including the electronic, broadcast, online and the social media as well. Shortly, we
shall start publishing separate medium-specific reports as well.

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Editorial
This edition is of immense importance as it covers the first 100 days of the US President Donald J.
Trump in office, his visit to the Middle East, and elections in France among other related
developments. If we look at these developments in totality, it is reassuring to see that President Trump
with his Trumpism (synonym for modern day Islamophhobia) has almost been left alone and fast
going into isolation at a trans-continental level.
Given the 1000 percent rise in Islamophobic incidents in the US after his first 100 days in the office
as the president, it was supposed that Mr. Trump will do some damage control in his maiden visit to
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where a collection of over 50 representatives of Muslim states awaited
his address behind closed doors in a lavish hall. Anything but the common sense as he stands for, Mr.
Trump rose to the podium to tell the Muslim leaders emphatically to “drive out” extremists from their
midst. His words met stony silence as faces of the audience grew stern and 30 out 50 of them,
including the prime minister of Pakistan, were not given opportunity to speak after him.
He then went to the summit of G 7 countries that include the US, the UK, France, Germany etc. There,
he yet again went on telling the European leaders to do more the way he told Muslim leaders in
Riyadh. But this time his words did not met stony silence. About 30 years his junior, French President
Emmanual Macron not only outshook his hand but also shrugged off the myth of his might, inviting
people from across the world to Paris to work for protection of environment for the generations to
come when Mr. Trump withdrew from Paris agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel minced no words suggesting that the time has come for the Europe
to take its fate its own hands. It seems that because of Mr. Trump’s hate mongering, the US is losing
its constituency not only in the Muslim world, but also Europe. Even the US community, cross-
cultural by nature, is not buying his politics of fear as Muslims, Jews and Christians rally together to
mock him by showing inter-faith harmony. Muslims in the US are facing the risk of deportation or
detention due to Mr. Trump’s Islamophobic policies but the rally in Detriot marched from a catholic
church to a local mosque to protect those facing risk of being “deported or detained”. "You have 120
languages in Detroit. In a five mile radius of where you are, there are 70,000 Arab Americans," said
HassenJaber, chief executive of Accessthat works to help the Arab-American community. "When the
travel ban happened, the community mobilised immediately. We had activists getting involved who
we'd never heard of before calling for mass demonstrations."It has been widely reported in the US
media.
Similarly, the American press has been fighting Trumpism all along. A recent study by Harvard
University analyzed content of mainstream US media to find that Trump got a negative coverage far
more than any of his predecessors in his first 100 dasy at office. In much of the most cases, his steamy
statements got the ire of media which means that he has himself to blame for it. Even the Fox News,
banned in Pakistan on complaints of biased against and hatred for Islam, could not resist being critical
of Mr. Trump in 62 of the cases. The report concluded that unfazed by Mr. Trump’s attacks on its
credibility, the media should continue questioning his hate driven, religious or otherwise, policies
since it is a fight for pluralism and balance in the worl. d

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Introduction

Department of Media and Communication Studies (DMCS) of International Islamic University
Islamabad (IIUI), Pakistan, under its newly established Centre for Research on Islam and Global
Media (CRIGM) publishes a monthly report on western media’s negative framing of Islam and
Muslims under the title “Islam and Muslims in the Global Media”. The present compendium in hand
th
is 5 edition ‘April & May 2017’. Islamophobia is nowadays touching the peak of hate in the West.
According to Director of CAIR Corey Saylor, Islamophobic incidents involving US Customs and
Border Protection officials have risen by about 1,000 percent since President Donald Trump took
office in January, Director further explained that we collected preliminary data from its branches
across the US and found that instances in which officials were accused of profiling Muslims
accounted 23 percent in 2017.It is reported that 193 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) cases in
2017, at least 181 were reported after the January 27 Muslim travel ban. In the first three months of
2016, the group reported 17 cases, The Independent said.
The Centre tries to find out the triggering point of r ising Islamophobia in the West, the most
significant aspect has been US President Trump’s hateful and xenophobic speeches and both versions
of an executive order of Muslims entry in the US. Media helped president Trump to spread anxiety
among the minorities in general and American Muslims in particular. Several racial and hate attempts
were reported on Muslims because of hateful and xenophobic tendencies. President Donald Trump
legitimated hate against the Muslims and providing patronage to the bigotries against Muslims. Media
accelerated oppression on Muslims and left them feel suffocated. It was not public hysteria but
somehow media’s kindled fire.
The present compendium of April & May 2017 consists of the media discourses circulated across the
world after President Donald Trump issued an executive order largely fulfilling the banning of seven
Muslim-Majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) entering the United
States and then second version of an executive order excluding Iraq from the list. This monthly
compendium encompasses the reports of Western media on the completion of President Donald
Trump’s first 100 days in rule. Muslims outside the United States grappling ban and inside the United
States are under tentative constant probing by the US agencies.
CRIGM has also published many stories from the European and Australian newspapers as anti-Islam
and Muslims. The beginning of the new year 2017, remained potentially Islamophobic around the
western world. That is why the compendium documents variety of media reports and leading articles
and highlights the polemical approaches and negativities by highli ghting and making them appear as
bold. These identified media reports and opinion pieces have been retrieved using LexisNexis and
websites of various news organizations for the month of April & May 2017. The search (key) words
were Islam and Muslims and media from United States & North America, Europe & United
Kingdom and Australia & New Zealand were selected for data retrieval. A total of over4 500 pages
of news reports and leading articles from print media were retrieved in the search on our given key
words. Out of them, some of the reports are made part of this compendium as being highly negative
in nature. The reports with minor tendency of negaitvity towards Muslims and Islam were excluded
to avoid this compendium becoming huge enough to handle.
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A summary analysis of media negativities has been made to provide a glimpse of how media have
been treating Islam and Muslims in their reports and leading articles.
For this initiative and other associated tasks, the Centre is highly indebted to Professor Dr. Suliman
Abdullah Aba Al-Khail, Pro-Chancellor IIUI and the Rector Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic
University, Riyadh, KSA; Professor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, Rector IIUI and Professor Dr. Ahmed
Yousif Ahmed Al-Draiweesh for their relentless support and guidance and making this initiative
possible.

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How to read it

Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media (CRIGM) has compiled this book having the
ease of readers in mind. For quick readers the anti-Islam and Muslims contents have been bolded and
underlined. The Summary/round up of each region has been presented separately. To read negative
contents in its context, the whole news stories are given region wise. The negative contents against
Islam, Muslims and Muslim Societies have been picked up and placed separately in the beginning of
this compendium with the name of Highlights, references have also been placed at the end of every
highlight, one can approach the story by the reference on the website of particular news organization
to get its exact location on the newspaper to check the agenda of certain newspapers regarding Islam
and Muslims. To stay in touch with Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media (CRIGM) one
may subscribe Youtube channel, Facebook page, Whatsapp group and website of CRIGM, Centre
keeps its readers updated on daily basis. The detail of Social media links is given at the end of the
book. In the social media chapter at the end of this monthly compendium readers may read whole the
stories remaind viral in the months of April & May 2017 with its originating date and time, reader
may also visit the link given at the end of the story.

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Methodology of Data Collection

The Centre for Research on Islam and Global Media (CRIGM) has adopted a comprehensive
strategy to monitor the Islamophobic content in the Western media as we see that Islamophobia has
been on rise critically in the West and at times it turns violent as in the case of US Presidential
elections 2016 and furthermore on Friday 27 January by Donald Trump’s Executive order of Banning
entry from seven Majority-Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen
and then revised version of Executive order excluding Iraq from the list of seven countries, it remained
halted over six Muslim-Majoritity countries – for 90 days. Where so many hate related incidents,
have been reported against Muslims because of their faith and identity. This situation demands an
extensive and thorough approach to counter prejudice against Islam and Muslims in the West. We
need multi-faceted approach for this purpose, by keeping the situation in view the CRIGM has
initiated the most important and the basic one by observing and monitoring the Islamophobic
discourse in the Western globalized media, this will help us to comprehend the prevailing state and
level of hatred and hostility towards Islam and Muslims.
CRIGM has developed a mechanism to monitor and observe the Western media regularly to obtain
relevant content, CRIGM team closely watches Western media and emphasizes on news stories and
contents related to Islam and Muslims to collect the data. We examine all the news content s in the
Western media on Islam and Muslims and focus on those stories where Muslims are being portrayed
negatively or reported as victims of bigotry and prejudice. We have categorized Western media into
three regions, United States & North America, Europe & United Kingdom and Australia & New
Zealand. CRIGM maintains daily media watch by monitoring all forms of media including Electronic
media, Print Media, online and Social Media. CRIGM is also utilizing the corporate data
dissemination services like Lexis Nexis to get the most relevant content. Data of this very monthly
compendium has been collected through online data service provider LexisNexis by searching news
contents related to two words Islam and Muslims for the period of April & May, 2017 and comprising
of regions of United states , Australia and Europe & UK. This has provided hundreds of news stories
related to Islam and Muslims and we have read each story thoroughly and used those stories as our
data where hatred and negativities have been found aga inst Muslims and Islam. We have highlighted
and underlined the Islamophobic content in news stories also give whole text to provide full context
of stories so that readers can have clear idea about the perspective and background of news stories of
prejudice and bigotry against Muslims and Islam in the Western media.
This very monthly compendium consists of only print media news content s of three regions, USA,
Australia and Europe & UK and stumilatng social media discourses against Islam and Muslims . We
have collected data from diverse news websites of main stream newspapers as well as regional
newspapers of those three regions through LexisNexis, this will provide us more detailed views and
picture of Western media. We collected this data by monitoring cont ent of news stories, opinion based
stories, special reports and letters to editors.

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