The nationally representative survey, conducted by Whitestone Insight between the 31st May and 2nd June 2024 and published on the 5th June suggests that 71% of British Muslims agree with the statement “The media have appeared to present some religions more negatively than others in the last four weeks”.
Further research from IIFL, conducted in January and February 2024, revealed that British Muslims are concerned with the media negatively portraying Muslims, with many interviewees raising concerns over the media presenting “unflattering caricatures of Muslims in the media, which may play a part in feeding existing forms of antiMuslim hatred and prejudice“.
Rania Mohiuddin-Agir, a mixed-heritage Muslim woman living in Britain and research associate for IIFL, says of the findings:
There is no questioning the impact media coverage has on perceptions. A considerable majority of Muslims finding the media to contain this kind of bias is worrisome – as this might be foreshadowing rising mistrust towards media outlets.
This fosters breeding grounds for a new reliance on ‘new age’ media, influencers, and unfortunately, especially in the case of certain cultural communities, word of mouth and ‘WhatsApp’ reporting, none of which are bound by the rules, regulations, and ethical commitments of mainstream media organs.
Longer term research will reveal whether this is an incidental phenomenon, or whether the British Muslim community has had an awakening towards media portrayal, and will continue to critically engage with the media until it becomes more inclusive and balanced in its rhetoric. Nonetheless, this is an important alert media organs need to consider.
For any further information or commentary, please contact Dr Jake Scott, secretary for the Institute.
Dr Jake Scott
jake.scott@iifl.org.uk
Notes for editors:
- Whitestone Insight interviewed 2,396 UK adults online between 31st May and 2nd June 2024. Data were weighted to be representative of all UK adults. Whitestone Insight is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
- The survey included a weighted base of 130 Muslims.
- Respondents of the Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist and other faiths were too small in number to draw statistically significant conclusions from.
- The data set for the June tracker can be found here.
- The report on British Muslims’ concerns over the media portrayal of Muslims can be found here.