Attacks by Muslims 'receive 4.5 times more media coverage' than those by non-Muslims

Study found that Muslims carried out 11 of 89 attacks (12.4%) in US listed by GTD

According to researchers at Georgia State University, the media has been seen giving considerably more coverage to terrorist attacks by Muslims — particularly if the perpetrator is a foreign-born — than to attacks by anyone else.

In their latest study, the researchers found that Muslims commit far fewer terrorist attacks than non-Muslims but when attacks by Muslims do take place, they are written about 4.5 times more than other attacks.



First, they looked at all attacks in the United States between 2011 and 2015, as listed in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD defines terrorism as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.”

"Whether intentional or not, US media outlets disproportionately emphasise the smaller number of terrorist attacks by Muslims - leading Americans to have an exaggerated sense of that threat," said the researchers.

The study insisted that "given the disproportionate quantity of news coverage for these attacks, it is no wonder that people are afraid of the Muslim terrorist.”

In the four years investigated as part of the study, the academics found that Muslims carried out 11 of the 89 attacks (12.4 per cent) listed by the GTD. The study also dissected CNN's website and a range of print sources in the LexisNexis Academic database to decipher how much coverage was given to each attack. Some 24 attacks received zero coverage; however, the small proportion of attacks conducted by Muslims was the focus of 44 per cent of all coverage of such attacks.

According to the study, the average attack with a Muslim perpetrator is covered in 90.8 articles, those with a Muslim, foreign-born perpetrator are covered in 192.8 articles on average, while other attacks received an average of 18.1 articles.

"More representative media coverage could help to bring public perception of terrorism in line with reality," the study insisted.



"Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, when most people in the United States hear the word 'terrorism,' they think of Muslims," the researchers wrote. "But terrorism comes in many forms."

British Prime Minister Theresa May, on Monday, shared similar sentiments, after a white man ploughed a van into a group of Muslims outside a north London mosque, killing one person in what was later described as a "terror attack".

Speaking outside her official Downing Street residence, May said the attack was "a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms and our determination to tackle them must be the same, whoever is responsible.”

This article originally appeared on Albawaba News.