The secular values that inform newsroom culture inevitably entail that religion is only reported in terms of controversy and conflict. Critically discuss this statement with reference to two recent news stories.

Following this week’s lecture topic, I have examined the way Islam is portrayed and perceived in the media. For obvious reasons, I have chosen this religion due to the increased reporting of this religion, especially following the 9/11 attacks. The focus of the discussion is on the reporting of ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’ via newspaper articles. It is extremely common nowadays to see front pape headlines regarding Muslims and Islam, relating to terror attacks and terrorism, which in turn has impacted on extremist views of negativity and bias, amd leading to the term ‘Islamophobia’ being coined.

Since the 9/11 attacks, there has been an increase in media coverage of Islam as a religion, including their policies and culture. However, the period has also seen an increase in expressing contempt of the coverage regarding Muslims and Islam (Manning, 2004). The mainstream media tends to focus on extreme, unusual and sensationalised stories. Most people getting news about certain countries hugely populated by Muslims, will almost inevitably find stories about terrorism, discrimination against women, human rights violations and other forms of violence (Rane& Abdalla, 2008, p. 39). While it is fair to recognise that some of these countries have lagged behind in terms of fostering social justice and equality, it is also important to
realise that sensationalised and biased reporting affects the perception of the world for Islam and Muslims. It is not always doom and gloom in those countries, and there are human beings with other vital stories which can be reported. The suggestion according to Rane and Abdalla (2008), is not to ignore the stories about social injustice and human rights violations, but the coverage should be objective and should not fail to highlight that there are other aspects in life other thanterrorism and Islamistextremism (p.39). According to Poole (2002), the average coverage of BritishMuslim in the British media is moredetailedthan most of the other world newspapers. She also adds that the coverage takes an orientalist tone with occasional “otherness” present in  is the reporting referring to Muslims.

Although not a recent article, I have chosen the reporting by the Daily Mail of the 2015 Paris attacks, during which twelve people – ten journalists and two policemen, were killed in a terror attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo – a French satirical magazine that had published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The discussion throughout is inclusive of academic research on Islam, Muslims and the media, and incorporates too the perceptions of journalists when reporting on this often controversial subject matter.  The full article can be seen at:-
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900259/Gunmen-kill-11-Charlie-Hebdo-attack.html#ixzz4fdmH4zTw>

‘Teenage suspect ‘arrested after handing himself into police’ over Paris magazine
massacre that left 12 dead- as anti-terror unit raids building in a hunt for two brothers ‘trained in Yemen as assassins.’

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper, with conservative views, including views of homophobia and racism. Poole and Richardson (2006) argue that media outlets always employspecific criteria in determining which stories and subjects are newsworthy and the same might have been applied towards Muslims to portray them in a way that sells and attracts readers (p. 101). This usually means sensationalisation andexaggeration in the coverage. The Daily Mailarticle is an example of this. While it attempts as much as possible to offer a detailed account of the attack with the aim of informing the reader, one can also pick up the occasional feeding off on the emotioncreated by the attack. For instance, the manner in which the police officer was gunned down while begging the assailants to spare him was no doubt horrific. However, the article is keen to recount the ordeal in as much horrific detail as possible to the extent that could be described as insensitive to the grieving family of the officer. In this case, the newspaper has decided that giving as muchdetail as possible about how horrific the attack was would make the reporting more newsworthy and drive up the sales (Poole and Richardson, 2006). The article also highlights the religious chants made by the assailantsseverally without as much as a note to the fact that the region of Islam does not teach violence. While it was confirmed that the attackershadconnections to terroristgroups, the constant mentioning of Arabcountries and the religion of Islam significantly distorts the message to appear as though these countries were responsible in some way. Such a manner of reporting tends to point fingers at the Arab states and the religion of Islam (Petley& Richardson, 2011 p.90). The tendency and inability of western media to distinguish terroristgroups from the religion of Islam, is a primal issue promoting Islamaphobia. The media has in recentyears received criticism for fuelling Islamaphobia and publishing news with particularly negative reporting about Islam and Muslims (Poole and Richardson, 2006, p. 24). The apparent lack of knowledge and
understanding has led to a lot of allegations and assumptions about the middle east and other Arab countries. Poole and Richardson (2006) argue that journalists in the United Kingdom and other western news outlets assume that citizens in the middle east are not aware of how oppressive their regimes are or how their religion is misused by extremists to carry out killings and this is despite the fact that they actively condemn and try to fight such issues (p.25). When newsreporting takes on a tone that suggestsblame for the Middle East in the mannerwhich the Daily Mailarticle does, it is a distortion of the truth and in a way a diversion of responsibility.

The article did focus on one of the more sensationalist pieces of information which emerged, with the brothers having links to Al Qaeda in Yemen, “believed to be from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula”, recently the majority of the terrorist attacks had be carried out by the increasingly growing Islamic State, and the fact that they were French nationals as they “spoke French perfectly”, however they do not report where they got their sources from regarding this information.

The article however, also offers as much information as possible amidst the sensationalism and attempt to place the blame on the whole Muslim world. The reason for the attack on the newspaper was due to a cartoon that was published that depicted Mohamed in an offensive manner. The article observed that even the White House had taken issue with the publication stating that the cartoon could be seen as offensive by some people. While thisis not an excuse for committing such a despicable act, it calls into question whether the Western media  does enough to respect the religion of Islam. Ironically, it also highlights how some whopractice the religion of Islam could disregard the teachings and carry out such an attack in the name of
protecting the dignity of the faith. While the article could be seen as too sensationalist and
trying to portray the Muslimworld as guilty, one can also argue that it offers an accurate account of the experiences of the victims  and reminds people to remember the horrific attack.

Covering news from culturesd ifferent from the one that a journalist comes from is always a challenge. Most journalists tend to fall into the trap of stereotyping, prejudice, and assumptions made about cultures and the people. For instance, most journalists are quick to conclude that terrorists come from Arab countries or that any attack that might involve an Arab by default has terrorism associated with it. The journalist might also cover such stories in a way that fits the current narrative in the home country. For instance, after an attack, there is usually anger and uproar, and the expectation is that the news outlets will condemn the attackers. For some people, this mightinclude condemning the religion of Islam and Muslims as a whole. To cater for these expectations, some journalists abandon their moral and ethical responsibility of being objective and truthful and try to cover the news ina way that satisfies the masses