Anti-Islam
in the Canadian media instigates hate against a minority group.
Hate jeopardizes the mental and physical well-being of individuals,
especially the most vulnerable: our children. Hate-mongering is
against Canadian values and Canadian law.
The Canadian
Islamic Congress is striving to minimize anti-Islam in the media
(as soon as possible) before any more of our children suffer needlessly.
This
is the third annual study of anti-Islam in the Canadian media, conducted
by the Canadian Islamic Congress. Its purpose is to evaluate coverage
and to articulate CIC's view by citing examples of the offending
material. This study is not an opinion poll, but rather
a reflection of what the Muslim community and CIC consider a serious
problem affecting virtually every household of Muslim Canadians.
Through this study, the CIC hopes to increase the awareness of media professionals of the problem.
CIC's first
Anti-Islam in the Media study (1998) was a pioneering methodical
assessment of anti-Islam found in some of Canada's top newspapers.
Our 2000 study has expanded to include more Canadian Dailies: The
Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto
Sun, The Ottawa Citizen, The Montreal Gazette and La Presse . It
also includes: Maclean's magazine and the Canadian edition of Reader's
Digest; as well as the CBC's English-language TV news.
In order
to measure and effectively compare the degree of anti-Islam in the
media, a numerical grading system of ten levels is used. This system
is based on what is generally considered anti-Islamic in tone, inference
or description. The criteria for grading is explained in Section
4. For example the identification of Muslims by their religion when
they are involved in violent acts is graded as the most serious
and is given 100 points. A newspaper's overall ranking is also reported.
To reflect
the impact of an anti-Islamic item according to the degree of exposure,
weighting factors were given based on where and when it appeared.
Islam
and Muslim-related newspaper news items, articles, editorials, commentaries,
cartoons, and letters-to-the-editor are graded.
ENGLISH:
Armed Islamic group
Extremist Islamic group
Fundamentalist : Islamic terrorist, strain of Sunni Islam
Islamic: dictatorship, extremist, extremist group, extremism, fighters,fundamentalist, fundamentalism, hard liner, insurgency, insurgent, Jihad, guerrillas, militia, hijacker, militant, militant group, radical, separatists, suicide bomber, terrorist, terrorism, violence
Islamist: terrorism
Militant: Islamic, Islamic government, Islamic group, Islamic organization, Muslim
Muslim: activist, extremist, fundamentalist, fundamentalist militant, guerrillas, militia, militant, mercenaries, vigilant group, rebel (s)
Puritanical Islamic militia
Radical: armed Islamic group, Islamic group, Islamist, Muslim, Muslim organization
Violent Islamic group
FRENCH:
Contagion islamiste
Extremiste: musulman, islamiste
Fanatisme islamique
Fondamentaliste islamiste
Groupe arme islamiste
Guerilleros musulmans
Islamistes armes
Manif: islamistes, musulmane
Maquisards islamistes
Mercenaires musulmans
Menace: islamiste, islamique
Milice: islamique, islamiste
Movement islamiste
Terroristes islamistes
This current
study documenting anti-Islamic references covers the period from
August 1999 to August 2000 for seven Canadian newspapers: The Toronto
Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Sun, The
Ottawa Citizen, The Montreal Gazette and La Presse.
The grading
period of 6 months was selected from November 1, 1999, to April
30, 2000.
During
this period items containing anti-Islam were recorded and appropriately
graded based on the level of seriousness i.e. damage-causing potential
(see Section 4).
For the
grading evaluation, The Toronto Sun was not included, because it
had far less coverage of international news than the other six newspapers.
| # | Description | Points |
| 1 | Identifying Muslims by their religion when they are involved in violent acts | 100 |
| 2 | Interring that Islam is intolerant and an extreme religion that teaches, endorses or condones acts of violence | 90 |
| 3 | Use of the term "Muslim Terrorists" | 80 |
| 4 | Use of the term "Muslim Militants" | 70 |
| 5 | Use of the term "Muslim Extremists" | 60 |
| 6 | Use of the term "Muslim Fundamentalists" | 50 |
| 7 | Propagating negative stereotypes | 40 |
| 8 | Being culturally insensitive, for example to religious practices, dress code, food or social customs | 30 |
| 9 | Selective presentation and analysis of events and the use of popular "experts" | 20 |
| 10 | Failing to offer a balanced view on political events | 10 |
Each published
item was first evaluated (max. points:100) given the above criteria,
the resulting numerical rating was then multiplied by the following
weighting factors:
(a) front page items 2.00
(b) titles, photo caption or cartoon 1.80
(c) weekend edition factor * 1.40
(d) repetition of anti-Islam terminologies in the same published items 1.30
(e) circulation factor *
*based on circulation given in the 131st edition of Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media.
The points were then multiplied by a circulation factor as follows:
La Presse 1
The Montreal Gazette 1
The Ottawa Citizen 1
The Globe and Mail 2
The National Post 2
The Toronto Star 3
