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Muslims Well Integrated or Approving of Suicide Strikes?

by HijabMan :: posted 22 May 07

My buddy Optimussven, writes (way better than I could):

Right now seems to be as good a time as any to talk about “responsible journalism” or the lack thereof in the US. Take a look at the following two headlines, the first from the BBC, the later from the AP:

Muslims ‘well integrated’ in US

vs

Some U.S. Muslims approve suicide strikes

Two very different headlines for the same story. The story in question is a recent poll ( Muslim Americans: Mostly Middle Class and Mainstream ) done by Pew Research, which happens to be the most exhaustive poll ever undertaken concerning US Muslims.

The vast majority of the data in the poll shows that a large majority of Muslims in the US hold “American values,” believe in the “American dream,” and hold positive views of American society. The vast majority also reject Muslim extremism, al-Qaeda and the like.

The BBC chose to focus on this, the AP did not, focusing instead on one statistic from the poll that said that 13% of young Muslims in America think that suicide bombing is can be justified, nearly ignoring, however the 78% who said it is never justified.

Compare the first paragraphs of each:

“The study by the Pew Research Center says US Muslims – most of whom are immigrants – believe in the American work ethic and reject extremism.”

vs.

“One in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida, a poll says.”

Of course if you continue to read the AP article, and have a discriminating mind, you can extract the main points of the poll that say that American Muslims are highly integrated as opposed to those in Europe. But how many people actually read that far?

The BBC article shows charts, graphs, and adds a link to the original poll. Meanwhile the AP article appeared under the headlines on msn.com, the default site for Internet Explorer, and a site millions of Americans see every day in their offices and at their homes. That means that millions of Americans opened their browsers to see the headline Some U.S. Muslims approve suicide strikes. How many of those then actually clicked on the link to read the article? How many of those then went on to read the whole article? I’m betting much fewer.

So how can a responsible journalist put a headline on an article that misses the whole point of a story and blatantly gives a false snapshot of the article’s contents?

I suppose I shouldn’t expect more from the AP, but the sad thing is the same headline will appear in newspapers across the US and on numerous websites. I’m sure FOX will have its fun, and the media across the US will continue to distort the findings of Pew’s informative poll, all to the detriment of Muslim-Americans.

No wonder 25% of Muslim-Americans have experienced discrimination.

Thanks Nate.

This just makes me want to suggest that you encourage/teach media literacy, plug Independent Media when you can, and encourage those going into journalism not to become part of this nutty machine.

Ps: More commentary over at Rawi. (You need to come visit, buddy), and Tales of Taromeet

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1. Will at 23 May 07 :: #

   This is pretty much the main reason I don’t let people know I’m a Muslim.

   The worst is always expected and when you try to explain to people that extremism has about as much place in Islam as a goat does on roller skates they either roll their eyes and say, “well, you would say that” or start listing Fox News sound bites.

   Sensational, fear-mongering headlines are just too easy and attractive. I hope that responsible journalism will return in my lifetime.

2. aisha at 23 May 07 :: #

   sigh

   The media in the US a very frightening institution. Did you read about this: http://aishaiqbal.blogspot.com/2006/11/on-flavor-of-love-and-media-in-general.html
   The different news covers for us as copared to the rest of the world should send huge warning signs.

   A professor in one of my courses talked about how we are consciously kept dumb with news headins ike you described and other things such as the mind numbing meaningless that MTV pushes when they could also do a lot of push for social change among youth, sure they have documentaries heere and there but its ostly “scarred” “sweet 16” and “real world” where even in the real world all they do is get drunk and party instead of in the eralier shows where real issues were discussed. The professor suggested that the tv content, and the way the media is, etc is not a coincidence… its a purposeful thing to keep us fat dumb and happy.

   What frightens me about such fear provoking headlines is that it makes things like internment camps more likely by turning public sentiment into a mob mentality fueled by fear.

3. Aisha at 24 May 07 :: #

   One more thing though on a bright side note, thankfully, the mainstream media is no longer our sole avenue for information. Though the ap is the source that the majority will go through, the internet has provided great opportunities for independent news sources and takes. On the news, particularly cable news, all it is is views of extremes from two opposing sides by pre-picked people who will be inflammatory, but now we have other views out there that the mainstream media may not be interested in but thinking individuals can access if they just search a little bit. I think blogs, youtube, etc are great avenues to deliver perspectives and news that aren’t always shown to the mainstream.

   So, in other words, kudos for talking about it, and keep on talking :0)

4. The Imugi at 29 May 07 :: #

   That is so ridiculously stupid it makes my head hurt. But it really does show how easily statistics can be manipulated to reflect a certain set of “values” (or lack thereof), I guess.

   At this point I am no longer surprised by this sort of thing, either in the American media or the American government. I’m still outraged and embarassed by it, but surprised? The last seven years have been way too surreal for me to be especially surprised…

   On the bright side, as Aisha noted, we have blogs like yours that keeps those of us who are still thinking informed. So thanks, Hijabman, keep fighting the good fight :)