In November 2001, just two months after the horrific terror attack of 9/11, the Washington Post posted a video profile of a local imam who complained about the âassociation of Islam and terrorism.â The Post followed with a question-and-answer session with the imam on its website.
That imam was Anwar al-Awlaki, a man considered so dangerous that just a few years later President Barack Obama ordered him shot on sight. Al-Awlaki was killed by U.S. forces using a drone-fired Hellfire missile in September 2011. His 16-year-old son Abdulrahman was killed in a separate drone attack two weeks later.
Al-Awlaki is the perfect metaphor for media coverage of Islam in the United States. American journalists bend over backward to treat Muslims in a positive way, even to ludicrous extremes. As a result, terrorists are often called âmilitantsââeven when they are on U.S. government terror watch lists. And any open criticism of radical Islam has typically been treated as âIslamophobia."
In a series of high-profile incidents, Islam has been depicted as the underdog facing conservative âextreme haters.â That was the case whether it was the Ground Zero Mosque, the so-called anti-Islam YouTube video, ads in subways or anything to do with Israel.
Contrast that with media coverage of Christianity and the result is like day and night.
TheBlaze Magazine: Media Jihad American Journalists Embrace Islam and Assault Christianity Scandals in the Christian community have long been reported with vigor and zeal, and blame is firmly placed on faith groups like the Catholic Church. TV shows such as ABCâs now-cancelled network comedy-drama âGCBâ (an abbreviation for âGood Christian Bitchesâ) and syndicated talk go out of their way to mock the faithful. And news outlets highlight âChristianâ criminals whenever possibleâremember how quick they were to blame a Norway mass shooting on a âChristian extremist.â
Frank Gaffney, the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, said the problem with journalistsâ coverage of radical Islam is that âmostly they donâtâ cover the issues. And when they do cover them, they spin the result. âItâs a fictitious depiction of the narrative that is served up primarily by Islamists who are actively engaged in disinforming and subverting us from within.â
Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState.com, blamed the standard media worldview as the leading culprit in the poor coverage. Journalists have âone narrative over all others. It is victim versus victimizer, and the media like Christians as victimizers.â But itâs not just an anti-Christian bias thatâs to blame, he explained, the literal danger posed by radical Muslims plays a major role in reporter reluctance to cover the downsides of Islam: âThey are scared to death of Islam. First Amendment be damned, they want to live.â
[...]
ONLY THE BEGINNING
Journalists using their status to push an agenda is nothing new. But they do more than that today. The media have been depicting Islam as a modern David facing off against the Christian Goliath. David, predictably, gets good press no matter how often radical Islamists get arrested for terror plots or riot around the world over cartoons or a YouTube video.
TheBlaze Magazine: Media Jihad American Journalists Embrace Islam and Assault Christianity Christians and conservatives, on the other hand, get the exact opposite treatment. They have become the stock villains for both news and entertainment media. Every critic of Christianityâespecially those in the gay communityâgets treated like a hero. The institutions themselves get derided as âdictatorialâ or worse for not bowing to a liberal agenda. And the faithful are forever the butt of jokes and derisionâall without uproar and threats of violence from the victims of the abuse.
The Center for Security Policyâs Gaffney warned that the coverage could get worse in reaction to pushback from Islamic groups. The recent documentary âSilent Conquestâ cautioned that there is an âominous patternâ of not being able to offend Islam. Muslim nations have been working with the United Nations to institute laws against âblasphemy.â
In September, President Obama argued for just that result. âThe future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,â he told the United Nations.
Apparently, the American media were listening.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...lists-embrace-islam-and-assault-christianity/
That imam was Anwar al-Awlaki, a man considered so dangerous that just a few years later President Barack Obama ordered him shot on sight. Al-Awlaki was killed by U.S. forces using a drone-fired Hellfire missile in September 2011. His 16-year-old son Abdulrahman was killed in a separate drone attack two weeks later.
Al-Awlaki is the perfect metaphor for media coverage of Islam in the United States. American journalists bend over backward to treat Muslims in a positive way, even to ludicrous extremes. As a result, terrorists are often called âmilitantsââeven when they are on U.S. government terror watch lists. And any open criticism of radical Islam has typically been treated as âIslamophobia."
In a series of high-profile incidents, Islam has been depicted as the underdog facing conservative âextreme haters.â That was the case whether it was the Ground Zero Mosque, the so-called anti-Islam YouTube video, ads in subways or anything to do with Israel.
Contrast that with media coverage of Christianity and the result is like day and night.
TheBlaze Magazine: Media Jihad American Journalists Embrace Islam and Assault Christianity Scandals in the Christian community have long been reported with vigor and zeal, and blame is firmly placed on faith groups like the Catholic Church. TV shows such as ABCâs now-cancelled network comedy-drama âGCBâ (an abbreviation for âGood Christian Bitchesâ) and syndicated talk go out of their way to mock the faithful. And news outlets highlight âChristianâ criminals whenever possibleâremember how quick they were to blame a Norway mass shooting on a âChristian extremist.â
Frank Gaffney, the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, said the problem with journalistsâ coverage of radical Islam is that âmostly they donâtâ cover the issues. And when they do cover them, they spin the result. âItâs a fictitious depiction of the narrative that is served up primarily by Islamists who are actively engaged in disinforming and subverting us from within.â
Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState.com, blamed the standard media worldview as the leading culprit in the poor coverage. Journalists have âone narrative over all others. It is victim versus victimizer, and the media like Christians as victimizers.â But itâs not just an anti-Christian bias thatâs to blame, he explained, the literal danger posed by radical Muslims plays a major role in reporter reluctance to cover the downsides of Islam: âThey are scared to death of Islam. First Amendment be damned, they want to live.â
[...]
ONLY THE BEGINNING
Journalists using their status to push an agenda is nothing new. But they do more than that today. The media have been depicting Islam as a modern David facing off against the Christian Goliath. David, predictably, gets good press no matter how often radical Islamists get arrested for terror plots or riot around the world over cartoons or a YouTube video.
TheBlaze Magazine: Media Jihad American Journalists Embrace Islam and Assault Christianity Christians and conservatives, on the other hand, get the exact opposite treatment. They have become the stock villains for both news and entertainment media. Every critic of Christianityâespecially those in the gay communityâgets treated like a hero. The institutions themselves get derided as âdictatorialâ or worse for not bowing to a liberal agenda. And the faithful are forever the butt of jokes and derisionâall without uproar and threats of violence from the victims of the abuse.
The Center for Security Policyâs Gaffney warned that the coverage could get worse in reaction to pushback from Islamic groups. The recent documentary âSilent Conquestâ cautioned that there is an âominous patternâ of not being able to offend Islam. Muslim nations have been working with the United Nations to institute laws against âblasphemy.â
In September, President Obama argued for just that result. âThe future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,â he told the United Nations.
Apparently, the American media were listening.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...lists-embrace-islam-and-assault-christianity/
