Islamophobia in Mainstream Canadian Media: “Muslims as Terrorists”

This factsheet was developed by the Noor Cultural Centre.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS FACTSHEET:

This factsheet shows side-by-side comparisons of mainstream Canadian media coverage in response to different violent episodes – specifically, those in which Muslims were the perpetrators and those in which Muslims were the victims.

The disparities in coverage are attributable to Islamophobia – i.e. the social construction of Muslims as a particularly violent threat to society, and the relative lack of value accorded to Muslim lives.

The analysis is limited to mainstream media outlets rather than those regarded as ‘right wing’ (eg. Sun News, Rebel Media), in order to demonstrate how Islamophobic ideologies:

• do not exist only on the fringes but rather, even in those media sources without an explicit political position;
• are accessed by a majority of the population (e.g. the millions who collectively consume the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, and CBC radio/ television/online).

Categorised in: Factsheet