Manchester Evening Snooze

Unspun

2020-10-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Manchester Evening Snooze!

A blog set up to monitor coverage of Islam and Muslims by the free daily newspapers distributed in the Manchester area i.e. to unspin & unspeak the editorial bias that some of these papers may have when reporting on Islam/Muslims.

Each day these papers will be reviewed for any coverage related to Islam/Muslims and will will be analysed to determine whether they fall under any of the following categories;

Positive - the article promotes a positive view of Muslims/Islam
Neutral - the article presents an objective view of Muslims/Islam
Negative - the article presents a negative view of Muslims/Islam

Articles about other religions/religious groups will also be reviewed & contrasted with reports about Islam/Muslims so that any differences in style can be identified.

The 1st post will kick off on Monday 20th October 2008.

BBC Panorama - Death on the Med, 16.08.10, 20:30

2010-08-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

"drama on the high seas", "commandos storm a ship", "Important new evidence from both sides..."

These are just some of the soundbites used by Jeremy Vine at the outset of the Panorama programme "Death on the Med", which was broadcast on BBC1 on Monday 16th August. The premise was to examine the Israeli raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla at the end of May earlier this year.

Having watched the episode, here are some of my thoughts.

Jane Corbin presented the programme and from the beginning showered Unit 13, the Israeli Naval unit responsible for the attack, with flattering statements like "elite Israeli force".

In everyday use ‘elite’ is a word that has many positive meanings e.g. related words and descriptions would include 'top class', 'the best', 'quality' and so on. Thus the use of the word 'elite' in describing Unit 13 can't be considered impartial but rather a reinforcement of the Israeli perspective of Unit 13 and the subsequent propagation of this Israeli view to the audiences watching at home.

One of the questions put forward by Corbin at the outset is whether Israel was baited? She asks;

"...but did Israel fall into a trap and what was the real agenda of some of those people who call themselves peace activists...."

In other words, no one else views them as peace activists. The statement above is particularly interesting as it is clearly an attempt to transfer sympathy to Israel and to apportion blame on the peace activists by planting doubt in the viewers’ minds about their motives.

Corbin's statement might seem like an inquisitive question yet it comes loaded with copious amounts of 'unspeak' i.e. it is a loaded questions and is another example of the story being presented from the Israeli perspective.

"...but did Israel fall into a trap..." and "what was the real agenda of (the) peace activists..."

There are 2 parts to the Corbin's question, as shown above, and both parts cast negative views on the Peace activists. The target outcome, it seems, is to portray Israel as the victim of a sinister plot.

We're barely 10 minutes into the programme and already a solid foundation of Pro-Israel bias has been laid down by Corbin. Viewers are being conditioned to lean towards the Israeli viewpoint as the programme continues.

At this early juncture in the programme one notable absence from her commentary was a key piece of factual information that would have injected some much needed impartiality into the mix. In the opening minutes Corbin failed to mention the key fact related to this story, the fact that Unit 13 sailed into International Waters and forcibly boarded a ship.

Why is this significant? A few reasons;

Israel has no jurisdiction in International Waters
Boarding a vessel, by force, in International Waters is, in simple language, an act of Hijacking or Piracy
Both Hijacking and Piracy are offensive/aggressive actions i.e. should be viewed as an attack
When under attack, people are entitled to defend themselves

Another important point of note, was that despite all the arguments being put forward up until this point there was no mention of the Israeli siege of Gaza, commonly referred to as blockade of Gaza.

The siege of Gaza is an act which is illegal under International Law and is indiscriminately applied to all of Gaza's civilians as an act of collective punishment by Israel.

Further into the programme we come across yet more Israeli narrative being aired, this time by an official of the Israeli Military who states that;

"...under these kind of circumstances.....the results are surprisingly low..."

The "results" that he refers to are the 9 people who were murdered by Unit 13. I guess the message that the representative was trying to convey is that we should all be very thankful to Unit 13 that they only murdered 9 people.

By presenting this argument, not only did it give airtime to Israeli spin but also painted a picture in the viewers minds that the Israeli navy showed restraint during its attack i.e. more sympathy and more PR points being stacked up in Israel's favour.

At long last Corbin finally addresses the siege of Gaza in her own words. She comments that the Mavi Marmara left Istanbul;

"...to break the Israeli Naval Blockade of Gaza and bring aid to the Palestinians..."

This is a particularly misleading comment as it implies that Israel is only blockading Gaza from the Sea when in actual fact Israel is subjecting Gaza to an indiscriminate land, sea and air siege in breach of International law. This is yet more evidence of the programme makers intention to limit how much negative news they show about Israel.

When Corbin is shown in Gaza she narrates that;

"...here in Gaza, the problem is not so much the lack of food or medicine..."

Your eyes are not deceiving you, she really did say that whilst showing a video clip of Gaza accompanied by sinister music.

I guess if that argument is true then this report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, posted by the BBC news website no less, which talks about Gazans dependence on food aid amongst other things must be complete rubbish.

Not only does Corbin's flippant remark completely disregard the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza but also portrays a negative image of the territory through the use of a sinister soundtrack in the background interlaced with images of bearded men and fully veiled women.

Corbin wastes no time in homing in on Hamas and its refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist. This is accompanied by;

"...militants have fired thousands of rockets at civilians (in Israel) in the last few years..."

What she fails to tell viewers is how many fatalities these rockets have caused on the Israeli side. This is significant because to an uninformed person, hearing this for the first time may give the impression that casualties on the Israeli side must also run into the thousands. Thankfully they do not.

Corbin makes no mention whatsoever of Israel's brutal war on Gaza, its use of white phosphorous in built up areas in breach of international law and the fact that it's bombardment left more than 1,000 people in Gaza dead including at least 430 children.

The omission of Israeli aggression and the depiction that Israel is on the receiving end of thousands of rockets is yet more evidence of the programme shamelessly drumming up support & sympathy for Israel and portraying it as the victim in the conflict.

The viewers are denied key facts from the region which would cast an altogether different, significantly darker, light on Israel.

Corbin then turns her focus to Turkey and explicitly mentions that the Turkish Government and Turkish Charities support Hamas, yet fails to mention that Turkey has full diplomatic relations with Israel including deep military ties. By mentioning support for Hamas the objective is clearly to make the Turks guilty by association i.e. Corbin's arguments can be stacked up as follows;

Hamas denies Israel's right to exist
Hamas fires thousands of rockets at civilians in Israel
The Turkish Government and Turkish charities support Hamas

Corbin follows a very clear and structured method to ensure that the role of the Turkish Charities and by extension the Free Gaza Flotilla is saddled with as much negative baggage as possible, all the while Israel is talked up so that the viewers are left in no doubt as to who the bad guys are in this whole episode.

The focus now turns to the charity that organised the Free Gaza Flotilla, the Turkish Humanitarian organisation IHH.

Corbin tells viewers that;

"The IHH invited fellow Islamists from the Arab World"

This is the first time that religion is mentioned in the programme and one wonders what relevance it has to the story? Perhaps the intention is to portray to the viewers that this was a bunch of Muslims on a boat and term "Islamist" and its mass use in the media implies extremism. She's already posed the question earlier about the real motive so now viewers can start piecing together her arguments and conclude that a group of sinister, conspiring Hamas loving Turkish Muslims on a boat set out to trap Israel.

Other than interviewing former US Marine turned peace activist Ken O'Keefe, Corbin fails to mention that the passengers aboard the ship included many people from diverse, religious & ethnic backgrounds and even included an Israeli MP!

A video clip is shown with the Head of IHH making a speech aboard the flotilla in which Corbin alleges that he turned up the rhetoric. This is because the subtitles on screen allegedly show him saying that they will defeat the Israeli commandos and that if they board the ship they will throw them off and humiliate them.

This clearly implies to the viewers at home that this was all pre-planned and that the activists wanted a confrontation.

The alternative and correct view, confirmed by the head of the IHH, is that the speech is a statement that the activists will resist any attempted hijacking of their vessel by the Israelis..

That doesn't seem unreasonable, it just shows a man stating his intent that if attacked he has the right to defend himself.

Corbin then turns her focus to member of Unit 13, she narrates how they have successfully seized ships carrying arms to Hamas. This statement serves 2 purposes, first it reconfirms the argument presented earlier that Hamas is firing thousands of rockets into Israel. Secondly, the fact that Unit 13 has successfully seized weapons is designed to show viewers that they're doing the right thing.

A video clip is shown to viewers, which shows activists cutting metal bars from the railings of the ship and putting on gas masks. The impression that's being created is that the activists came prepared to fight. A more likely explanation could be that the activists knew that the Israelis would attempt a hijacking and thus came prepared to protect themselves from aggression.

The first helicopter to hover over the Mavi Marmara is described as containing soldiers armed with "non lethal weapons" i.e. the Israelis weren't there to kill. This is yet more narrative to show the Israelis in a positive light.

A member of Unit 13 called Captain R is shown giving a graphic account of the injuries sustained by him, he also adds that he was being beaten accompanied with cries of "Allahu Akbar" i.e. the Muslims were beating me to death.

Corbin is then shown sitting across from the head of the IHH showing him the Israeli footage of peace activists attacking unit 13, she challenges him by saying;

"this is not passive resistance, this is fighting"

This is very interesting because at no point in the programme did she challenge the Israeli Military official or any member of Unit 13 about why they attacked a vessel in International Waters where they had no jurisdiction?

Instead all of the focus and effort is being put into making the aggressor (Israel) out to be the victim and the victim (Free Gaza Flotilla) to be the instigator and agent provocateur. I don't think that even Fox news is capable of such bias!

In the closing part of the programme Corbin tours a warehous in Gaza which contains the cargo from the Flotilla. She is show walking around Motability scooters and boxes of medicine, about which she states that;

"I found that two thirds of medicine was out of date.....the bid wasn't about bringing aid to Gaza it was a political move...the outcry (over the Israeli raid) ensured that the flotilla achieved it's aim"

By stating the above Corbin presents "evidence" to the viewers at home that the question posed at the outset regarding the motives of the peace activists and trapping Israel was indeed true.

And so with the concluding comments of the programme she wraps up what is without doubt the most biased programme that I have ever had the displeasure of watching on the beeb.

UK readers need to consider that they fund the BBC's existence and their TV licence fee is being used to produce programmes like this, which may have well have been produced by the Mark Regev Broadcasting Corporation.

The programme is available to view on BBC iplayer for those who wish to sit through 30 minutes of garbage, but if you feel that my summary above has given you enough then it's time to lodge your complaint.

You can call the BBC on 03700 100212 or email panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk or fill in an online form.

Ross Kemp Middle East: Israel - Part 2 Broadcast Monday 11th January 2010

2010-01-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

Ross Kemp Middle East

Here's a round up of part 2 of Ross Kemp's special, in this episode Kemp visits Israel. The previous episode looked at Gaza including the aftermath of Israel's war on Gaza and the impact of the illegal Israeli blockade.

The show opened with a brief recap on of the 1st episode. The opening words of the episode are as follows;

Ross Kemp narrates that he "...met militants hell bent on the destruction of Israel...", this is followed by telling viewers that he "...also met many more ordinary Palestinians whose only dream was peace with their Israeli neighbours".

To anyone who may have missed the first espisode the opening references of "militants" who want to "destroy Israel" doesn't necessarilly create a positive impression of the Palestinians and as the old adage goes 'first impressions count'.

The comment about "many more...Palestinians" wanting peace was obviously a balancing comment.

However it's surprising, or maybe not considering we're dealing with Rupert Murdoch's Sky Network, that the producers didn't see fit to make any reference in the opening comments to the hardships faced by Palestinians as a result of the Israeli blockade.

Kemp is shown taking a helicopter ride over Israel and telling viewers that Israel was born in 1948.

He mentions "that Israel is a small country" and a map is shown on screen which shows a current map of Israel to the viewers.

Whilst this map of Israel omits the West Bank and Gaza it, bizarrely, includes the Syrian Golan Heights, which are also illegally occupied by Israel.

However there is no demarcation line to show the Golan heights as separate, the Syrian territory is shown as an integral part of Israel. This is inaccurate and misleading.

By telling viewers that Israel was "born in 1948" but showing them a current map is inaccurate. It misleads viewers into thinking that the boundaries shown on the map are what Israel was meant to be.

The accurate way to do this would have been to show how the UN originally proposed to partition Palestine, which was occupied by Britain since the end of the first World War, into 2 states. It would have been factually correct to inform the viewers that this partition was decided upon without consulting the native Palestinian population.

A map of the UN partition plan for Palestine as part of UN resolution 181 can be seen here.

This is a very deliberate attempt to mislead viewers into believing the version of reality that is favoured by supporters of Israel.

If Insha'Allah (God Willing) a Palestinian state is to be created, Israel may have to return some of the land it has illegally occupied since 1948. By showing viewers a map of Israel in its current form tricks them into thinking that Israel will be making a great sacrifice or concession by giving up some of its land for the creation of Palestine.

This is in turn has the effect of creating sympathy & support for the official Israeli position and generates more resistance and opposition to Palestinian demands.

Therefore this is clear evidence of Pro-Israel bias......and we're barely a few minutes into the programme!

Jerusalem

Continuing with the theme of misleading the viewers, Kemp begins his journey in Jerusalem. That in itself is wrong.

Consider the title of this programme "Ross Kemp Middle East: Israel" (emphasis added).

This is yet another attempt to mislead the viewers into thinking of Jerusalem as a part of Israel. Doing so, fully supports the Israeli Government's position that Jerusalem 'is an eternal part of Israel' even though Jerusalem is considered illegally occupied by Israel under International law and by every country in the World except Israel.

Kemp describes how Jerusalem has seen "...some of the most brutal terrorist atrociities the modern world has ever seen".

He goes on to state that "Palestinian Militants have waged war against the Israeli presence in this city....resulted in hundreds of (Israeli) deaths", images of the aftermath of suicide bombings are shown to viewers on screen.

Kemp spends some time with Amos levi, an Israeli Taxi Driver, with whom he spends some time taking a tour around Jerusalem "to see what it's like to live with the constant fear of suicide bombers and terrorist attacks"

Kemp is taken to a street where the taxi driver mentions one street that has witnessed three attacks, according to the taxi driver, the dialogue below follows;

Kemp "..but there are many more places like this in Jerusalem?"
Levi "yes"
Kemp "so many"

This whole segment is used to create an image of a city that is a very dangerous place to be in, especially for Israelis, this is backed up with the use of stats e.g. in the last 15 years 34 "terrorist attacks on the streets of Jerusalem alone 210 Israelis killed, 2,000 injured, the threat of an attack is ever present" (emphasis added by Kemp).

The viewers are then informed about the personal loss of Amos Levi, who lost his daughter to a suicide bombing in 2004.

There is a very depressing atmosphere surrounding the whole tour especially when Amos talks about the loss of his daughter. At one point Kemp just looks at Amos silently as a sombre atmosphere is created with camera focusing on the 2 silent men as low key music plays in the background. Kemp's voiceover mentions that "there are many others...you'd hardpushed to find an Israeli who doesn't know a victim of a terrorist attack"

This part of the trip is focused entirely on the suffering of Israelis, there is no mention of the Palestinians living in Jerusalem.

Kemp then travels to Israeli border with Gaza, he comments that the "bigger challenge (for Israel) is defending the nation from the deadly threat on its border with the Gaza Strip", whilst a clip is show of Palestinian rockets.

Kemp describes the frontline as the "...Palestinian controlled Gaza Strip", this is misleading as it omits the fact that whilst the Palestinians may well be in charge of affairs inside the Gaza Strip, the territory is fully blockaded by air, sea and on land by all but 1 side by Israel.

For the benefit of the viewers Kemp recaps briefly on Hamas who are in charge of Gaza but in doing so re-states the inaccurate statement from episode 1;

"In 2006 the people of Gaza shocked the World by electing Hamas as their rulers"

This is stated whilst images are shown of gun wielding Palestinians, which are purported to be Hamas members. The message conveyed to viewers is that the people of Gaza elected these gun wielding men as their leaders.

The statement is incorrect because it gives viewers the impression that the elections took place in Gaza only, whereas the reality is that Hamas swept to power as a result of elections in the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories i.e. West Bank and Gaza.

Ross Kemp is shown speaking to Israeli Police spokesman Mickey Rosenthal, who informs him about Israeli casualties from rocket fire. Rosenthal tells Kemp that 24 Israelis have been killed whilst 5,000 have been "physically injured" since rocket fire began.

In a voice over Kemp counters that in response to these "deaths and injuries", Israel has hit back and killed "4,000 Palestinians".

This is significant as it puts into perspective the Palestinian suffering and is just one of very few comments made throughout this episode that attempt to bring a small amount of balance to the episode.

Kemp recaps on the December 2008 War on Gaza and describes it as "controversial", mentioning that over 1,300 Palestinians were killed in just 23 days of fighting. He also states that Israel is facing charges of committing war crimes.

Kemp questions Rosenthal about some sources that state that over half those killed were civilians.

Rosenthal, obviously well versed in Israeli spin and PR promptly informs Kemp that "I can tell you that Ive served in the IDF and we are a humantarian army and will take many things into consideration in order to save lives and pinpoint and be accurate".

At this point it would have been appropriate for Kemp to challenge Rosenthal on Israel's illegal use of White Phosphorous against civilians, however Kemp appears to buy Rosenthal's PR statement.

Kemp returns to the West Bank and talks about the growing separation between Arabs and Jews, images of the Apartheid wall are shown on screen.

Kemp comments that the wall was built after "..a spate of suicide bombings...", which appears to convey the Israeli justification for constructing the wall to the viewers.

Amazingly, Kemp describes the wall as a "security fence" despite images on screen showing the reality to viewers, which is a concrete wall at least 10 metres high.

Kemp mentions that it will be 400 miles long when finished and separate Israel from the West Bank, he also mentions that the wall has cut some communities into 2. A map on screen shows how the wall "frequently" veers away from the border between Israel and the West Bank. Kemp comments that this has cut Palestinians from their own land and that this breaks International law.

This is all that is said about the Wall, there is no attempt to talk to any of the Palestinian families of farmers whose lives have been destroyed by the construction this illegal wall. Considering the amount of coverage given to Israeli suffering so far this clearly shows a pro-Israel bias that's designed to humanise the Israeli suffering whilst only mentioning the Palestinian suffering in passing. The effect is to create more empathy with the Israeli position.

Kemp travels to the Palestinian village of Ni'lin, he comments that after every Friday prayers at the local Mosque, "Arab villagers gather to protest against what they see as a land grab". He comments that they "throw stones" at the "Israeli Defence Force" and that their activities are like "clockwork".

Kemp mentions that the protestors advance on their position as they see the cameras, he comments that he's pinned down against a rain of rocks. Kemp mentions that the protestors are themselves armed with tear gas grenades from last week's demo that have failed to go off.

The situation is presented as a battled between equals, failing to acknowledge that the Israeli Army is firing tear gas at the protestors and is armed with weapons whereas the demonstrators just have tear gas that the Israelis have fired at them.

Kemp is shown wearing protective clothing and a helmet whereas the demonstrators are shown in normal clothes with just a cloth around their faces. Despite this Kemp still presents the situation as though the demonstrators have the upper hand. Kemp suffers from the effects of the tear gas and mentions that it stings a lot. The Israeli army is presented as being pinned down to give the impression that they are somehow losing this battle.

The Palestinian protestors are clearly shown as the antagonists in this situation.

Kemp describes the Palestinian protest as "...a completely pointless exercise...because what's been achieved?"

Kemp's dismissive attitude of these protestors resistance against Israeli aggression seemed to be a rather cheap shot considering that this is the only these protestors can disrupt the building of the wall.

Continuing with the coverage of the wall, Kemp comments that the "wall protecting Israeli houses built on Palestinian land and are occupied by Israeli settlers against International law". It was refreshing to see some accuracy thrown in here, albeit it was rather sparse througout the episode.

Kemp is shown visiting a Settlement, which he describes as and "Israeli village" in an attempt to convey legitimacy on this illegal colony. During the visit there are countless references to "security fence". He is shown discussing the situation with a settler who describes the quality of life in the setllement as "wonderful" and beligirently states that he has no intention of leaving.

Kemp reitirates in a voice over that the house is built against international law on illegally occupied territory. The number of settlers is described as half a million in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and that their homes breach the Geneva Convention on Human Rights.

It was good to see this statement added in however there was still no discussion with a Palestinian family to show viewers what life is like for them under Israeli occupation.

Kemp seeks justification for the Israeli presence in Palestinian land and travels to meet what he describes as the "hardcore of settler movement"

He meets Daniella Weiss who is described as "Queen of the Settlers", in her comments she makes it quite clear that only Jews can live in the West Bank. Despite these extreme comments there is no challenge from Kemp who simply observes and nods.

He is taken to an outpost where it is made quite clear that they can't film. They are taken to a hilltop where they are introduced to the "Vanguard of the settler movement....the hilltop youth". Weiss makes it quite clear that she intends to carry on with settlement expansion irrespective of International law or whether the Israeli Government likes it or not.

After the meeting Kemp comments that Arabs and the Israeli Majaority regard the settlers' activities as hindering chances for peace.

Whilst Kemp commented that he was meeting the hardcore of the settler community, he actually didn't bother highlighting the activities of the extremist Hebron settlers. Some of their antics can be seen in the following videos.

The closing shots of the episode are with Amos Levi and his family by the graveside of their daughter. Levi's ex-wife comments that all of Gaza's people are terrorists, she is anguished over the loss of her daughter and says that the Palestinians will continue fighting them because they hate Jews, Levi backs up these comments.

Levi's ex wife comments that the focus is always on the suffering and quality of life of Palestinians yet no attention is paid to their suffering. The Levi's loss is used to humanise the suffering of the Israelis to invoke greater empathy amongst the viewers for the Israeli side of the story. No such attempt was made throughout the entire episode to highlight the Palestinian side of the story.

This episode confirmed what I had expected, it gave full support to the Israeli side of the story by humanising the suffering on the Israeli side, by failing to challenge PR comments especially by Mickey Rosental and using official Israeli terminology to refer to key aspects of the conflict. On the latter point it is well recognised that Israeli terminology is not neutral nor factually accurate therefore it was quite saddening to see the producers of the episode opt for this language knowing full well that it would simply re-inforce Israeli propaganda.

Inthe episode kemp failed to mention some significant items which would have given viewers the full picture of Israel and it's actions, these include;

Checkpoints
Israel's nuclear capability
Israel's occupation of South Lebanon (Shebaa Farms)
Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights

The episode depicted Israel not so much as an occupying force but rather as a country struggling to survive against external and internal conflict i.e. a beleaguered state. This was obviously designed to make viewers feel sympathy for Israel.

So what is my verdict on the 2 part special from Gaza and Israel?

For a programme oozing with pro-Israel bias, with only a sporadic sprinkling of facts here and there the verdict is a categoric Negative!

Verdict: Negative

Wednesday 13th January

2010-01-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today's round up of web articles all relate to one man, Mohammad Asadujjuman (pictured above). Mr Asadujjuman, a cab driver from New York found $21,000 in his cab and in a display of honesty which is increasingly rare in this day & age, he tracked down to the owner to return the cash to them.

Let's see how the various media outlets around the World covered this story?

BBC

Headline: Bangladeshi cabbie in NY returns cash left in taxi
Section: BBC News South Asia
Link: Click here

Outline: The BBC article presents a very positive image of Mr Asadujjuman, highlighting that he went out of his way by driving 50 miles to track down the owner of the cash. It mention his religious background by referring him to as a "devout Muslim", this is stated as the reason for him turning down the cash reward from the owner.

Overall the article is a glowing character reference and by mentioning his religious background portrays a positive image of Islam and Muslims.

Article Verdict: Positive

China Daily

Headline: NY cabbie returns $21k in purse to passenger
Section: World
Link: Click here

Outline: The article by China Daily is very comprehensive. Aside from giving the facts about the story there are additional details included about Mr Asadujjuman's financial position i.e. stating that he started driving a cab because his hours at his previous job had recently been cut.

The article states that he is an "observant Muslim" towards the end of the article.

Another positive news story.

Article Verdict: Positive

Sky News

Headline: NY Taxi Driver Returns $21,000 Left In Cab
Section: Strange News
Written by: Emma Rowley
Link: Click here

Outline: Sky ran this story in their 'Strange News' section and featured a 38 second video clip to accompany the article.

Overall the article is similar in tone to the BBC, it mentions Mr Asadujjuman's Bangladeshi background and also his religious background albeit in the very final paragraph.

However credit must be given where its due and this is another positive article about this story.

Article Verdict: Positive

San Francisco Chronicle

Headline: NY cabbie returns $21k in purse to passenger
Written by: Virginia Byrne
Link: Click here

Outline: This article is practically a word for word copy of the article in China Daily probably because it is written by an Associated Press writer.

The article is postive but a small number of comments make for interesting reading.

Article Verdict: Positive

Fox News

Headline: New York City Cab Driver Returns $21G to Passenger
Written by: Associated Press
Section: US
Link: Click here

Outline: This article is written by the Associated Press not Fox News, who have decided to use a limited number of words to cover this story. All in all the article is only 5 paragraphs long, and they're very small paragraphs at that.

The article is postive but you can't help wonder why Fox's coverage wasn't as comprehensive as others who used the Associated Press and why it left out key details which would have highlighted Mr Asadujjuman's good character?

For that reason I'm going to mark this article as negative

Article Verdict: Negative

MSNBC

Headline: Cab driver returns $21,000 to passenger
Written by: Associated Press
Section: US News/Wonderful World
Link: Click here

Outline: Yet again we see the Associate Press' coverage of the story being used by an American news network. One would think that given the news is from America, there would be no shortage of reporters Stateside to go and talk to Mr Asadujjuman?

Unfortunately in this particular article there is no reference to his religious background which, if included, would have a given a big boost to Islam's image in the US.

It's weird that Fox, which is typically Right Wing did choose to mention Mr Asadujjuman's religion yet the typically liberal left leaning MSNBC didn't. This was a bit of a shock for me and for that reason I have marked this negative

Article Verdict: Negative

Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza - Part 1 Broadcast Monday 4th January 2010

2010-01-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

Ross Kemp Middle East

After watching part 1 of Ross Kemp's 2 part special on Gaza, here are the stats or word count on frequent use of key words/phrases vis a vis the Palestinians during the episode.

Terrorist/Terrorism - 4
Militant - 9
Fundamentalist - 1
Extremist/Extremism - 3
References to destroying Israel - 2
Islam/Islamic/Jihad - 7
Israeli Blockade - 3

The first 2 minutes of the episode were actually the most interesting for me. It featured snippets of what's to come in the 2 part special including clips from episode 2. It featured a short clip of Kemp standing with an Israeli family mourning a loved one in a cemetry, it featured Kemp on patrol with the Israeli Occupation Force wiping away his tears as a Palestinian boy threw back a tear gas cannister which the Israelis fired at him & other protestors.

The images portrayed of the Palestinians were the stereotypical stone hurling youth covering their faces with scarves i.e. troublemakers. This for me set my expectations of this episode.

One of the things that stood out during Kemp's introduction to Hamas was the inaccurate claim that

"In 2006 the people of Gaza shocked the World by electing Hamas as their rulers"

This incorrect statement misleads viewers by giving them the impression that the elections took place in Gaza only, whereas the reality is that Hamas swept to power as a result of elections in the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories i.e. West Bank and Gaza.

One of the positive things to come out was the depiction of the widespread devastation caused by the Israeli Occupation Forces and Kemp's acknowledgement of the devastation, he stated that;
"everywhere I look I see destruction...(I'm) not used to seeing that amount of damage being done in such a highly populated area, it's quite shocking"

Another positive was a recognition of Israeli use of White Phosphorous although the part about it being illegal to use against civilians was omitted.

"In December 2008 after a 10 month ceasfire Israel launched a massive military campaign in Gaza...including the controversial use of Whits Phosphorous shells"
Kemp commented on the stats of Israel's war against Gaza e.g.

13 Israeli soldiers killed
1,300 Palestinians killed
80 Government buildings
Over 200 Schools
60,000 homes destroyed
20,000 homeless
Israel along with Hamas facing charge of committing war crimes

Kemp then interviewed a man whose house was destroyed. The Palestinian man stated that he has no grievance with the people of Israel and recalls how he used to work and eat with them before the war.

This interview helped to highlight the tragic humanitarian aftermath of Israel's war.

Kemp presented some statistics about Palestinian rocket fire into Israel claiming that;

"Since 2008, 1,750 rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel"

Kemp then went on to meet a Palestinian group that claimed responsibility for some of the rockets. A controversial part was when Kemp allegedly observed a real bomb being planted as part of a booby trap for any Israeli incursion into Gaza by the Sea.

This was presented with a very strong display of emotion stating that he was not happy being there and showing it on camera but describing it as a "...brutal fact of what goes on here..."

It was interesting to note the absence of any such emotion when he interviewed the homeless Palestinian family.

Kemp then went on to examine the Israeli blockade, which was only referred to 3 times during the whole show. He wanted to see how Gazans got on with their lives and whilst walking through a market commented that;

"If you knew this place was under siege, you wouldn't think it by looking around me"

Whilst initially it felt as though there was an attempt to dismiss any notion of mass suffering as a result of the Israeli bloackade, the source for the goods present in the market was attributed to smuggling. It was also noted that the mark up on these goods was 400% and beyond the reach of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza.

Smuggling was described as "state sanctioned smuggling" as viewers were told that every tunnel pays a tax to Hamas to stay open. Whilst this is true, it should have been highlighted that the smuggling is the only means of getting goods into Gaza and is a direct result of the blockade.

The next section, which looked at the tunnel workers, was presented very sympathetically. The viewers were shown the life threatening conditions in which the tunnel workers have to work for $25 a day, Kemp also commented that many die from tunnel collapses.

The following acknowledgment from Kemp was a much needed recognition that needed to be spelt out for the viewers

"The combination of the borders being closed and the massive destruction of homes and infrastructure is bringing the people of Gaza to their knees"
Kemp then interviewed John Ging, Head of the UN mission in Gaza.

Mr Ging commented that Israel didn't destroy the "infrastructure of terror" when it launched its war on Gaza as it originally stated but actually detroyed the infrastructure of the economy (factories), education (schools), peace (Government ministries) and democracy (parliament building.
"Society here in every aspect of its functioning is being broken down...You treat people as hostile and they will become hostile...(questions need to be asked) how could you do this and then believe that that is positive in terms of getting...peace in the Middle East"

Mr Ging commented that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is bigger i.e. all the people who had jobs previously are now queuing for food at UN centres as a result of factories being destroyed by the Israelis or business drying up because of the Israeli blockade.

Featuring these comments from Mr Ging was commendable as it helped to dispel the humanitarian spin that the Israeli PR machine attempts to put on its actions.

The final part of the episode was no doubt most controversial as Ross Kemp was taken to meet a a suicide bomber.

This was accompanies by eerie music, which at times drowned out the dialogue and the creation of a solemn atmosphere. All this served to set the very dark mood for what was about to follow. Again it was notable that no such theatrics were employed when looking at the civilian stories of Gaza.

The clip featured Kemp talking to the suicide bomber in which he revealed that he was a Law Graduate and wanted peace but that Israelis, through their actions, didn't want peace hence he'd chosen this path.

The closing comments of Kemp to this episode are worth recalling;
"...I defy anyone to come here without an agenda, and not feel genuine sympathy for the ordinary people living here. Hundreds of Israelis have been killed by suicide bombers and they certainly have the right to defend themselves. But the economic blockade has not only damaged business it's denied people their dignity. If you deny someone the right to provide for their family then they will find pride in other things. When a young lawyer decides to become a suicide bomber I have real fear for the future..."

Overall the episode did show the real horror faced by the people of Gaza as well as the widespread destruction caused by the Israelis. A human face of the Palestinian suffering was portrayed and for that the episode definitely deserves praise.

However there were instances of inaccurate statements, theatrics and inconsistent use of strong emotive statements which let the episode down.

If I were to sum up I'd say it was a step in the right direction for Sky but still lots to do in terms of being worthy of an impartial tag. A rating can't be given at this time because the real test will come when episode 2 of this series is broadcast. That episode will look at the Israeli side and it's against this that episode 1 will be measured to see the differences in language, tone, underlying message etc.

Episode 2 will be broadcast on 10th January.

Verdict: To be confirmed

Ross Kemp Middle East

2010-01-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

Ross Kemp is a former Eastenders soap star turned Sky's 'Action Man'.

Rupert Murdoch's Sky News first started using Kemp to report on dangerous gangs at home in the UK and then abroad. However success came when Kemp fronted a series called Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, which was promoted heavily by Sky through billboard campaigns.

Now Sky have tasked the former soap star to look at the Middle East. It should make for some interesting viewing particularly as the first episode looks at Gaza, part 1 of which will be broadcast on Monday 4th January.

Rupert Murdoch's subcription to Right Wing Neo-Con agenda is no secret, the best manifestation of this was his expicit support for the war against Iraq, which has killed more than 1 million Iraqi people.

As owner of a large media network that spans the globe with the power to influence millions, his media network has proved to be a perfect vehicle for propagating the Right Wing Neo-Con view of the World.

One of the best documented examples of this was the following interview conducted by Sky News with George Galloway during Israel's war against Lebanon. Sky blatant pro-Israel bias was exposed by Galloway and is now a Youtube classic!

This should serve as a reminder of what to expect when watching Ross Kemp's new series. I have recorded the first episode on Gaza and will post my review once done. Here's the synopsis presented on the Sky electronic programme guide.
"In the first if a two - part special, Ross Kemp travels to Gaza to talk to local people and extremists about living in the region. Contains extreme views and distressing footage." (emphasis added by me)

This programme guide gives a fairly good idea of what to expect as key words, i.e. "extremists", have already been planted by the people at Sky. I guess it will be accurate to say, start as you mean to go on.

No doubt Kemp will also visit Israel during his series, it'll be interesting to compare the programme guide to see if similar language is used at the outset?

Watch this space for the review of Part 1 of Ross Kemp's Middle East

Friday 11th December

2009-12-13T07:32:00.000-08:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Young Briton jailed for life for airline bomb plot
Section: News
Written by: Aiden Radnedge
Page: 13

Outline: This article in Friday's Metro reports on the same story carried by the London Evening Standard on Thursday 10th December, which was reviewed here.

Like the Standard, this article also starts with the words "...A YOUNG British Muslim was jailed..." and uses the same mugshot of the 3 accused men.

I'm not going to go into detail about why this article is going to be marked negative because it will end up being a repeat of the analysis of the Standard article. The only thing to point out is that there is no reason to single out the accused man's religious background.

Article Verdict: Negative

Thursday 10th December

2009-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

London Evening Standard

Article 1
Headline: Terror cell 'foot soldier' faces life for Heathrow liquid bomb plot
Section: News
Written by: Felix Allen
Page: 21
Link: Click here

Outline: This story is featured in both the print and online editions of the London Evening Standard. The analysis below is based just on the print version.

The story relates to the trial of the men accused of plotting to blow up airliners as part of what is commonly referred to as 'the liquid bomb plot'.

The story relates to the trial of the men accused of plotting to blow up airliners as part of what is commonly referred to as 'the liquid bomb plot'.

The article starts off with the words "A BRITISH Muslim...", which is obviously designed to leave readers in no doubt about the religious identity of the person. the rest of the opening paragraph doesn't read particularly well either e.g. "...faces life behind bars...in a plot to murder thousands of...passengers..."

The key words in the paragraph for me are "Muslim....murder...thousands...", it doesn't really take a genius to work out what kind of footprint that leaves in readers minds.

There isn't any need to identify the religious background of the person with the opening words of the article unless of course the intention is to create a link between the faith and the intended act.

In a later paragraph one of the accused is described as "...willing to sacrifice himself to inflict mass casualties...provided support after being drawn to radical Islam..." More linkages being created by Allen between Islam and Violence.

After a few paragraphs detailing police activities leading to the arrest the focus is turned to the other suspects, one of whom is described as "...Nabeel Hussain...from Chingford, who once studied Islam in Saudi Arabia..."

Once again this bit of detail has nothing to do with the intended act of violence but it is placed into the article on purpose to create the association between these men who are clearly depicted as dengerous & intent on murdering thousands and the religion of Islam.

This is one of the more blatant examples of an article with the foul stench of Islamophobia running through it. Considering that it's from the London Evening Standard that really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Egypt builds giant wall to block Gaza's smuggling tunnels
Section: International
Written by: Ed Harris
Page: 31
Link: Click here

Outline: This story is also featured in both print and online editions of the Standard.

This article is about Egypt's plan to build a steel wall along its border with Gaza.

The article provides factual details about the tunnel such as its statistics and also that the construction hasn't been confirmed by the Egyptian authorities. It also states that the Egyptians are receiving American assistance in building the wall. It describes the objective behind the tunnel as the Egyptians wanting "...to block Palestinian smuggling tunnels into the (Gaza) strip..."

One of the later paragraphs mentions that "...Palestinians smuggle the everyday items they are denied by the blockade. But the Israelis say that the tunnels are also used to smuggle people, weapons, and components to make the rockets that are fired into southern Israel..."

There are a total of 37 words used of which 11 are used to touch upon the blockade. There is no mention of who is imposing the blockade and the fact that it is against International Law. The majority of the words are used to plug the Israeli side of the story and provides details of items being smuggled, which is designed to make readers feel sympathetic to the Israeli viewpoint particularly when weapons are mentioned.

There is however absolutely no mention of Palestinian suffering even though Israeli suffering is alluded to in this paragraph, this prevents a grossly distorted view of the situation on the ground.

The final paragraph is the most misleading part of the whole article, it states that "Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and its border with the coastal enclave is tightly controlled by the military. Egypt controls the southern border of the strip in a security arrangement with Israel"

This is the most inaccurate piece of the whole article. Whilst it is true that Israel withdrew from Gaza, Ed Harris fails to mention that this withdrawal was after Israel had illegally occupied and settled its citizens in Gaza for several decades.

It states the the border is "...tightly controlled by the military..." but fails to mention exactly who that military is even though it mentions that Egypt is in control of the southern border?

The ambiguity and the heavily watered down wording by Ed Harris is a deliberate attempt to protect Israel. The factual way of reporting this is to state that Israel maintains a complete air, land and sea bloackade of Gaza in contravention of International Law. This is deemed as collective punishment against Gaza's people and Israel denies basic necessities to Gaza as part of this blockade, which necessitates the smuggling tunnels.

All in all this is a heavily biased article which may have well have been written by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, it misrepresents the facts and omits key facts, which deny the readers the full story....literally.

This is malicious (Anti-Palestinian), shoddy and irresponsible journalism.

Article Verdict: Negative

Wednesday 2nd December

2009-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Yahoo

Article 1
Headline: The best savings account you've never heard of
Section: Yahoo Finance
Written by: John Fitrzsimmons
Link: Click here

Outline: This online piece on Yahoo Finance talks about a savings product from the Islamic Bank of Britain, which is described as "...one of the best accounts around..."

One of the key things about the article is that it immediately dispels the myth that the acocunt is only available to Muslims by stating "...don't despair if you aren't a muslim - these accounts are available to everybody..."

This is important because there is a lot of ignorance about Islamic Finance amongst non Muslims and the name often mistakenly creates the impression that the accounts are only designed for Muslims.

The article then goes onto describe the workings of the account, namely that the return won't be paid as interest but profit in order for the account to be Shariah compliant. This is another useful part of the article as it provides wider readers with a basic understanding of how Shariah compliant finance works. It also point out that the funds will be used by the Islamic Bank of Britain to invest in "...ethical trading activities...the money won't be put into gambling or tobacco..."

This last statement also serves as a useful bit of positive PR for Shariah compliant finance as ethical friendly products and services tend to be preferred by consumers in this day and age.

The article then seeks to re-assure readers about the safety of the funds invested in the Bank by informing them that "...while the fact that it is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme should also provide a bit more reassurance..."

The following paragraph sums up the verdict on the savings account from the Islamic Bank of Britain

"...if you are hell bent on getting a great return on your money then it's a cracking option. Islamic finance options may be out of the mainstream, but they certainly merit serious consideration..."

The final part of the article is used to plug another product by the Islamic Bank of Britain, their mortgage, which is compared to others in the market and described favourably.

Overall this article fulfills one important task, which is to show a different side of Sharia law. Unfortunately most non-Muslim peoples' view of Sharia law is coloured by the incorrect interpretations presented to them by people who are outright Islamophobic i.e. Melanie Phillips, or Douglas Murray.

This article helps to show the positive side of Sharia law and how in this case it can help people financially irrespective of their faith.

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Article Verdict: Positive

Thursday November 19th - Part 2

2009-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Family's fury as terror cops quiz preacher
Sub Headline 1: Mosque petition calls for 'immediate release'
Sub Headline2: Community rocked by 'respected' man's arrest
Section: News
Written by: Dan Thompson
Page: 16

Outline: This story is about the detention of a man described as a "...spiritual leader...", the opening paragraph features comments from his family denouncing his arrest.

The 2nd paragraph provides his name, Shaykh Asif Farooqui, as well as details of the allegation against him which is described as "...recruting young British Muslims for terror training camps in Afghanistan..."

Within the first 2 paragraphs Shaykh Farooqui's religious background is not mentioned although details of the allegation does make it clear to the reader that he is Muslim.

The next 6 paragraphs describe how the arrest has shocked the community and features comments backing Shaykh Farooqui and re-inforcing his past work in the community including the Police.

Whilst the article will probably leave readers thinking about Muslims negatively, Dan Thompson's article does devote a lot of column inches to comments from Shaykh Farooqui's family and describes his respected status in the community. It doesn't start off by describing him as a Muslim Preacher and importantly his religious identity isn't revealed in the headline.

This is a tough one to rate because, whilst readers will think negatively about Muslims after reading the report this is more to do with the general prejudice that has been created by the wider media when reporting such cases as opposed to Dan Thompson's coverage which is actually balanced and refrains from using tabloid tactics such as hysteria and sensationalism.

For that reason this particular piece by Dan Thompson is given a Neutral rating.

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Article Verdict: Neutral

Thursday November 19th - Part 1

2009-11-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Back off, Israel tells 'bully' US
Section: News
Written by: Fred Attewill
Page: 25

Outline: This article is a bit of a mix of some accurate reporting of facts but the overriding theme is one of bias towards Israel.

It reports on the Israeli Government's decision to build an extra 900 housing units on Illegally Occupied Palestinian land.

Firstly the headline is interesting, the use of the word bully (even if taken from a Israeli Govt quote) convey Israel as the victim, which immediately sets a sympathetic tone for the article towards Israel.

However at the end of the 1st paragraph Attewill does mention that the contruction of the settlements will be on "...occupied Palestinian territory...",which is an accurate description for the West Bank.

However in the subsequent paragraph Attewill mentions that the Israeli are voicing their protest against the US over what he described as plans for building "...another 900 homes for Israelis built in the West Bank..."

This is a use of Unspeak e.g. the word 'home' is used when describing a dwelling for a family, it's a very personal description and as such it has personal dimension in the readers minds by making them immediately think about people linked to these 'homes'. It makes them question why anyone would oppose the construction of 900 homes for these people, this is another subtle tactic to generate sympathy for the Israeli position.

The following paragraph talks about the expansion of this particular settlement which is described as being "...built on Palestinian land conquered in the 1967 war..."

There's a good and bad with statement, the good part is the acknowledgmentof the fact that this is 'Palestinian land', the bad part is that it's described as being 'conquered', the factually correct terminology should have been "illegally occupied"

In the 2nd to last paragraph Attewill writes that "...More than 30 Palestinians were left homeless this week after Israeli authorities demolished two family homes in east Jerusalem. Officals said the homes were built without Israeli permission..."

This is another example of a good and bad paragraph. The good part is the mention of at least some Palestinian suffering, even if it is buried towards the end of the article, and the personalisation of the plight through the use of the words "family homes". The bad part however is the omission of any statement which clarifies for the reader the fact that East Jerusalem is also considered illegally occupied under International Law. This would have made it clear that the Israelis have no jurisdiction and therefore have no moral or legal authority to grant or deny permission to Palestinians to build homes.

The final paragraph mentions the Geneva convention by stating "...While the fourth Geneva convention outlaws population transfer into occupied territory, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem - under military occupation for more than 40 years - among 2.7 million Palestinians..."

Once again this is a mixed bag of an article. It correctly highlights that Israel's actions are in violation of the fourth Geneva convention even if Attewill shies away from using the words "contravene" or "violation". The blatantly inaccurate statement is to claim that the 500,000 Israelis in the West Bank live under Military Occupation. This statement could not be further from the truth.

The fact on the ground is that it is the Palestinians not Israelis that live under Israeli Military Occupation. The 500,000 Israeli Settlers live in gated communities in mansions with manicured lawns and swimming pools where no non-jewish person is allowed to live whilst the Palestinians live under a system that restricts their every movement and have little access to clean drinking water.

Whilst there are a very few number of accurate words used here and there this is an overwhelmingly biased piece in favour of Israel right from the Headline through to the final few words of the last paragraph. For this reason Attewill's article is given a negative rating.

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Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 6th November

2009-11-08T12:28:00.000-08:00

BBC News Online

Article 1
Headline: US Gunman faced Afghan Posting
Section: News - Americas and also front page major news story
URL: Link

Outline: This news story received extensive coverage across most of the British electronic media.

The first of today's featired stories about fatal shooting incident at Fort Hood, Texas is taken from the BBC site.

The 2nd paragraph actually opens with the name of the gunman Major Nidal Malik Hasan, followed by his age and then by his religious background, he is described as "...a US-born Muslim..."

This is interesting because, unfortunately, a shooting of this nature i.e. no apparent motive with victims gunned down at random is tragically common across the United States and includes many high profile instances most notably the Columbine Massacre. The religious or ethnic background of the attackers in such cases is rarely highlighted. Therefore one questions the motive behind highlighting Maj Hasan's religious background unless of course it's to plant a seed in the mind of the reader?

In paragraph 5 the commander of the Fort Hood base is quoted as telling a US news network that "...eyewitnesses..." reported Maj Hasan shouting "...Allahu Akbar!..." which is described as an "...Arabic phrase...before opening fire..."

Towards the end of the article, 21st paragraph to be precise, there is reference to a message posted on the Washington Post website by the family of Maj Hassan which sends a message of condolence to the victims families.

However subsequent paragraphs also reveal some important details which help to shed some light on possible motives e.g. the 23rd paragraph states the cousin of Maj Hasan as saying that "...Major Hasan has been battling racial harassment because of his Middle Eastern ethnicity...". The previous paragraph states that Maj Hasan described an imminent deployment oversease as "...his worst nightmare..."

These 2 details are significant considering the tragedy that unfolded at Fort Hood. It highlights that Maj Hasan faced racial discrimination in an establishment as large as the US Army and despite him holding the grade of a Major. It also highlights that Maj Hasan could easily have been described as a Conscientious Objector i.e. opposing deployment to a conflict zone on moral, ethical or religious grounds.

The 24th paragraph mentions that CCTV footage from early on in the day showed Maj Hasan wearing "...religious attire..." There are 2 problems with this, firstly one needs to question why the item of clothing is significant? The answer is that is isn't. Secondly the clothing referred to as religious is actually a cultural dress traditionally worn by people from the Middle East irrespective of their religious background i.e. one could come across a Christian, Jewish or Muslim person from the Middle East wearing the same attire or indeed someone from another part of the World may choose to wear it based on personal taste.

This is a further attempt to plant more seeds into the minds of readers which along with earlier references to Maj Hasan's Muslim faith, the arabic phrase and allegedly "religious" attire should leave the reader in no doubt as to the motivation behind this tragedy.

Towards the end of the article there's 1 paragraph wihch features a comment from a soldier at Fort Hood with regards to the pressure likely to be placed on Muslim Soldiers in the US Army "...It kind of puts a negative light on them and makes people distrust them because everybody is going to look at them [and think]: 'Well, you're probably going to pull something like this...and it's a sad fact that that will happen..."

The penultimate paragraph refers to a New York Times report according to which the FBI are investigating a link between web postings by a man sharing Major Hasan's name that backs suicide bombings but it states that there is no clear link between the 2. If that is the case then surely it must be premature to include this bit of information in the story, that is unless the intention is to make readers think that there is a link......specualtive journalism at its best!

Considering that this article is from the day of the shooting the BBC published a lot of information that was purely speculative in nature and assigned a motive to the actions of Major Hassan even before the truth is known. In addition to this many important bits of information like the alleged racial discrimination and Major Hasan's objections to deployment are not given the attention they deserve.

This is not a balanced article and prematurely assigns this tragic shooting a religious motive, albeit subliminally, whilst having read the details it could well be that there were psychological problems involved. Therefore it's no suprise that this article from the BBC is given a negative rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Channel 4 News Online

Article 1
Headline: Army major held for US gun attack
Section: World - Americas
URL: Link

Outline: This article is in stark contrast to the BBC article above. It states the gunman's name in the 2nd paragraph but doesn't mention his ethnic or religious background.

The next few paragraphs focus more on the events of the day and feature comments from the base commander.

The 14th paragraph (out of 16 in total) mentions the cousin of Major Hasan who is quoted as saying that Major Hasan was a "...US-born Muslim who had joined the military from High School...". This is the first and only reference to Major Hasan's religious background but also mentions his profession as a pshychiatrist in the US Army.

It also repeats the concerns stated in the BBC article about Major Hasan's deployment abroad.

The article ends with some facts about Fort Hood as a military base.

Unlike the BBC News article there are no loaded messages in this article nor are there any premature assumptions planted into the readers minds about what the possible motives could have been behind Major Hasan's actions.

This is a well balanced article and presents it from an objective viewpoint thus it's given a neutral rating.

Article Verdict: Neutral

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Tuesday 3rd November

2009-11-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Mum of six: I will turn my kids into suicide bombers
Secondary Headline: Fanatic kept terror manual hidden inside her burkha
Section: News
Written by: Chris Osuh
Page: Front page and page 2
URL: Link

Outline: This extensive spanning the front 2 pages of the M.E.N as well as Channel M news relates to a Dutch Woman called Houria Chahed Chentouf who was convicted of posessing documents for terrorist purposes.

There are several key words used in the article and the video clip, namely "violent jihad" and "burkha".

In the video clip both words are used in the first 11 sentences of the clip whereas in the print edition her intention to "...kill and maim in the name of Islam..." and the evidence of this intent being attached to her "...burkha..." are mentioned in the 1st two paragraphs.

As we've included a video clip this time round I won't go into depth about the content of the article as it is summed concisely in the video.

The main question to ask is what is the rationale for telling people that the memory stick containing the evidence against her was attached to her burkha? It would have been sufficient to state that it was attached to her clothing but my guess is that by specifying that it was a burkha the intention is to smuggle in the wider debate about burkhas into this story. And by doing so to add weight to the argument for banning this item of clothing.

Watching the video clip also reveals one key detail which is not mentioned until almost the very end of the 2 minute clip, at 1:59 to be precise. That is the fact that Ms Chentouf has a history of mental illness.

This is significant because it can be considered more likely for someone who suffers from mental health issues to act irrationally and even dangerously.

This story should have been reported from the angle that a mental health patient has been convicted of the crime. In its current state the article and video clip only reinforce prejudices against Islam and Muslims, especially Muslim women because those who prefer to dress in Islamic clothing are likely to come under more scrutiny maybe under threat from some Islamophobic individuals.

Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 30th October

2009-10-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Islam-obsessed girl disappears
Section: Home Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 4

Outline: This brief is just under 60 words long and features a photo of 14 year old Sarah Dunn. It describes that Ms Dunn "...vanished after becoming obsessed with Islam...". This statement is attributed to the Police, in an extended version of the story in the Metro's sister publication the Daily Mail, the Police are quoted as saying that Ms Dunn had "...gone missing after developing a 'keen interest' in Islam...". The Daily Mail version attributes the "...increasingly obsessed..." statement to friends (3rd paragraph).

There's a clear discrepancy here between the story appearing in the 2 papers both of which belong to Associated Newspapers.

The Metro brief mentions that Ms Dunn was last seen after an argument with her parents about studying the Koran, it states that "...she may have been brainwashed by hardline Muslims..."

Overall the news brief paints a very negative view of Islam and the use of language such as brainwashing almost portrays the religion as a cult.

In short this is a tragic story about a teenage girl with a freewill having a conflict of interest with those around her. It has nothing to do with Islam and to present the article with words such as "Islam-obsessed" or "brainwashed by hardline Muslims" only serves to fuel Islamophobia particularly amongst parents of teenagers.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Bibles are seized in Malaysia
Section: News
Written by: ?

Page: 20

Outline: This article is roughly 70 words long and reports on the confiscation of 15,000 "...inflammatory..." bibles in Malaysia by authorities this year because they "...referred to 'God' as 'Allah'...", this is described in the article as "...a banned translation in the Muslim-majority country..."

There is no description about who has decribed the Bibles as "inflammatory" which is the word used in the opening sentence. This may imply that the authorities have deemed them to be inflammatory or it may be the case that this is a word selected by the journalist writing this story.

If it's the latter then it injects a subjective and unfounded viewpoint into what is otherwise a factual story. It's inclusion may make readers think there is hostility towards Christians in Malaysia when it is in fact a prosperous & peaceful multi-ethnic/multi-religious society.

Considering that the source of the word "inflammatory" is not provided it can be assumed that its been inserted into the article by the journalist in which case this article has to be given a negative rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

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Tuesday 27th October

2009-10-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Islamic scholar jailed for trying to kill father-in-law
Section: News
Written by: Chris Osuh
Page/URL: Link
Accompanying Photos:

Outline: This article from the online edition of the M.E.N reports on the sentencing of a man who tried to murder his father-in-law.

As is evidently clear from the headline the readers are left in no doubt as to the religious background of the man as well as his profession, he is described as an "Islamic Scholar". By its definition the word "scholar" is used to denote someone with mastery in a particular field of study.

The 2nd paragraph of the article states that the man, Mohammed Saghir "...dedicated his life to studying the Koran and aspired to become an imam". If someone is aspiring to become something then clearly it would be premature to say the least to describe them as a "scholar" or master of a particular discipline.

The significance of using this word in the context of the article is that it wrongly gives readers the view that a person fully versed in Islamic law went on to try and kill one of his own family members. If the person was indeed a "scholar" of Islamic law then he would have found very clear and explicit rulings within Islamic law condemning murder.

However readers will no doubt think that if someone who's meant to uphold the values and act as a role model for the islamic faith can commit such an act what does that say about the faith?

The rest of the article describes how the man planned and carried out the attack and at one point it states that he felt remorse at his actions and asked his father-in-law to write a letter forgiving him.

In the second to last paragraph it states that the victim "...was urged to write a statement saying he forgave his son-in-law by family and religious elders who did not want to see the case go to court". This implies that "religious elders" wanted to cover up the crime when in fact if the elders were truly "religious" as Osuh states they would have pushed for the opposite i.e. for the case to go to court as Islam does not condone such acts.

The article along with a very unflattering photo of Mohammed Saghir does no favours to the image of Islam nor to that of Imaams and Muslim community leaders. Chris Osuh inaccurately describes Saghir as a "Scholar" when clearly by his own comments at the beginning of the article he is most definitely not. In summary this is another article that will further help to propogate a negative view of Islam and Muslims thanks to classic tabloid reporting by Osuh.

Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 9th October - Part 2

2009-10-10T01:21:00.001-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Keep out of city centre, rugby fans are warned
Section: North West Today
Written by: ?
Page: 2

Outline: This brief appears towards the top of page 2 and refers to the planned anti-Islam rally in Manchester City Centre by the extremist group the English Defence League (EDL) on Saturday 10th October.

The article reports that rugby fans travelling to Old Trafford have been warned to stay away from the city centre to avoid what's described as a "protest" by the EDL which it describes as a "...right wing group..."

The article goes on to describe how the EDL plans to hold a "...demonstration..." against "...Islamic Extremism..." and that there will be a counter protest by "...the Unite Against Fascism Group..."

The article ends with a reference to Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd and his message to people to stay away and also with a message in bold on the last line which reads ">> See Potsbag page 10".

There is one big glaring error in this news brief, the planned rally by the EDL is incorrectly described as a protest against Islamic Extremism. Now usually journalists are the inquisitive type and one would normally expect them to do their job properly and investigate exactly what type of group the EDL is? Of course the EDL's self professed aim is to 'protest against Islamic Extremism" but the truth is more sinister as their real aim is to protest against Islam and the presence of Muslims in the UK.

This is not the first rally planned by the EDL, they have staged similar marches in Birmingham which have been violent and high profile. For journalists this fact should not be difficult to find out.

At no point in the brief does it describe that the EDL have staged a similar rally and that it descended into violence, it doesn't describe that the group is largely made of up football hooligans out to cause trouble, it doesn't describe that at previous rallies their members have brandished hate messages on placards like "No More Mosques" and chanted slogans like "Muslims Out!".

These messages show that this group isn't interested in protesting against extremism but rather it is a fascist group targeting a group of people based solely on their faith. That, Ladies and Gentlemen is what is commonly known as an Extremist group. However all these facts are 'hidden' from the reader in this news brief so as to deprive them of the facts.

It also seeks to malign the image of the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) Group which has decided to stand up for Muslims. The news brief has successfully painted the picture of the EDL as protesting against "Islamic Extremism" and Unite Against Fascism are presented as planning to stage a "counter-protest" i.e. a protest against the EDL's stance in other words the readers will think why is this group trying to stop a group protesting against extremism? Does the paper want people to think that UAF supports extremism?

This is yet another example of clever 'Unspeak' i.e. smuggling in a hidden argument to influence readers.

It's not hard to forget the high profile that the media decided to give to the small number of members belonging to the Al Ghuraaba group when they protested by brandishing violent placards in response to the Danish Cartoons. We were reminded over & over again about the messages and made to think that maybe Muslims at large supported this tiny fringe group.

Unfortunately this time round the EDL is getting nowhere near as much exposure to highlight their extremist intent.

This news brief actualy supports their attempts to deceive the wider public into thinking that they're stance is just and noble when this couldn't be further from the truth.

For this reason this news brief is given a "Negative" rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Racist League
Section: Postbag
Written by: John Leech, MP, Manchester Withington
Page: 10

Outline: This isn't really an article but a letter sent into the M.E.N by the MP for Manchester Withington the Rt Hon John Leech.

In complete contrast to the news brief above John Leech's letter is an attempt to tell readers about the true intent of the EDL which he accurately describes in the opening words of his letter as "A RACIST group..." and how they are planning to hold an "...anti-Muslim rally aimed at inciting hatred and stirring up fear on our streets"

He speaks favourable about a petition organised by the Unite Against Fascism Group and encourages all readers to sign it by even providing the web address which is www.manchesteruaf.org

Unlike the M.E.N news brief above Mr Leech does refer to the previous rallies held by the EDL and how these have displayed the groups' "...Xenophobia and racially motivated thuggery..."

He also explains his very reasoned argument for banning the protest which he explains is "...not about gagging a legitimate group - it's about standing up for what is right and not letting our tolerance and free speech be hijacked by fascists who...would do away with this freedom in an instant.

Having read the letter by Mr Leech my first question was 'why did the M.E.N not use extracts from the letter in its earlier news brief, expecially considering that it did refer to another Manchester based MP and conveyed his message?' How did Mr Lloyd make the cut but not Mr Leech?

Mr Leech's letter could well have been used as a press release by the paper and used to bring a bit of balance to the M.E.N's atrocious news brief which all but stops short of publicly endorsing the EDL through its shameful mis-reporting.

A reference at the bottom of the News Brief telling people to go to the Postbag isn't enough, Mr Leech's comments should have been used in the main body of the M.E.N article. Perhaps the decision was taken not to use his comments because they contrasted very starkly with the M.E.N's take on the EDL protest i.e. the M.E.N blindly believed what the EDL said it would be protesting about rather than doing their job properly and actually investigating what the EDL were all about.

It could be argued that the M.E.N published Mr Leech's letter and there is a reference at the end of the news brief thus the readers would have got to see his comments. However by publshing his letter in the Postbag quite clearly shows that these are Mr Leech's opinions and thus personal to him, this could influence how receptive people are to Mr Leech's message.

Whilst Mr Leech's letter is positive my rating will be based on the M.E.N's conduct instead which deserves a "Negative" rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 9th October - Part 1

2009-10-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Quarter of the World is Muslim
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 27

Outline: This article focuses on a study conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report and its findings that 1 in 4 people in the World are Muslim.

The article features quite prominently on page 27 and is accompanied by a colour map which highlights some of the key countries and their Muslim populations as a proportion of the total.

On the whole the article is presented in a very factual manner and details some of the statistics and ‘interesting’ facts i.e. that Muslims in countries where Islam is not the majority religion outnumber Muslims in some mainly Islamic countries.

In fact the article would have been a very strong candidate for a “Neutral” rating had it not been for Jo Steele injecting her own opinionated views into the story which firmly pushes this into “Negative” territory.

In the fourth paragraph she writes that “Indonesia, which traditionally practices a more tolerant Islam has the World’s largest Muslim population”.

The question here is, what is meant by “…a more tolerant Islam…”?? The implication quite clearly is that as the Indonesians practice a “more tolerant” version of Islam then the real version must be less tolerant in other words intolerant.

This is yet another classic example of ‘Unspeak’.

Through a careful selection of words Steele has smuggled in a personal opinion and made what should have been an objective article into a biased article portraying a negative image of Islam i.e. a religion that is intolerant.

No surprises therefore that Steele’s article gets a “Negative” rating for using manipulative language to influence the readers opinions about Islam.

Article Verdict: Negative

Thursday 8th October

2009-10-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: United front on wrecked graves
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 14

Outline: This article appears on page 14 towards the bottom of the page, it occupies a very low profile position and it could be argued it's almost 'hidden'.

It reports on the Islamophobic attack on 20 Muslim graves in Manchester's Southern Cemetry.

It describes the attack as a "race hate attack" and refers to the perpetrators as "thugs". It features comments by a spokesman from the Muslim Jewish Forum of Manchester who is quoted as describing the attack as "Islamophobic" and "Incomprehensible".

The article ends with numbers for crimestoppers (0800 555 111) and the Police (0161 856 6151) that people can contact if they have further information.

The article is well written and makes an important point in using the term Islamophobia, which will help educate readers about this type of hate crime which remains grossly under-reported in the mainstream media.

In terms of its shortcomings the article could have been placed in a more prominent position rather than being buried at the bottom of page 14.

From a big picture point of view the article gets a positive rating as it presents the story in a sympathetic manner.

Article Verdict: Positive

Article 2
Headline: Shariah expert on hand to help George Davies clients
Section: Business
Written by: ?
Page: 5

Outline: This article appears in the business section and profiles a woman called Tasnim Khalid who works for a law firm and specialises in Shariah (Islamic) law.

The article describes how Ms Khalid's skills "...will allow her to offer a service of special interest to her Muslim clients." It goes into some brief detail to describe her areas of specialism. One of the paragraphs features comments from Ms Khalid where she describes how her knowledge of both the British Legal system and Shariah Law will help "...ensure there is no conflict between the law of the land and religious law".

The article features a photo of Ms Khalid as well.

In summary it is a well written and factual article with none of the sensationalism that is usually associated with any sort of reference to Shariah law. It seeks to show how in this particular case Shariah law will help meet the needs of the clients of what is described as a law firm with the "...second largest private client department in Manchester".

Article Verdict: Positive

Back after another Snooze!

2009-10-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

I won't make any excuses....trying to run a blog like Manchetser Evening Snooze, which requires much analyses & scrutiny, as a 1 man show is more than I can handle at times especially when I have a regular day job to hold down. However I will try and post on a best endeavours basis....I promise!

Also, taking some time off has allowed me to have a rethink about the scope and purpose of Manchester Evening Snooze. Specifically is it sensible to limit scrutiny about coverage of Islam & Muslims to just 2 newspapers?

I feel that it isn't.

During the course of any given day, week or month, I see numerous sources....far too many to list here which either report of Muslims & Islam or refer to them.

It's for that purpose I have decided that from now on I will report on any newspaper/website/tv programme etc that mentions or covers Islam and Muslims and report back with some analyses on this site.

Stay tuned, Manchester Evening Snooze will be posting again very soon!

Salaam (Peace)

Wednesday 1st July

2009-07-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Life - from both sides of the veil
Section: Features
Written by: Shelina Begum
Page: 9

Outline: This feature takes up three quarters of page 9 and is dedicated to the "debate" about the Burka or the all ecompassing veil that some Muslim Women choose to wear. The headline paragraph makes reference to the North West MEP Chris Davies' comments regarding the Burka and also to French President Sarkozy who started this "debate". It sets out the premise for the feature which aims to speak to "....four Muslim women from Greater Manchester to find out their views".

The feature is split into 2 sections with the headings "Choosing to cover up" and "And those who don't".

Two Photos are featured, one of them is of 2 women who choose to wear the Burka and a smaller photo is of Councillor Maryam Khan who doesn't wear the Burka or a headscarf, it also features a caption from her which reads

"There is so much misconception about women who wear the veil. I don't know anybody who is being oppressed"

The section focusing on the women who choose to wear the Burka details some of the problems they face as a result of their choice, for example one woman named as Nasima Sheikh comments on anti Burka sentiment and states that "It's bad enough I face abuse from people on the streets for my choice of clothing. Young white lads regularly call me 'ninja' and now this criticism will give them even more ammunition to point their finger at me".

There are comments from another woman named as Nazma Khatun who describes her reasons for wearing the Burka and quotes her as saying "..The burka makes me feel comfortable and has never stopped me from studying, getting a job and fitting in". Ms Khatun also comments that whilst she feels Greater Manchester is tolerant her sister has had to remove her Burka in Blackpool because of "...daily threats..." being received by her family.

The second section starts with a woman called Saira Younas who comments that whilst other members of her family wear the hijab (headscarf) she doesn't and hasn't been forced to. She is quoted as describing the Burka as "...a step too far. The Koran does not state that you have to cover your face....But if a woman chooses to do this then it is their choice, like it is mine not to cover my hair or my face".

The feature finishes with comments by Maryam Khan whose photo is also featured in the article. She is described as "...Manchester's youngest councillor..."

A comment from her is provided in the article which states that "Islam gives women a choice about whether they want to wear the hijab or burka and I have chosen not to...However I really do admire the women who do. It shows great courage in a climate where there is so much hostility. I know I don't have the courage to do the same...There is much misunderstanding about women who wear the veil. There may be a small minority forced to wear it but don't personally know of anybody who is oppressed"

The closing statement by Councillor Maryam Khan is in my opinion the most powerful statement of the article

"It comes down to choice and women should have the right to wear what they want"

I know that I have recreated large chunks of the feature as part of this analysis but I felt that all were necessary to include as they show why this feature is so positive.

Shelina Begum deserves credit for telling the untold story with regards to the Hijab and Burka i.e. the women who wear it and those Muslim women who don't. As is often the case with "debates" regarding Islamic matters we are consistently bombarded with the view of the Politician or Fringe Muslims or Neo Con think tanks each banging on about their particular angle on the story and more often than not this viewpoint leaves the audience with a negative outlook on Islam and Muslims.

Shelina Begum's feature presents a much needed human face to the "debate" about Burka and allows readers to get the view from the inside track. It is enlightening as contrary to what people may think they get to see the strong and confident voices of the women who wear the Burka who debunk the myth that they are somehow oppressed. It actually highlights that the one form of oppression they do face is racism not subservience to their menfolk.

Also with regards to the non-Burka wearing Muslim Women it doesn't present them as opposed to the choice made by their "sisters" but rather re-affirms the true democratic principle of choice.

The decision to end with Maryam Khan's quote is the best part of the article as it probably sums up the feelings of Muslim women across Britain who choose to wear a Burka. We often go on about the right/freedom to choose, this feature is re-affirming that democratic message that let women choose to wear the Burka go about their business free from scrutiny or ridicule.

Excellent feature by Shelina Begum and I guess the M.E.N does deserve a cursory knod of approval for placing the feature prominently towards the front of the paper.

Article Verdict: Positive

Monday 29th June

2009-06-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Radical cleric attacked for converting boy of 11
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 9

Outline: This article takes up most of page 11 and is about the conversion of a boy aged 11 to Islam by Anjem Choudary who is described as a "radical cleric". The article features a photo of the conversion ceremony taking place with the boy's face blurred out.

In the 2nd paragraph of the article the words "The bewildered looking boy....was filmed repeating Arabic chants and swearing allegiance to Allah...."

The words "Arabic chants" are a poor choice by Erwin who should know that the correct terminology to use would be Arabic Prayers.

The article features a photo of Omar Bakri and it mentioned in the article that Anjem Choudary has links to Bakri who is described as a "Muslim hate preacher". Erwin also mentions that Choudary's group wants Britain to "...become an Islamic state ruled by strict Sharia law."

The closing paragraph of the article mentions that Bakri "...is famous for praising the 9/11 hijackers as the magnificent 19".

The article also contains comments by Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain and the Christian Muslim Forum who criticises Choudary's actions, "I believe that a choice pf Islam is only to be done when you can fully understand the complex, mature and life-changing decision that you are making"

Whilst the inclusion of Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra's comments is a good step to show that conversion of young Children isn't endorsed by all Muslims the overall view of the article is that it's unnecessarilly scaremongering the readers.

The image presented is that "bewildered" young children will be coerced into converting by men who endorse terrorism and want to establish a strict Islamic State in Britain.

It is fairly safe to assume that this is an isolated incident carried out by a Group that has few backers amongst the vast majority of British Muslims. To give this much coverage to a story like this is merely going to feed the fear that some people hold towards Muslims and in that respect is an example of irresponsible journalism by Miles Erwin.

Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 26th June

2009-06-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: I was thrown off flight to the US because my name's Muhammed
Section: News
Written by: Pete Bainbridge
Page: 24

Outline: This news story is about Mr Muhammed Vakaas Khan who was denied permission to fly to the US and escorted off his flight by security guards in front of other passengers.

The article starts with the text "A MUSLIM man claims US officials..."

Given the context of the story it is appropriate to mention Mr Khan's religious background because he alleges that he was denied entry on grounds of his religion and that his name, Muhammed may have been linked by US officials to terrorism. It may sound far fetched but unfortunately Muslim even British Muslim travellers regularly face harassment by US immigration officials who present awkward questions to them and Mr Khan's case is one more example of this.

The article is given prominence on page 24 and is the only news story on that page, with the remainder being taken up by adverts. The article mentioned Mr Khan's background, martial arts, and that he was travelling to the US to train with his sporting hero.

It also mentions that Mr Khan's cousin had to face similar visa problems when he wanted to work in the US. The article presents Mr Khan's story in a sympathetic light and also features a photo of him. It brings to light this important issue which is faced all too frequently by many British Muslim travellers to the US, in that respect this article is given a 'Positive' rating.

Article Verdict: Positive

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Tension over gay party in holy city
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 22

Outline: This news brief talks about 2 events, a gay pride parade and opening of a municipal car park on the Jewish Sabbath which are described as "causing tension in Jerusalem.."

It mentions that the parade "...has touched off anti-gay protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews...in the past.." and that the planned opening of a car park stirred tensions because "Jewish religous law bans travel on the Sabbath".

This article has been included in the round up to present a point of comparison i.e. how does reporting by the Metro and M.E.N about other religious groups compare to reporting about Muslims?

In this particular instance people are likely to get a negative view of Ultra-Orthodox Jews because the brief mentions that they carried out "anti-gay protests", in this respect it presents them in a negative light.

Article Verdict: Negative

Metro

Article 2
Headline: School racist for barring 'non-Jew'
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 32

Outline: This article is about a boy who was denied entry into a Jewish school because it not recognise his mother's conversion to Judaism.

The article opens with the words "A POPULAR Jewish school has been ruled racist..." The story then goes on to explain that the school is state-run and that it was deemed "Unlawfully racist" by the Court of Appeal.

The article explains the entry requirements for the school and that to qualify the prospective pupil's mother must be Jewish by descent or conversion, Erwin goes on to write that this requirement "contravened the Race Relations Act (according to) Lord Justice Sedley"

The closing paragraphs mention that the boy will now be admitted and that the Governors had refused entry because they didn't recognise his mother's conversion from Catholicism.

The article ends with the words "...no faith school is immune from race laws, Lord Justice Sedley said"

Overall this article presents the governors of the school in a negative light as it states that they were found to be acting in a racist manner.

Article Verdict: Negative

Monday 22nd June

2009-06-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Thursday 18th June

2009-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Article 1
Headline: "World - Protestors defy threats in Iran" & "Footballers show solidarity"
Section: Front page brief & News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: Front page and page 5

Outline: This article is about the protests in Iran over the outcome of the recent Presidential election where Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was declared the winner but this was disputed by his main rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The front page brief lists the number of protestors (500,000) and mentions that they did so "despite warning that dissdents faced being executed"

The follow on articles are on page 7 and almost occupy the full page except for a tiny sliver which is an advert. The articles feature 4 pictures, 3 from a Football World Cup qualifiying match between Iran and South Korea which show members of the Iranian football team with some wearing green wrist bands to show solidarity with the defeated candidate. The other 2 photos are of spectators, 1 shows a man holding an Iranian flag which carries the text "Free Iran" and the other shows groups of spectaors holding placards that read "where is my vote?". The football article focuses on the fact that 5 of the Iranian team were sporting the green armbands in solidarity with the protestors but they removed them because of what the article describes as "...speculation their coach ordered them to do so". The remainder of the article provides brief commentary on the spectators placards and mention of the match score.

The second article runs with a similar heading to that featured on the front page and focuses on the protests taking place in Iran. In this article.

Erwin prints the following statement by the Prosecutor General of Isfahan province;

"We warn the few, controlled by foreigners, who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution"

Erwin then goes on to mention that 19 people have been killed and that foriegn news journalists can not report the violence.

Erwin fails to contextualise the comment made by the Prosecutor General particularly the part relating to "foreigners", this is in response to concerns raised by the Iranian authorities that the trouble and violence may be being stirred up by covert foreign operations in an effort to destabilise the country. Failing to contextualise the comments deprives readers of the full story and makes it seem as though foreigners are being pointlessly blamed for the violence.

The overall narrative presented in the story is one that presents a negative view of Iran and the Iranian Government through selective reporting which leaves out key facts for the reader thus these articles are given a 'Negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Monday 15th June

2009-06-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Israeli PM back a state for Palestine
Section: News
Written by: Peter Green
Page: 12

Outline: This article is so wrong it's hard to decide where to begin. Let's start with the headline, for those who know the detail of what Binyamin, referred to as "Benjamin" in this article, Netanyahu has said will know that his idea of a "State" doesn't actually equate to what a real State should be like.

The one thing that Green does get right is to refer to Netanyahu as "Israel's hard-line Prime Minister", although he is actually right wing and arguably an extreme one at that.

Green goes into some of the detail of Netanyahu's proposals i.e. that the proposed Palestinian state should not have an army nor should the refugees be allowed the right to return to their homes that they were driven out of when Israel was created. Although this crucial bit of information is not given by Green in the article.

Green then goes onto present Netanyahu in a positive light stating that Netanyahu "offered to talk to Palestinians immediately...with no preconditions", that he "wanted to live...as good neighbours" with the Palestinians and that he "...was willing to go to Damascus, Riyadh and Beirut in pursuit of a Middle East peace deal."

These statements inaccurately present Netanyahu as a reasonable figure out looking for peace, Green should have devoted valuable column inches to spelling out the finer detail of Netanyahu's proposal to show readers that what we was promising Palestinians was a so called State which would have no army and not have control of its airspace or land borders.

Green mentions that "Palestinians demand all the West Bank with East Jerusalemas capital. Israel captured both areas in 1967". The choice of words is significant by using "demand" and "all the West Bank..." it's almost like painting a picture that the Palestinians are perhaps being unreasonable i.e. almost saying to Israel 'Give me the West Bank!'. Whilst Green mentions that Israel captured both territories he fails to mention that this was in violation of International and UN law and that the Israeli occupation is considered illegal by every nation in the World except in Israel itself.

Green also remarkably fails to mention the very big problem of illegal settlements that Israel has contructed in the West Bank. These are conveniently left out.

The icing on the cake for this particular article is the closing paragraph where it is said of Netanyahu that "...he fears Palestinian militants will use the West Bank to stage attacks on Israel as Hamas militants have fired into Israel since it withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005". Green fails to mention the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza which has turned the territory into the World's largest prison and the fact that Israel launched a brutal war there just 6 months ago where 1,400 Palestinians were killed including at least 430 children. This closing paragraph from Green is almost presenting justification for Netanyahu's ridiculous proposal for a Palestinian state.

If Green ever loses his job at the M.E.N I'm sure he'll be snapped up as a spokesman for the Israeli Government. In the meantime this serves as one of the most blatant examples of Hasbara in action.

Article Verdict: Negative

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Israel call for peace rejected & Israel's olive branch?
Section: Front page brief & page 5
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: Front page and page 5

Outline: The Metro does one better than the M.E.N by not only placing a spun version of Netanyahu's offer on the front page but by also making the Palestinians out to be antagonists by rejecting this so called "peace".

On page 5 Erwin continues by calling Netanyahu's action "historic" and using the same sort of spin tactics as Green though to a lesser extent and also allowing for quotes from the Palestinian Authority.

However in closing a statement from the US administration is given in where it states that the US welcomed the gesture made by Netanyahu.

Erwin failed to mention the specifics of the proposal put forward by Netanyahu i.e. no control over borders, right of refugees to return to their homes and of course the illegal settlements which Erwin also completely ignored.

It's snoteworthy to see 2 different competing papers reporting the same story allegedly from different ends of the Political sphere in terms of their bias yet singing from pretty much the same Hasbara hymn sheet.

Article Verdict: Negative

Friday 12th June

2009-06-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Thursday 11th June

2009-06-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Article 1
Headline: 'Terrorists' linked to Air France Crash
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 7

Outline: This news brief featured on the bottom of page 7 in a very small box with the headline highlighted in orange font. It is placed next to a story about the shooting at a Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. It is only 52 words long.

In these limited number of words the news brief mentions that 2 of the passengers on board Air France flight 447 that crashed into the Atlantic "...had names linked to terrorism..." It goes onto say that "...they were also on a highly classified list of radical Muslims considered a threat to France..."

As it happens the deceased men who are accused of being terrorists were in fact cleared but even before that the labelling of them as "terrorists" in the headline was premature and irresponsible. There also wasn't any need to make reference to their religious background. For these reasons this news brief is given a 'Negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Iran election ends in bitter war of words
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 12

Outline: This article is about the Iranian Presidential Elections and is featured towards the top of page 12. It shares the page with an advertisement and the 'World Digest' section.

Miles Erwin focuses on remarks made by incumbent President Ahmedinejad about his opponents particularly Mir Hossein Mousavi who is described by Erwin as a "pro-reform challenger".

Erwin describes the mood amongst the people and how they are gearing up for the election. One key paragraph featured in the article states that the results of the election "...will have little impact on Iran's key policies, which are dictated by the ruling Islamic clerics".

The choice of words is important as the "Islamic clerics" referred to by Erwin are in fact members of the Guardian Council which is a constitutionally mandated body designed to maintain the political integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Referring to them as simply "Islamic clerics" is misleading as it presents them as only acting in a religious capacity whereas they have a political role.

Erwin then goes on to describe President Ahmedinejad as a "...troublesome figure..." who questioned "...the holocaust and called for Israel's demise". This last point is worth flagging as it is one of the most commonly told lies that appears to be recycled by any journalist or personality critical of Iran's President. It refers to a speech where it is incorrectly alleged that President Ahmedinejad was 'Israel wiped off the map'.

This has been exposed as a fabrication by many Persian language experts and even by the Pro-Israel media monitoring organisation MEMRI. The actual text of the speech shows that President Ahmedinejad's words were referring to the regime that is occupying Jerusalem i.e. the Israeli Regime, he wished for this to be wiped from the pages of history. This is interpreted simply as President Ahmedinejad wanting to see 'regime change' in Israel much like Bush wanted to see in Iraq. This hardly justifies the false interpretation attributed by Erwin to President Ahmedinejad.

False reporting and misleading commentary earn Erwin's article a 'Negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: Shoe bomber goes on a hunger strike
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This news brief is about Richard Reid who was dubbed the 'shoe bomber' after an alleged failed attempt to blow up an airliner. The news brief is featured in the World Digest section which is immediately below the story about the Iranian elections.

It talks about Reid being on hunger strike in protest at the guards allegedly stopping him from "...practicing Islam."

In the next sentence he is described as "The British Muslim was convicted of trying to blow up an American Airlines jet in 2001". The relevance of mentioning his religious background in this closing sentence needs to be questioned, it would have sufficed to simply state that he was on hunger strike because he felt he was being stopped from practicing his religious duties as a Muslim. There was no need to then say that the "British Muslim" tried to commit this crime, an alternative would have been to say "Reid was convicted of..."

Considering the negative associations implied by this news brief between Muslims and acts of terrorism this article is given a 'Negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 4
Headline: Car bomb leaves at least 28 dead
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This news brief is featured immediately below the story about Richard Reid.

As one can deduce from the headline the story is about a car bomb, it happened in Iraq and the blame is attributed by the article to "Sunni Muslim Militants..." who it is claimed "...have carried out several bombings in the Shia south".

There is absoutely no need to refer to religious backgrounds in this news brief and certainly no need to highlight the sectarian divide in Iraq.

This article is given a 'Negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 9th June

2009-06-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: 10 killed in mosque attack
Section: World Today
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This news brief is about an attack on a Mosque in Thailand in which 10 people were killed. It mentions that the Imam was amongst the dead.

The brief ends with the statement "Islamic separatists are thought to be to blame".

One glaring omission is mention of the fact that all those killed in the attack were Muslims carrying out worship. Some may argue that this is obvious as it mentions an attack on a Moque. However if the writer can go to the trouble of pointing out the "Islamic"-ness of the murderers then it is worth making it painfully obvious to the reader that the victims were also Muslims. Failure to do so may make some people think that religous terrorism somehow inspired by Islam may be behind this attack when in fact this heinous crime is as far removed from the teachings of Islam as can possibly be.

This article is given a 'Negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Terror suspect 'wanted Blair and Brown dead'
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 19

Outline: This article is about the trial of a suspect accused of soliciting the murder of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. The accused is named as Ishaq Kanmi of Blackburn and his religious or ethnic background is not mentioned.

However there is plenty of mention of Islam and Muslims in the article. Amongst the demands that Mr Kanmi is accused of making is for "...the release of all Muslims..." from Belmarsh Prison. He is also accused of posting the messages soliciting the murder of Mssrs Brown and Blair on a "...Jihadi website". The statement he is alleged to have made is printed as "...In the name of Allah...we the organisation of al Qaida in Britain...".

There is plenty in these short snippets to inform the non Muslim reader about the religious background of the accused. It is also more than likely that the excerpts above will undoubtedly cast the religion of Islam in a negative light hence this article is given a 'Negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: 250,000 Lancashire bricks to go to the Gulf
Section: Business
Written by: Jill Burdett
Page: 34

Outline: This article is about a firm from Bolton that has secured an order to supply 250,000 bricks which will be used in a new resort being built in Abu Dhabi.

The article provides details of the resort and the name of the company that will be building it. As is often the case with stories that highlight a positive contribution by foreign Muslim countries there is no mention of Abu Dhabi being the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is a Muslim country. Now if we follow the rules of the Press Complaints Commission code of practice then th religious background shouldn't be mentioned when it isn't relevant to the story and in this case it clearly isn't. However the reason I am flagging this is because we see the code of practice violated with stories where there is a negative association to be made with Muslims. So my argument is that if it can be violated for negative stories then why not positive stories too?

Doing so would show readers that in times of recession a foreign Muslim country has placed an order with a local North West firm which will no doubt help secure jobs of those people who will be involved in the deal. That is something to celebrate and shout about, but alas the opportunity is missed.

Based purely on the content of the article I have to give it a 'Neutral' rating but this represents a missed opportunity.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Metro

Nil Return

Wednesday 3rd June

2009-06-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Never forget, that these elections are about all of us
Section: Opinion
Written by: David Ottewell
Page: 8

Outline: This large opinion piece by David Ottewell takes up nearly all but a small sliver of page 9 of today's M.E.N

It follows from a front page promotion of this opinion piece where Ottewell's photo is featured next to the quote "A vote for the BNP isn't a protest vote...it's a vote against human decency"

Ottewell dedicates his article to informing the readers about the racist policies of the BNP and is at pains to state that voting for them will not represent a protest vote. This is in reference to the fact that some peole may vote for them in protest at the MP expenses scandal.

The article features a photo of 2 prominent sportsmen from Greater Manchester, footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips of Manchester City and Boxer Amir Khan.

In one paragraph Ottewell writes that a vote for the BNP isn't a vote against Brown, Cameron or Clegg but rather it's a vote against these sports personalities. He states that the "...only one fact you need to know about the BNP; they want black and Asian Britons to leave their home country"

Ottewell's efforts and passions must be applauded as he has clearly taken a stand against extremism however it wouldn't have done any harm to point out that the BNP has also taken a very public stance against Islam as visible from their website. Ottewell celebrates Amir Khan as one of Manchester's prominent sons but fails to tell readers that Amir Khan is a proud British Muslim too.

After reading the article I sense a missed opportunity to tell the readers the full facts about the BNP and the fact that their hatred extends to those who practice Islam as their faith.

However taking into consideration the bigger picture and his very passionate stance against the BNP this opinion piece is given a 'Positive' rating

Artice Verdict: Positive

Article 2
Headline: He's a superstar double, by George
Section: The Diary
Written by: Dianne Bourne
Page: 11

Outline: This is a lighthearted article about 43 Abdullah Simsek who bears a resemblance to Hollywood superstar George Clooney.

The article describes Mr Simsek's background as a restaurant owner and the highs and lo's he's endured because of his resemblance to George Clooney including his separation from his wife of 14 years.

It talks about Mr Simsek's ambitions to go to America and try and get signed up as Clooney's double and also his desire to date celebrity Lisa Snowdon.

The article doesn't mention his religious background and is presented as a lighthearted story. It's one of those stories where you think to yourself how come no one mentions that fact that they're Muslim when there's no violence involved in the news report? Mentioning that fact that Mr Simsek is Muslim would have allowed readers to see other stories about Muslims that are not always related to acts of violence and thus help to broaden their outlook with regards to Muslims.

Unfortunately this is another 'missed opportunity' by the M.E.N however it conforms to the Press Complaints Commission's code of conduct which stipulates that a person's religious background should not be mentioned if it bears no relevance to the story therefore this article is given a 'Neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Top Taliban Commander is killed in copter strike
Section: News - International
Written by: Wesley Johnson
Page: 12

Outline: This brief article is presented in a narrow column on page 12 next to a more dominating story related to the tragic crash of the Air France airliner in the Atlantic.

This article reports on the death of "a TALIBAN leader" where the word Taliban is capitalised for increased prominence. The "leader" is named as Mullah Mansur and the circumstances leading to his killing are detailed including the location which is given as "Helmand Province".

Overall the article doesn't make any reference to the religious background of any of the people mentioned nor does it mention any faith thus this is given a 'Neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 4
Headline: Nursing team providing care at home for sick youngsters
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 15

Outline: This article talks about new nursing arrangements which are seeing community nurses from the new Children's Hospital in Manchester providing care to children in their homes in the Manchester area.

It focuses on 2 year Mohamad Rofdzi who is featured in a photo with his parents. His mum is wearing the Hijab (Islamic Headscarf). Little Mohammad Rofdzi suffers from eczema but thanks to the new set up will benefit by not having to spend as much time in the Hospital.

Information is provided about the new Children's Hospital in Manchester which is due to open in 2 weeks and statements are given by the little boy's father who is also called Mohammad where he is quoted as commending the work of the community nurses.

The article is factual and is a nice feek good story that doesn't mention the religious background of the Rofdzi family, thus it's given a 'Neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Metro

Nil Return

Tuesday 2nd June

2009-06-03T14:55:00.001-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Monday 1st June

2009-06-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

No copy of the M.E.N was available today

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Israelis take cover in 5-day was drill
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 14

Outline: This news brief starts off by telling readers that "the biggest defence drill in the country's (Israel's) history began yesterday...".

It is a news brief about War Games conducted by Israel to simulate a possible confrontation with Iran. I've highlighted the word 'defence' because its use in the opening sentence is an attempt to make the readers believe that Israel in under risk of attack. The article goes on to mention that the War Games come "at a time of rising tension with Iran". There's also mention that civilians are also part of the War Games and that they "will have to take cover in shelters".

It ends with a statement by Israeli Prime Minister "Benjamin Netanyahu" (more commonly known as Bin Yamin Netanyahu) who says "The fact that Israel is preparing and is capable of better protecting its citizens decreases the chance we'll have to use these tools".

All in all the story presented is one of a country taking defensive measures to protect its citizens from a possible attack by a hostile country.

Some facts conveniently left out of this very brief article are that Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran to destroy its Civilian Nuclear plants alleging that they are actually being used for military purposes, a claim that's unproven. Another fact left out is that Israel is the only country in the Middle East to actually possess an arsenal of Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Instead we have one of the most aggressive leaders in the Middle East portrayed as a noble leader looking after his citizens welfare when the reality couldn't be farther from the truth.

This article gets a 'Negative' rating for misrepresenting the facts and not giving readers the full story.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Swat victory 'imminent' as fighting moves south
Section: News
Written by: Ross McGuinness
Page: 15

Outline: This article is about the military operation being carried out by the Pakistan Army in the Swat region to drive out the Taliban.

The article is actually presented with just the facts using quotes from Government and Military sources in Pakistan. It also includes a witness testimony from a local resident who is named as 'Mohammed Nisar'.

A photo of a bus is featured which is shown ferrying residents out of the main town in Swat.

This is a mainly factual piece by McGuinness and there is no mention of the words 'Islam' or 'Muslims' hence this is given a 'Neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Tuesday 19th May

2009-05-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Monday 18th May

2009-05-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Men only Arab Pop Idol
Section: World Today
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This news brief is about a Middle Eastern music channel which is described as an "Islamic pop video channel". The channel in question is called '4shbab'.

There is mention of the founder of the channel and it states that he "...wants to spread the message that Muslims can be modern, although there will be no women singers as 'our societies are not ready to accept it'." The first part relating to the need for Muslims to be modern isn't actually presented as a quote therefore it may be the case that this is the journalist's narrative.

The total word count of this article is less than 60, in such a short brief a few important messages are conveyed to the reader;

"...Muslims can be modern...", is the article impying that they aren't?
"...there will be no women singers...", this reinforces one of the most common stereotypes about Muslims and the Arab World that women are unequal

In summary the reader takes away the following messages from the news brief -Arabs, Muslims, no women. no surprises for guessing that this is given a 'negative' rating

Artice Verdict: Negative

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Rebels capture key town after defection
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 20

Outline: This news brief reports on the civil conflict in Somalia where rebels have taken a key town. The opening line of the article starts with "Islamic rebels yesterday continued their surge..."

The article fails to mention that these "Islamic rebels" are also Somali and that the people that they are fighting against are also Muslim. Instead the article makes it seem as though the "Islamic rebels" are a foreign or an alien force which is threatening the Government of Somalia. This in turn makes Islam look like the threat, which earns this article a negative rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Thursday 30th April

2009-05-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: I've been stitched up, says fired apprentice
Section: News
Written by: Chris Osuh
Page: 4

Outline: This article is about Noorul Choudhury, the latest contestant to be 'fired' from the popular tv show The Apprentice.

It reports that Mr Choudhury is accusing the BBC of "character assasination" because of what he believes to selective editing which cast him as a background figure in the series who didn't contribute much.

The article mentions his age but does not make reference to his religious or ethnic background.

It talks about the School where Mr Choudhury now teaches at and the relationship that he has with the students which is reported as positive.

In summary this is a factual article thus is awarded a 'neutral'.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Terror camp pair are jailed for seven years
Section: Britain Today
Written by: ?
Page: 4

Outline: This article is about 2 men who were cleared of helping the July 7th bombers but were found guilty of planning to attend a terrorist training camp and have been jailed for 7 years.

The article leads with the sentencing of the men whose names are provided in the article as Waheed Ali, 25 and Mohammed Shakil, 32. A third man is also mentioned who was also cleared of helping the July 7th bombers, he is named as Sadeer Saleem, 28 and unlike the 2 aforementioned individuals has not been jailed for the other offence listed.

The article mentions the circumstances of their arrest and the fact that 2 years will be deducted from the sentence considering they have spent that amount of time in custody. It mentions that both men have admitted to attending "terrorist training camps in the past, before it had been made an offence".

Towards the end of the article it mentions that the families of the July 7th victims feel disappointed by the verdict because it means that "no one is ever likely to be brought to justice for the attacks on London's transport network. This implies that the verdict of clearing them for the July 7th was maybe incorrect.

Whilst it does not mention their relgious or ethnic background the names are obvious to most readers as being Muslim therefore this article will reflect poorly on Islam and Muslims hence a 'negative' rating is given.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: Delta sees the light with move into Egypt
Section: Business
Written by: Ben Rooth
Page: 4

Outline: This article is about an Oldham firm that specialises in Obstruction Lighting called, Delta Obstruction Lighting.

This report is about a contract the firm has won in Egypt, it mentions the details of the contract and provides some history about the firm commenting that turnover increased by 100% between 2007 and 2008.

The article then introduces the Managing Director of the firm, Tariq Mukhtar. Quotes by Mr Mukhtar are featured regarding the latest contract as well as future growth projections for the firm.

The article goes onto describe how the firm won the contract in Egypt which was as a result of a referral from one of the Delta's previous customers. This led to a visit by KEPCO, the Egyptian customer, who was impressed with the firm.

The article then mentions that the contract which involves installing lighting on 2 150m tall cooling towers at Cairo West Power Plant will be significant as this power plant will power a large part of Cairo city upon completion. This helps to give significance to Delta's latest project.

The article finishes with a light hearted quote from Mr Mukhtar who mentions that "...one day, they might even ask us to light the pyramids".

The article doesn't mention Mr Mukhtar's religious or ethnic background but is very positive about the firm and features a photo of Mr Mukhtar, taken from a tall building where he is shown attaching a light himself with the caption "let there be light".

Such articles are good to see in the press however it would be nice if, on this instance, Mr Mukhtar's religious background was mentioned to show positive contributions by Muslims. All too often people are described as Muslim in articles and in nearly all cases such are article are negative.

Artice Verdict: Positive

Metro

Article 1
Headline: 7 years for terror training camp pair
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 14

Outline: This report is about the same story as article 2 in today's M.E.N and was also covered in Wednesday's edition of the Metro by Ross McGuinness where it was featured on page 9 of the Metro with photos of the 3 men.

This time 2 photos are presented of Waheed Ali and Mohammed Shakil. Most of the article presents the same information as featured in Wednesday's edition except for more detail about the men's sentencing featuring quoted from presiding judge Justice Peter Gross.

Towards the end of the article there's also statements from family members of the victims of the July 7th attacks. A statement is given by Hazel Webb whose daughter was killed in Edgware Road. Reacting to the sentencing Ms Webb is quoted as stating that "All I can say is I am extremely disappointed they didn't get the maximum sentence".

Like yesterday's article this article is also going to reflect in a negative manner on Muslims and Islam hence is given a 'negative' rating even though it doesn't give the men's religious or ethnic background. This is due to the fact that photos of both men are given and their names are likely to be identified as Muslim by the readers especially Mohammed Shakil.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Wednesday 29th April

2009-04-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: 7/7 'helpers' cleared - Families of victims call for enquiry to find out 'whole truth' about attacks
Section: News
Written by: Ross McGuinness
Page: 9

Outline: This article is about the acquittal of the 3 men who were charged in connection with the July 7th bombings.

The 3 men are named as Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil. The men's ages are also given. The article is written by Ross McGuinness whose previous articles have attracted a negative rating for inaccurate and misleading statements.

This article sticks mainly to factual data about the case. Importantly there is no mention of the men's relgious or ethnic background although it is mentioned in that 2 of the men were "convicted of planning to attend a terror training camp in Pakistan".

Mugshots of the 3 men are provided in the article and whilst there is no mention of their religious background, it wouldn't be difficult for most readers to deduce they are Muslim considering the names of the men and their photos which shows them with beards and and man with a skull cap worn by some Muslim men.

The one thing that lets the article down is the mention right at the outset that the families of the victims of the July 7th attacks are calling for a public enquiry following the men's aqcuittal. This implies to the reader that the decision to clear the men was a mistake i.e. they're still guilty.

Given the content of the article and the fact that it associates these men to the July 7th attacks coupled with their names and appearance will leave readers with a negative view of Islam and Muslims hence a 'negative' rating is given on this occasion.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 28th April

2009-04-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Faith schools told to give sex classes
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 11

Outline: This article is about proposals that will see sex education being taught to children as young as five. The article explains that faith based schools will be able to tailor the content of such lessons according to their beliefs.

It mentions the various topics that will be taught as part of the proposals including HIV and AIDS and different kinds of relationship. Whilst Joel Taylor uses the word "faith schools" in the body and headline of the text he doesn't mention any faith by name.

Taylor includes a quote by Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society who condemns what is described in the article as a "loophole" which according to Sanderson's quote will allow "religious zealots a free hand to defame homosexuals". A further quote from him states that "Many children will be given a distorted view of sex and sexuality posing as religious doctrine".

The article finishes with reference to Ed Balls, Children's Secretary who is described as being "attracted to the proposition of compulsory sex education".

One noteworthy exclusion in this article by Taylor is any sort of representation from a faith group. Whilst the Secular viewpoint in favour of compulsory sex edcuation is presented to the readers as well as a Government Minister's backing, there is no attempt to provide the other side of the story thus denying the readers the opportunity to read a balanced article. For that reason this article is given a 'negative' rating

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Veggies must use their loaf when buying bread
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 13

Outline: This article is about claims made by the Real Bread Campaign Group that most bread sold in shops is not suitable for Vegetarians. Steele presents a statistic put forward by the group which claims that up to 90% of loaves contain enzymes from the pancreas of pigs to help speed up baking.

A quote is provided by the director of the campaign where he says that "this is a significant issue for vegetarians, vegans and Muslims, whom I believe would be outraged if they knew this was in their bread".

Steele goes onto describe steps the group are taking to raise awareness and to get the Bread manufacturers to take action. There's also a quote provided by the Federation of Bakers where they claim that there is no issue as they strictly adhere to EU legislation.

This is a fairly factual piece with little or no additional narrative by Steele although it would have been worth pointing out that other religious groups such as Sikhs, some Hindus and Jews would also be affected by this if it was true, it wouldn't just be exclusive to Muslims as a religious group. By doing so Steele would have provided a fuller picture. However this is a small point and not one on which to get overly hung up on hence this article is given a 'neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Time to get Mezze
Section: Good Taste
Written by: Chloe Scott
Page: 16-17

Outline: This section across 2 pages isn't necessarilly about Muslims or Islam. It's a section looking at Lebanese Mezze and how it's perfect for picnics now that the good weather is around the corner.

Lebanon is a country that's rich in heritage & culture and famed for its cuisine throughout the World. This section features input from Anissa Helou who is described as "Half Lebanese, half Syrian...stalwart of the food scene" and Jack Koyoumjian who is described as "the Lebanese born Armenian Director of London's Massis Lebanese Grill and Bar". Both provide tips on Mezze and several recipes are provided. There is a photo to accompany the section showing a young couple enjjoying a picnic in the park on a sunny day.

The question of religion and Lebanon is a touchy one but it is safe to say that there are sizeable Muslim and Christian populations in Lebanon both of whom have a shared heritage when it comes to food. Thus a positive portrayal of Lebanese cuisine in this manner reflects positively on Lebanon and its people which is why I've given this article a 'positive' rating.

Artice Verdict: Positive

Article 4
Headline: Pakistan 'snubs' Brown over banished students
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 19

Outline: This article is about the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari cancelling a press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in an apparent snub over the decision to deport the 11 Pakistani men who release without charge after being wrongfully detained on terrorism charges.

The main focus of the article for me is when Steele addresses the men in question. Steele mentions that the men were arrested earlier in the month on anti-terrorism charges but then goes onto say that "But last week they were freed without charge after Police were unable to gather enough evidence".

This quote continues with the Metro's apparent pro-Police bias which was evident in the news anaylsis of articles from Monday 27th April. It's almost as if Steele is trying to imply that the Police ran out of time but had they been given more time then evidence would have been found to convict the 12 innocent men, which included one Briton, of terrorism charges.

Steele of course completely misses the fact that the whole botched raid was carried out because Gordon Brown himself said that the evidence pointed to a "very big plot", that was allegedly being planned. To make such a definitive statement would surely mean that there was compelling evidence to carry out such a dramatic raid. However despite all this talk it amounted to nothing and instead the raid seriously dented peoples' confidence in the Intelligence, Police Force and the Government.

For continuing to tow the Pro-Police bias which the Metro is pushing with this article is given a 'negative' rating

Artice Verdict: Negative

Monday 27th April

2009-04-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: 20 days to save kidnap Briton
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: Front Page Brief

Outline: This brief acts as an introduction to a more detailed article on page 9. It mentions that a British Hostage is at risk from "militants" in Mali unless Britain releases Abu Qatada. The Militants are described as an "al-Qaeda group".

There is no mention of religion in this article but given the widespread coverage of Al Qaeda in the media along with it being associated with Islam then this will no doubt cast a negative light on Islam and Muslims hence this brief is given a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: 'free hate cleric or hostage dies'
Section: News
Written by: Ross McGuinness
Page: Front Page Brief

Outline: This article follows on from the brief on the front page. It is written by Ross McGuinness who wrote a poor article on 8th April where he failed to mention the number of Iraqi civilians killed but quantified the number of US soliders killes and tried to make the 2 comparable, that last article was marked as 'negative'.

Unfortunately McGuinness doesn't start this article well. The opening line of this article starts with "Islamic militants have threatened to kill a British hostage..."

It carries on with the report about a British man being held hostage by a group demanding the release of Abu Qatada. The 2nd paragraph describes the group as an "...African group..."

McGuinness then prints the following statement allegedly made by the group online "We demand that Britain release Sheikh Abu Qatada, who is unjustly (held), for the release of its British citizen. We give it 20 days as of the issuance of this statement. When this period expires the Mujahideen will kill the hostage"

There is a description of Abu Qatada who is described as "Radical preacher", it's explaines how he was arrested, released and re-arrested and his current legal status i.e. awaiting deportation to Jordan.

McGuinness then mentions that 4 hostages were released earlier in the month by Al-Qaeda in what he describes as "The Islamic Maghreb". The Maghreb is the term used to refer to North Africa, particularly when talking about Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The choice of words is interesting as McGuinness could have easily said 'the maghreb' or to make it painfully clear to all readers he could have kept it simple and just said "North Africa". There was no need to use the term 'Islamic' when referring to this region and associating it with kidnapping, which creates a link in the readers' minds between the 2.

Interestingly McGuinness finishes the article with a statement by Omar Bakri and describes him as "exiled cleric". This is factually incorrect, to be an exile one must be absent from their home country, McGuinness is using the term in reference to Bakri because he was excluded from the UK in 2005. Bakri was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK under political asylum, but this wasn't his home country.

Bakri is described as neither condoning or condemning the actions of the kidnappers but the article finishes with the following closing statement from him "I always call for the release of any Muslims who never committed a crime in Britain".

Overall this article is poorly written and the choice of words used in some sections of the article is inappropriate and unnecessary. This isn't a great follow up to McGuinness article on Iraq from 8th April and once again a 'negative' rating is called for.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: Jesus v Muhammad game 'fuels hatred'
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 12

Outline: This article is about an online game called Faith Fighter that's been created where holy figures fight each other to death including Jesus and Muhammad (Peace be upon them both).

The article starts by saying that "religious groups" have criticised the game and are calling for it to be banned.

The 3rd paragraph of this article is particularly interesting as Erwin writes that "Muslims are particularly outraged as Islamic tradition prohibits drawings of Allah". Whilst factually correct the over emphasis on the point that Muslims will be "particularly" outraged is perhaps designed to make readers think that the opposition from Muslims will be stronger and more forecful than other groups i.e. more extreme perhaps?

The article also mentions that Hindus and Buddhists are upset at the game as it also features Ganesha and Buddha. Statements condemming the game are presented by Douglas Miller, pastor of the Link Church in Birmingham, Brian Appleyard, former chairman of the Buddhist Society. Erwin also mentions that "spokesman" for the Federation of Muslim Organisations has made a comment but fails to provide a name for this "spokesman" like he has for the Christian and Buddhist groups.

Towards the end of the article Erwin provides a quote from the makers of the game "molleindustria" which allegedly shows the 'purpose' behind the creation of the game as being "to push gamers to reflect on how sacred representations are often used to fuel or justify conflicts between people'.

This is of course complete rubbish as the premise of game is to offend not to cause reflection. By printing this statement Erwin may claim to be giving the makers the opportunity to give their side of the story, however by conveniently placing it as the closing statement of the article he may also be trying to leave readers with a positive view of the makers of the game by making them think that they weren't really trying to cause offence.

Not surprisingly this is a 'negative' article as Erwin singles out Muslims by saying that they will be "particularly outraged", he also fails to provide the name of the spokesman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations whereas he does so for other groups.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 4
Headline: It's one conspiracy too far
Section: Metro Mail
Written by: ?
Page: 30

Outline: This section of the Metro features letters sent in by readers, the topic featured today are the botched anti-terror operation carried out by the Police against 12 innocent men,

Two comments are posted & both are by male readers. The first is in response to a previous reader's comment where a woman accused the Police and Govt using the anti-terror raids as a means of 'scaremongering'. The commenter responding to this attacks the woman's arguments and backs up the Police by saying that there must be evidence hence why the 11 Pakistani nationals are being deported. He also attacks the woman by saying that she would be the first to blame the Police for incompetence if there actually had been a terrorist attack. He finishes his comment by asking for conspiracy theories to stop, which is the inspiration for the headline of this section.

The second comment is significantly shorter, just 7 lines in response the first which is almost 30 lines long. The other difference between the 2 is that the second comment is crticising rather than praising the anti-terror raid. I feel it's necessary to reprint the full comment here considering its short length;

"Now that the 12 terror suspects have been released without charge, will there be an investigation into why police were told to storm a university and terrorise innocent students, or will the whole thing be brushed under the carpet?"

Both comments are left by people who don't have Muslim names. There is a photo which accompanies this section which shows 2 policeman with one of the students on the ground, he caption accompanying it reads "Arrests: Police rounded up 12 terror suspects across the north-west of England". The use of the words "terror suspects" in reference to the men is wrong considering that all have been released without charge, would a suspected thief who was found to be innocent still be tagged as a suspected thief for the rest of their life? One would hope not!

This Metro Mail section clearly gives more prominence to the pro-Police angle with the lengthy pro-Police raid reader comment, the photo with the caption and the headline which implies that any anti-Police rhetoric is a "conspiracy". No attempt is made to hide the bias and there is no balance in the comments presented. There should have been 2 comments of similar length with opposing views in order to maintain objectivity.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Friday 24th April

2009-04-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Six held as police swoop nets £2.5m heroin haul
Section: North-West Today
Written by: ?
Page: 2

Outline: This brief is about a police drugs bust in Oldham which uncovered £2.5m of heroin.

It describes where the raids happened and gives addresses as well as describing the age range of those arrested. It mentions the charges brought against the men and lists their names as the following; Mohammed Abbas, Abdul Rashid, Kason Miah, Anthony Fagan, Ibrahim Choudhury, Muhammed Esak Ali.

It doesn't describe the ethnic or religious background of any of the men therefore is given a 'neutral' rating.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Deporting students will harm race relations, say MPs
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 6

Outline: This is a an article buried in a corner of page 6 and relates to the botched anti-terror raids carried out by the Police in which 12 innocent men were detained on suspicion of terrorism but released without charge.

The article raises reservations by 2 MPs over the deportation of 11 of the men. It quotes the MPs views on the matter by stating that they feel such a move will be "disturbing and gravely unjust".

The MPs are named as Mohammed Sarwar and Khalid Mahmood and the article goes onto state that both MPs feel that the actions will cause "irreparable damage to race relations". The article links this back to the piece written by David Ottewell in Thuersday's edition which featured comments by ex Lord Mayor Councillor Afzal Khan, which were along the same lines. This article reprints one comment bt Mr Khan which talks about the Police "getting it wrong too often".

The article goes onto describe the constituencies represented by Mr Sarwar and Mr Mahmood and that their involvement is a result of being "...urged to...by members of the Pakistani community..."

The closing paragraph is a statement by the MPs which states "We find it unjust...that these innocent men...are now to face immediate deportation. Incidents such as this do irreparable damage to the vital race relations work that is being done."

This is a positive article as it highlights the plight of the 11 innocent men who are now facing deportation however it is presented in a subtle manner rather than gaining more prominent placement in the paper that such a story deserves. So whilst the message maybe positive, the attempt to try and bury it in page in a long and narrow column adjacent to the centre of the page I'm giving this a 'negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Troops attacked as Taliban deal slated
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 20

Outline: This news brief reports on the deal between the Government of Pakistan and the Taliban to implement Sharia law in the Swat valley to end an insurgency there. The news brief reports that Government troops came under fire in what the article describes as "taliban held territory". It goes onto state "that the area had been placed under Islamic Law to appease Militants". Firstly this is factually incorrect as the area being referred to is Buner which is not in Swat so there was no implementation of Sharia law there. Secondly the quote provided above equates the happiness of "militants" to "Islamic law" creating a very clear connection in the minds of readers between militancy and Islam.

No surprises therefore that this is given a 'negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Condi 'approved waterboarding'
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 20

Outline: This news brief reports on revelations that the former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice "personally" approved the use of waterboarding against suspects. The article describes waterboarding as "simulated drowning".

It also mentions that the revelation places doubts on comments made by Rice earlier where she claimed to have asked the Attorney General to conduct a legal review on the use of waterboarding. The article also uses the word "torture" in the text helping to paint the true picture of this torture tactic to the readers.

For bringing to light information which shows the excesses of the previous US administration with regards to torture this news brief is given a 'positive' rating.

Article Verdict: Positive

Article 3
Headline: Youngster amongst 76 bomb dead
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 21

Outline: This article is about 2 suicide bombings in Iraq which left 76 people dead. The details of the various blasts are presented in a factual manner stating where the blast happened, how many people were killed as well as a description of the places targeted i.e. "Shia Muslim religious sites".

Erwin comments that attacks have decreased but mentions a further 2 attacks from the previous week one of which is described as taking place at a Mosque.

Erwin finishes the piece by stating comments by analysts which fear that attacks may increase as the US prepares to withdraw from Iraq.

Overall this is a factual objective report which highlights that victims of these terrorist attacks included Muslims in places of worship, thus I'm giving this a 'neutral' rating.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Thursday 23rd April

2009-04-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Anti-terror raids: 'The lessons must be learned - and quickly'
Section: News
Written by: David Ottewell
Page: Front page and continued on page 2

Outline: This article reports on the release without charge of the 12 suspects arrested by Police across the North West on suspicion of terrorism.

Previous reviews carried of M.E.N articles related to these raids can be found in the reports for 9th April and 16th April.

The articles on 9th April were written by Yakub Qureshi and John Scheerhout and were rated as 'neutral'. No author was listed for the article on 16th April, but that was also rated as 'neutral'.

This particular article is written by David Ottewell who is listed as Chief Reporter for Politics and Transport .

The headline is drawn from comments made by Councillor Afzal Khan who is former Lord Mayor.

The 1st paragraph of the article mentions that all suspects were relased without charge. In the 2nd paragraph a quote from Mr Khan is presented where he states that the Muslim community could lose confidence in the Police and that lessons must be learnt quickly because the Police are 'getting it wrong' too often.

The article mentions that a review of the whole Police operation is to be carried out however Ottewell also goes onto state that "Senior security sources...remained 'absolutely' confident the men...had posed a real and immediate threat to Britain".

This comment starts in paragraph 5 on the front page and rolls over onto page 2. Not surprisingly Ottewell fails to provide the names of these "Senior security sources..." therefore making it just that much harder to verify the validity of these claims or if indeed these sources are even linked to security.

If they were, as Ottewell claims, "Senior security sources" then surely the conviction of their views and suspicions must have held enough weight to bring about charges or even further interrogation time agianst the suspects. The fact that neither happened and the suspects were released without charge just makes it more likely that these so called sources are just a method often used by Journalists to give readers the impression that they have access to the 'inside track' allowing them to bring exclusive stories to light. It may be the case that this is one way for journalists to smuggle in their own opinions on a particular matter whilst cloaking them in the ambiguity that comes with terms like "our sources".

This pretty much sets the scene for the remainder of the article which is continued on page 2 and features comments by Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police where he is quoted as saying that he did not feel embarassed or humiliated and would do the same again in reference to the raids that led to the arrests.

Ottewell is clearly trying to portray to the readers that the relase of these suspects is a mistake as the article is highlighting statements by the Police where they are backing the raid. In another paragraph Ottewell quotes "police sources..." sayin that the intelligence against the suspects was "compelling" though not matched by evidence from the searches of the suspects' properties and posessions.

That seems like a bit of contradiction don't you think? Logic would dictate that surely if the intelligence is "compelling" that it is based on hard fact, if nothing turned out off the back of this "compelling" evidence then surely the conclusion to draw from this is that the evidence wasn't actually "compelling", it was false much like Iraq and famed WMDs.

Whilst it is not Ottewell who is making the claim above, he is writing about and airing the Police spin on the raid which is obviously going to present the Police as the good guys in the face of this massive blunder.

It's not all pro-Police though as Ottewell provides a 90 word quote by ex Lord Mayor Mr Khan where he mentions the Muslim communities support for the Police but issues a warning that support may be near breaking point as the relationship between the Police and Muslim community is losing confidence. Another 30 word quote by another Councillor, Martin Pagel, is provided where he echoes Mr Khan's sentiments.

Ottewell then goes onto provide more detailed quotes by Police Constable Fahy which totals 147 words, which is a slightly higher word count than the quotes by Mr Khan and Mr Pagel combined.

The article finishes by mentioning that one of the arrested men is a British citizen and states that "he is understood to be a member of Tabligee Jamat...", he goes onto describe that this is "an Islamic group which goes door to door in local communities visiting Muslims to reinforce their faith by getting them to pray and attend the mosque".

He then tells readers that this person is a "Pashtun speaker" which is an incorrect statement to make as Pashtun is an ethnic group and the language they speak is Pashto, I guess this point can be passed off as a minor error. Ottewell mentions this person's occupation, that he's active in Tableegi Jamat, how long he's been in Britain and that he attended the Mosque regularly.

The previous articles on this topic published by the M.E.N were given a 'neutral' rating, however the same cannot be said for Ottewell's piece. Whilst he has presented quotes by the councillors which are slightly crtitical of the Police action he has given significant 'aritime' to views expressed by the Police and Ottewell's "Senior security sources", which unsurprisingly are focused of absolving the Police of any blame over this botched operation and instead try to convinve people that the threat is real.

By doing so the readers are likely to sympathise more with the Police lstance rather than the suspects who are innocent. Ottewell's detailed description of the unnamed British Citizen especially his involvement in a religious group and regular attendance at the Mosque is also likely to present the readers with a negative view of Muslims.

In summary Ottewell has produced a pro-Police article which fails to give prominence to the failure of the operation and fails to raise questions about the quality of intelligence being used to carry out such raids. If anything his article makes readers think that maybe the release of these suspects was the wrong thing to do. I think it'd be fair to give Ottewell a 'negative' rating for this article.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: 'Many now worry this could happen to them'
Section: News
Written by: Yakub Qureshi
Page: 2

Outline: This article is featured on page 2 above article 1 by David Ottewell. This article presents the one view that Ottewell completely overlooked in his piece, reaction from the local people of Cheetham Hill to the botched Police raid.

Qureshi brings to light views of locals and how this blunder is denting their confidence in the Police much like Councillor Afzal Khan is quoted as saying in article 1. Qureshi presents some historical perspective to the Cheetham Hill are describing it as the city's "first port of call".

Qureshi provides comments by people who knew the suspects that were arrested thus providing a character reference of sorts for the released men. It also features statements by a local man Hamza Gilazi and mentions how his house was searched for 5 days by the Police despite Mr Gilazi not being questioned or arrested. This is a good point to highlight as it brings to light other victims of the Police operation who were in no way linked but had to endure stress. One key point raised is that Police have taken some items from Mr Gilazi's home and not returned them.

Qureshi then goes onto mention that 2 people from the area have been charged on terrorism offences but balances this out by highlighting another botched raid by Police in 2007.

Further "character references" for the suspects are provided by people who are named in the article such as a University Student who speaks of of one of the suspects being a "peacful person". It's very important and good that Qureshi has brought these comments to light. He also highlights the apprehension and fear that the raid has caused amongst the local people.

The final part of the article mentions the residents' anger at the level of force used by the Police at the time of day when Children were playing in the street. The closing statement of the article is the most important in my opinion it is presented by a sales assistant named as Fatima Jalil who is quoted as saying "People going to mosque regularly, and some men having a beard, is quite normal here - it doesn't mean that they are plotting terror".

By placing this at the end of the article the statement is directly aimed at readers and this is a good thing as it's an important message to get out to every non Muslim person in this country.

Yakub Qureshi has written a good article which presents the human side i.e. the real world view of the operation as opposed to Ottewell who championed the carefully constructed PR messages of the Police force.

This article is given a 'positive' rating.

Article Verdict: Positive

Metro

Nill Return

Wednesday 22nd April

2009-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Terror Raids: 9 suspects released
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 4

Outline: This is a news brief relating to the 12 men that were detained in the North west on suspicion of terrorism. The metro featured a report on this story on Tuesday 14th April where it dedicated a sizeable chunk of a page to this story whilst the fate of the suspects was still unknown.

This particular news brief is less than 70 words long. It only states that the suspects have been released and handed over to the UK borders agency and now face possible deportation. The home office is quoted and the deportation is claimed to be on grounds of National Security.

No mention is made that these suspects have been released without charge leading readers to believe that they may indeed still pose a threat whereas this is not the case.

The reporting of this article is inconsistent with the previous report last week. When there was ambiguity about their guilt the article featured more prominently but now that no case is to be borought against these innocent men the Metro sees fit to effectively brush this under the rug whilst denying readers the full facts. No surprises then that this get's a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: The gang member who killed student at just 12
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 5

Outline: This article is about the murder of 22 year old student Yasin Abdirahman in September 2007 at the hands of a gang who mistook him from someone else.

The article also has an accompanying photo of one the murderers on the front page, 12 year old Carlos Cyrus, who was the youngest member of the gang that attacked Mr Abdirahman. On page 5, accompanying the article is a photo of Mr Abdirahman.

The article does not make reference to his ethnic or religious background. It mentions by name all those convicted but does not make reference to their ethnicities or religious background either.

The article also features comments from the family of Mr Abdirahman.

It is presented in a factual manner and is thus given a 'neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Thug of 16 is jailed for 'mindless' knife attack
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 5

Outline: This article features immediately below Article 2 but is much shorter. It is about an attack on 21 year old Oliver Hemsley by 16 year Nazrul Islam which left Mr Hemsley paralysed for life.

The article also features a statement from the brother of Mr Hemsley.

Most of the reporting is factual however there are some differences with the article above which are worth pointing out.

The first is that Mr Hemsley is referred to as "...budding fashion designer..." in article 2 Mr Abdirahman is described simply as a pharmacy student. The difference is that Mr Hemsley's article features narrative about his future career path whereas Mr Abdirahman's article just presents the fact in simple terms without any narrative.

The second difference is the headline for this article which uses the word "thug". This word isn't mentioned in the article so it isn't a quote from Mr Hemsley's brother or the judge but appears to be an additional emotive word used by the journalist who wrote this article but whose name isn't mentioned. Compared to the article about Mr Abdirahman, the headline does not feature any emotive language at all.

The third difference is that Mr Hemsley's attacker is Muslim and the Mr Abdirahman's attackers are all non Muslim.

Mr Abdirahman was killed as a result of his attack, Mr Hemsley was paralysed for life. Both are tragedies for the victims and their families. The reporting should be consistent however in the instance where the attacker was Muslim the wording of the article as well differences in reference to the victim certainly doesn't show any consistency. If anything Mr Hemsley's article, although shorter than Mr Abdirahman's contains stronger language to appeal to the readers emotions.

For these reasons this particular article is given a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 21st April

2009-04-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Jesus Vs Dog
Section: Don't miss these at Metro.co.uk
Written by: ?
Page: 2 with web address provided www.metro.co.uk/jesusdog

Outline: This section of the newspaper directs readers to the Metro website and selected features such as video clips and articles are promoted here.

Today's section includes readers being directed to this videoclip, which is a homemade video of what seem to be kids, though not visible in the camera, using a toy Jesus doll to scare their pet puppy.

The article itself promotes the video clip as a "bizarre and Irreverent...epic battle". The video itself is not funny in fact it's very boring. All you see is the puppy getting very excited and running around whilst the kids press the talking features on the doll and then snigger at the antics of their pet. This lasts all of 1 minute and 8 seconds though it actually felt significantly longer whilst watching it.

Promoting such a video involves 2 flaws on part of the Metro, the first indicates that they have limited decent video content to promote and the 2nd is the offence that this is likely to cause not just to Christians but to Muslims both of whom revere Jesus or Eesa (Peace be Upon Him) as he is known in Islam.

Poor judgment by the Metro in promoting this leads to this clip/article being given a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Iran's attack on 'racist' Israel mars UN summit
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 13

Outline: This article focuses on a speech delivered at the UN anti-racism summit in Geneva by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the subsequent walk out of some Diplomats in response to his speech.

The artcile presents a description of events including comments made by the Iranian President and provides reference to a previous anti-racism summit. It also features comments made by David Milliband in response to the Iranian President's remarks.

Taylor mentions that the previous summit in 2001 the US walked out after attempts to criticise Israel and goes onto state that America along with others boycotted this meeting for fear of a repeat performance.

One thing that Joel does not mention is why there were attempts in 2001 to criticise Israel, specifically the treatment meted out to the Palestinian people. The failure to mention this may make readers sympathise with Israel as it seems that it's being 'picked on' or 'bullied'. In such a case the natural instinct is to side with the victim. However there were legitimate reasons in 2001 and now to crticise Israel for its vast list of Human rights abuses and instances of racism against Arabs which are not referred to.

Therefore the article is given a 'negative' rating for not presenting the full picture.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Articles 3 & 4
Headline: (Article 3) Jailed reporter 'will get appeal' & (Article 4) 'free woman' from death row
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 13

Outline: These 2 news briefs are being presented as a combined review because both feature immediately to right of the article above by Joel Taylor and both are Iran-related.

Article 3 is about Roxana Saberi, an American journalist who is mentioned as "Iranian-American" in the article. It states that Iranian officials will get a fair appeal against her conviction.

The sentencing of Ms Saberi has made headlines in several news outlets as she is an American Journalist who has been accused of spying by Iran. Including it next to Taylor's article adds a negative side to the Iranian image.

Article 4 mentions that protestors are campaigning for a woman who is on death row in Iran to be freed. It mentions that the woman in question, Delara Darabi, was a juvenile when she was sentenced and this is referenced to Amensty International.

This is another interesting choice of article to place next to Joel's piece.

Both of these briefs feature women that have fallen foul of Iranian law. The plight of women incarcerated with one facing the death penalty is likely to generate sympathy amongst readers. Mentioning Amensty International in one of the reports is also likely to convince people of the innocence of the accused even though no details of the case are presented. The prestige of Amnesty's brand name is used to win over the readers.

This is very careful "product placement" by the Metro as Articles 2, 3 and 4 combined will leave readers with a very negative image of Iran e.g. It's leader calling Israel 'racist, a foreign journalist being jailed for spying and a young woman facing the death penalty.

All in all, not great PR for Iran and in all likelihood this is the exact aim of placing all 3 articles together.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Monday 20th April

2009-04-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: No prosecution in model's death fall
Section: home digest
Written by: ?
Page: 4

Outline: This news brief is about the death of a model, Sahar Daftary, in Manchester who fell from a building in the city's Salford Quays area. It mentions that the late Ms Daftary's ex-lover Rashid Jamil will not be prosecuted depsite being questioned.

The article does not state the ethnic or religious background of either person and is factual thus is given a 'neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Father 'didn't try to sell' his Slumdog girl
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 7

Outline: This article is about allegations that the father of one of the child actors of the blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionnaire tried to sell her to an undercover News of the World Team.

The actor in question is Rubina Ali and her father is mentioned by his name Rafiq Qureshi. The article mentions Mr Qureshi refuting the allegations against him.

It does not mention the religious background of either Mr Qureshi or his daughter thus is given a 'neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Two more states pull out of racism summit
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This is anews brief about the recently held 'Durban II' conference in Geneva.

The first thing wrong with this brief is the headline which refers to it as a "racism summit" implying perhaps that this a pro-racism summit when in fact it was a meeting convened to tackle racism. Whilst the body of the text does mention "anti-racism meeting" the headline has already set the scene in the readers minds and if they chose just to glance at the page rather than read each article then the words "racism summit" are more legible than "anti-racism meeting" which is buried in the text

The brief mentions that Holland and Australia pulled out of the summit and the rationale presented is out of fear of the summit being used to attack Israel and the West. It mentions that the Dutch Foreign Minister pulled out because of a fear of "Islamic states (trying) to ban religious defamation".

The brief is poorly written and the implication that Israel may be attacked at the conference makes readers seem that perhaps bullying is involved of poor Israel without presenting the context of the criticism of Israel i.e. that Non-Jewish people are denied certain rights in Israel such as not being able to live in Settlements illegally constructed on occupied Palestinian Land.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Friday 17th April

2009-04-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Thursday 16th April

2009-04-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Police get more time to quiz terror suspects
Section: North-West today
Written by: ?
Page: 2

Outline: This is a factual news brief that informs readers that Police have been given more time to interview 11 suspects that were arrested last week.

It mentiond that the nationality of all but one of the suspects are Pakistani Nationals and on student visas. It presents the Police justification for carrying out the arrest by stating the Police belief that an attack was imminent.

Aside from the mention of their nationalities there is no mention of their religious backgrounds hence this article is given a 'neutral' rating

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Religions break down barriers to join the fight against malaria
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 21

Outline: This article is about a fundraising event being organised to support World Malaria Day by representatives of various faith groups.

The article mentions the organiser, Francis Asante Boadu, and informs readers that he's pastor of Manchester Christian Fellowship. It then also mentions the other religious groups that will represented at the event, this includes "...Jewish, Hindu and Muslim communities..."

The article helps show readers that the different groups are working together for a common good and by mentioning each religious group it presents that particular religion in a positive light hence this is given a 'positive' rating.

Artice Verdict: Positive

Article 3
Headline: Furnishing the rebirth of Iraq
Section: Business International
Written by: Sheryl Moore
Page: 4

Outline: This article is about a Bolton based firm called Furnitureinfashion.net which is headed up by Asad Shamim.

It mentions how Mr Shamim has successfully set up his business and lists some of the high profile customers for his furniture business as well as detailing the turnover of his firm.

It's a complimentary piece which presents a very positive image of the firm and also states how it has managed to secure international orders in Iraq through the internet and how it is now well known in that country.

The religious background of Mr Shamim is not mentioned nor is his ethnic background. Whilst the article is positive and celebrates the success of a Muslim business person it is unlikely to present a positive view of Islam or Muslims in the readers' minds as it fails explicitly mention Islam. Thus, a 'neutral' rating seems to be most suitable for this article

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Women in 'rape' protest stoned
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 18

Outline: This news brief is about a law that has been passed in Afghanistan, according to which a husband is allowed to have intercourse with his wife every 4 days unless she is ill or intercourse would harm her.

The incident that the news brief is talking about is a protest where women had stones thrown at them for protesting against the law outside a Mosque alleging that it legalises martital rape. The brief mentions that the people throwing stones were men and were shouting "Death to the slaves of Christians".

By mentioning that this protest took place outside a Mosque immediately makes readers associate this new Afghan law with Islam perhaps even portraying the new law as being passed by a religious decree despite the fact that Afghanistan doesn not have a Government that rules according to Islamic law. Consequently this article will create a very negative image of Islam. and the inclusion of slogans shouted at the women will no doubt accentuate that feeling. A 'negative' rating is awarded

Artice Verdict: Negative

Notice to our visitors

2009-04-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

News analyses of articles from Thursday 16th April and Friday 17th April will be posted over the weekend. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Wednesday 15th April

2009-04-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: 9 years for urine spraying chemist
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 11

Outline: This article is about Sahnoun Daifallah who was jailed for spraying his urine and faeces in supermarkets and other places.

The article presents the details of the acts committed by Daifallah as well as a face shot of him. It lists the various locations that he contaminated.

It refers to him as "The Algerian" but does not make reference to his religious background.

It's a fairly factual piece and because of that is given a 'neutral' rating

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Marrying minors is to be regulated
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This is a news brief and relates to a recent ruling delivered by a court in Saudi Arabia where an 8 year old girl's marriage to a man 50 years was senior was approved on the condition that he would not have sex with her till she reaches puberty. The article mentions that off the back of this Saudi Arabia has taken the decision to regulate marriage involving minors.

Stories like this are almost guaranteed to leave people with a negative viewpoint about Islam. Although the word "Islam" isn't explicitly mentioned, people are likely to equate Saudi Arabia with Islam and thus their viewpoint will be negative.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 14th April

2009-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Families defend 'terror' pair
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 11

Outline: This article occupies a sizeable chunk of page 11 complete with a large photo and one thing that is striking is the absence of the author's name.

The story is related to the 'anti-terror' raids carried out last week. Up until now coverage of this story has focused on the fact that all those detained are Pakistani Nationals and that some were students. This article puts a human face on the story by featuring a photo of a Parent of one of the arrested men, student Mohammad Ramzan as well as statements by relatives of another detained suspect, Abdul Wahab Khan.

The featured in the article clearly shows the grief on the face of Mr Ramzan's father Haji Hazrat Ali. The article focuses on the families' testimonials which plead the suspects' innocence. It mentions where Mr Ramzan and Mr Khan were studying and what course Mr Khan was enrolled on. Also noteworthy is the fact that Mr Ramzan and Mr Khan are both referred to with the use of the "Mr" title. The closing sentence of the article mentions that both suspects are from the Pakistani city of Dera Ismail Khan.

It appears to be a fairly balanced article which is presenting the other side of the story in an objective manner, its only let down is the headline which refers to both Mr Ramzan and Mr Khan as "terror pair". This is misleading and inaccurate as they are still suspects whereas the headline seems to have convicted them already.

However after much consideration I am giving this article a neutral rating based on the content of the article.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: A vicious circle explored
Section: Metro life - Arts & Entertainment
Written by: Claire Allfree
Page: 26 & 27

Outline: This is a review of a play, The Great Game, put together by Nicolas Kent & Paul Bhattacharjee at the Tricycle Theatre. The Great Game tells the story of Afghanistan from 1842 when the British marched on Jalalabad to the present day.

One of the things that stands out in this review is the fact that Claire Alfree presents previous British involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs, a fact that is unlikely to be known amongst the masses.

She even pins part of the blame on Afghanistan's current problems on Britian, whom she says has used Afghanistan as a "political pawn". This is refreshing to hear as all too often the image presented to the masses is that Afghanistan's problems are of it's own doing driven by ideology etc.

She goes further to make a bold statement that there should've been a single homeland for the pashtuns rather than being divided in 2 by the "British imposed" Durand line, which drew the border between Afghanistan and British India at the time, which is now Pakistan.

I've given the article a positive rating because it presents the readers with facts that they are unlikely to be familiar with. These facts brings to light the negative involvement by the British in the region and presents the theory that the problems that exist in that part of the World may be a legacy of this involvement.

Artice Verdict: Positive

Monday 13th April

2009-04-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

On account of Easter Monday there are no news reports for today

Friday 10th April

2009-04-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

On account of Good Friday there are no news reports for today

Thursday 9th April

2009-04-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Terror swoop after blunder by police chief
Section: Front Page
Written by: Yakub Qureshi & John Scheerhout
Page: Front Page

Outline: This article accompanied by a photo showing a Police raid on a house in Manchester is about the 'anti-terror' raids that were triggered after Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick's secret documents were photographed as he arrived for a briefing at 10 Downing Street.

The article is a prelude to a much more detailed story which is printed on page 2 and as such there are few words on the front page other than to tell readers key facts which are limited to a factual narrative of events.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: Terror swoop after top cop's blunder
Section: News
Written by: Yakub Qureshi & John Scheerhout
Page: 2

Outline: This story continues on from the front page story. It lists the number of people arrested and details the locations of where the arrests took place.

This story also includes testimonials from local people in the area, one of these (Mr Mesu Raza) is described in the article as "an unemployed man from Pakistan who lives in the flat above the cafe..."

There are further statements from local people who are named in the article as Ms Fouzia Ali, who is described as a "neighbour..." and also Bushra Majid who is described as "...33, a housewife..."

The article states that 2 of the arrested men are "...of Afghan origin..." The article finished by mentioning the age range of the detained suspects.

There is no mention of the religious background of any of the detained suspects nor of any of the residents who gave testimonials to the M.E.N.

Apart from referring to Mr Mesu Raza as "an unemployed man from Pakistan" other descriptions of people were done in a responsible manner. Ther really wasn't any need to highlight Mr Raza's ethnicity and employment status. This would only serve to create a negative image of Mr Raza amongst readers who may come to regard him as an 'unemployed foreigner living in Britain'.

Other than this small blip the article is written objectively and without any sensationalist rhetoric hence a 'neutral' verdict is awarded.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Police plea for calm as Smith backs raids
Section: News
Written by: Yakub Qureshi
Page: 2

Outline: This story is related to the raids mentioned in articles 1 & 2. It reports on statements made by Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter who has stated that the Police force will be working to reassure residents of the local area following the raids.

The article alsoi carries a comment from Home Secretary Jacqui Smith who commends the Police and the manner in which they carried out the raid. It also carries a statement by her which warns that "...we face a severe terrorist threat in this country..." such statements are no doubt likely to make readers uncomfortable and fearful. With that in mind perhaps it would have been worth to get the reaction of local community leaders to the comments by the Home Secretary and Det Chief Superintendent, this would have helped to report a more rounded and complete reflection of events that unfolded in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester.

However based on the content of the article it is factual with no emotional or sensationalist narrative hence is awarded a 'neutral' rating.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 4
Headline: Apprentice bosses just didn't fancy me
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This article is about Majid Nagra, the latest contestant to be 'fired' from the popular tv show The Apprentice.

The article features a reflection by Mr Nagra as to why he felt he was fired from the latest episode. It mentions his age and where he was born but does not refer to his religious background. The article also mentions that Mr Nagra is setting up a business, "...a dating website for British Asians..."

All in all, it's factual article and deserves a 'neutral' rating

Article Verdict: Neutral

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Hamza sons in £1m car theft con
Section: Front Page Brief
Written by: ?
Page: Front Page

Outline: This article is one of the preview briefs featured on the front page. The story is about car thefts involving the sons of Abu Hamza who is described as "hate preacher" although the religious background of Hamza or his sons isn't mentioned.

The rest of the article is continued on Page 7 of the paper. Given the high profile nature in which Abu Hamza has been featured in the press it's likely that readers will link him to Muslims and Islam however as this brief doesn't mention Muslim or Islam then on that basis it has to be given a 'neutral' rating.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: 12 arrests following terror op blunder
Section: News
Written by: Aidan Radnedge
Page: 5

Outline: This article is about the 'anti-terror' raids in Manchester. It lists the locations of the arrests and how many people were detained.

The paper incorrectly reports that the raids were on "...British Asians with links to Pakistan..." This is clearly inaccurate reporting as those arrested were not British Asians. This most probably reflects a rushed article which had to hit the deadline in order to be printed thus proper checks were not carried out to see whether the information being reported was true?

A large part of the article is dedicated to covering the blunder by Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick.

Newspapers have a repsonsibility to report the truth and display responsible journalism, inaccurate reporting, especially on sensitive matters like this, can have negative consequences in this case for British Asians as the wider people may inadvertantly point the finger of blame at them.

It's important that journalists put the integrity of the story at the top of the hierarchy before going to print. For failing to display this integrity Aidan Radnedge's article is given a 'negative' rating

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: Hamza sons facing jail - Preacher's boys used £1m car ringing scam 'to pay for their party lifestyle'
Section: News
Written by: Aidan Radnedge
Page: 7

Outline: This article is a continuation of front page brief described in article 1 and is also written by Adrian Radnedge who wrote the inaccurate article above.

This article describes the scam alleged to have been carried out by the 3 sons of Abu Hamza. It describes how they carried out the scam and gives their names & ages.

It also features a photo of Abu Hamza's face where his prayer skull cap is visible. Although there is no mention of the word Muslim or Islam there is likely to be case of guilt by association i.e. readers are likely to know Hamza through the news as a Muslim preacher hence this story about his sons running a car scam will thus lead to a negative view of Islam amongst the readers.

Had the story not featured a photo of Hamza or made the link to him in the headline then I would have given this a 'neutral' rating. However as the Hamza link is the 'anchor' for this story then readers can't help but make a negative link to Islam and Muslims hence I'm giving Radnedge's 2nd article a 'negative' rating too.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 4
Headline: 12 Palestinians hurt in riots
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 28

Outline: This news brief reports on clashes between "Palestinians" and "Israeli army and Jewish settlers". It also remarkably describes the Palestinian village of Safa as an "Arab Settlement", this is highly inaccurate reporting as the word settlements is only used to refer to Israeli built Jewish settlements on the West Bank. They are referred to as such because they have been built on land which is considered occupied by the International community. This is a fact that is overlooked and not reported in the news brief hence not giving the full and accurate picture to the readers.

For inaccuarate and misleading reporting this article is given a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Wednesday 8th April

2009-04-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Obama tells Iraqis: 'It's over to you'
Section: News
Written by: Ross McGuinness
Page: 13

Outline: This article is about US President Barack Obama's surprise visit to Iraq. It features the usual details which mention that he held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri-Al-Maliki and also visited US troops stationed there.

The most shocking aspect of this article however is when McGuinness states the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq, 4,266 since the 2003 occupation, but fails to even attempt to quantify the number of Iraqi civilians killed since the US led occupation began.

Towards the end of the paragraph McGuinness writes "Many thousands of Iraqis have been killed since 2003..."

An American based charity estimated that at least a million Iraqis had been killed in Iraq since the US occupation. McGuinness effectively belittles Iraqi civillian deaths by simply stating "many thousands..." instead of something closer to the true figure.

For the sheer lack of factual reporting and failing to contextualise US deaths against Iraqi Civilian deaths, which possibly reflects McGuinness' journalistic inexperience, this article is given a 'negative' rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 7th April

2009-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Unfortunately no copy of today's city edition was available hence no report can be presented for the M.E.N

Metro

Article 1
Headline: US is not at war with Islam
Section: Front page brief
Written by: ?
Page: Front page

Outline: This news brief on the front page is in reference to the speech made by US President Barack Obama on his visit to Turkey. The brief is 7 lines long and leads into a fuller article on page 15. It reports the key highlights of Obama's speech, specifically that this is his 1st visit to a predominantly Muslim nation and that he's calling for closer ties. Judged purely on the content of the brief it's best described as Neutral. the longer article (article 3 below) is written by Joel Taylor but it's unclear whether Taylor has also written this front page brief.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 2
Headline: 34 die in Baghdad car bomb spree
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 14

Outline: This brief reports car bomb explosions in a district of Baghdad, Iraq. The rationale for the attacks that's presented in the brief suggests that the explosions could have been revenge attacks for a clampdown on "Sunni Arab Militants". These 3 words together portrays an extremely negative view of Sunni Muslims, who make up c.80% of all Muslim people in the World and also of Arab people.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Article 3
Headline: Obama: No war on Islam - US President reaches out to the Muslim World during his trip to Turkey
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 15

Outline: Following on from the brief this article provides quotes from Obama's speech including one which presents the role os Islam in a positive light - "The Islamic faith has done so much over the centuries to shape the world for the better, including my own country".

Taylor then goes on to add his own narrative to explain Obama's remarks commenting that the speech was being delivered to a "Muslim world that felt America blamed it for the September 11 attacks".

The rest of the article examine Turkey's status vis-a-vis the Iraq war, Nato and application to join the EU.

Overall the artricle sits on the fence and reports the speech in a relatively factual manner, hence is given a neutral rating as it doesn't fill the readers minds with a negative view about Islam.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Article 4
Headline: 'Terror' charity leader arrested
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 15

Outline: This article is about the arrest in Bangladesh of the head of a British based charitable organisation, Faisal Mustafa.

Weapons are alleged to have been found at the school set up by Mr Mustafa'a charity Green Crescent Organisation.

It mentions that Mr Mustafa set up an "Islamic School", the mention of this word is enough to give the readers a negative view of Islam as it ties into the commonly reported view in the media of Islamic seminaries, also referred to as 'Madrassahs', being linked to violence.

For that reason this article is given a negative rating.

Artice Verdict: Negative

Monday 6th April

2009-04-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1

Headline: Bouncers go on march after workmate's death
Section: News
Written by: Paul Britton
Page: 2

Outline: This article relates to the story published in the M.E.N on Tuesday 31st March (reference: article 2) about the murder of a doorman, Mohamed Kaleem Rafeek, in Rusholme.

This article features a photo and reports on a demonstration organised by doormen to show respect to Mohamed Kaleem Rafeek and protest about poor working conditions including threats to personal safety.

The article describes Mr Rafeek's life outside of work and mentions that he was studying at Trafford College training to be an electrician and also mentions the school he attended. It states that Mr Rafeek was Sri Lankan born and came to Britain when he was 12 and could speak 5 languages.

It presents Mr Rafeek in a positive light, unlike the report on Tuesday 31st March, this time Mr Rafeek's ethinicity is mentioned but in a neutral factual manner however his religious background is not mentioned.

This is a factual piece and reflects positively on Mr Rafeek's life, had it also mentioned that he was Muslim then this too could have been viewed positively by the readers especially considering the article's prominent position.

A rating of neutral is applicable in this instance.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 2

Headline: Asian business achievers are honoured in awards
Section: Business
Written by: ?
Page: 23

Outline: This article is about an awards ceremony in Manchester to honour achievement by British Asians.

Although referrring to the winners by their ethnicity this is necessary for the article as the awards ceremony is specific to British Asians, despite the ethnic reference it is presented in a positive manner i. e. the people have gained success in their respective fields.

Several of the winners are mentioned including Amar Rashid of Manchester law firm Pannone, Ameena Patel of a bakery run by women in Blackburn called Meena Bakery and Adeeba Malik who is deputy Chief Executive of a Bradford based training agency, QED-UK.

All the people mentioned above appear to be Muslim however not a single one is introduced as Muslim. This really is a missed opportunity to present readers with an alternative and positive view of Muslims as successful business people especially when the list includes 2 women.

Although the content of the article is neutral I do feel that this is one opportunity where an effort should have been made to let the readers know that these people are successful British Muslims. After all the word Muslim is all too often used in negative contexts, this would have made a refreshing change hence it's a 'missed opportunity' for some positive PR

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Mosque suicide bomber kills 22
Section: World Digest
Written by: ?
Page: 12

Outline: This news brief is printed on 12 lines and features less than 60 words. It's about a bomb blast at a Mosque in Pakistan on Sunday. The story is presented in a factual manner and other than mention of the word Mosque there is no other religious reference in the brief. In short, it's a factual piece about a tragic event.

Artice Verdict: Neutral

Friday 3rd April

2009-04-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nil Return

Metro

Nil Return

Thursday 2nd April

2009-04-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Protest puts foie gras off the menu
Section: News
Written by: Ria Nortcliffe
Page: 18

Outline: This article is not related to Muslims but is featured because I felt it would be reported in a completely different way had Muslims been involved.

It refers to a restaurant in Cheshire that had its windows smashed by what the paper describes as "animal rights campaigners" who also daubed graffiti on the walls reading 'foie gras'. As a result of the attack the restaurant has now decided to stop serving foie gras.

The use of the word campaigners is particularly interesting because someone who campaigns for change doesn't necessarilly smash windows and engage in acts of vandalism, whilst I am completely sympathetic and support the aims of genuine campaigners who want to have foie gras banned these individuals should have been referred to as "animal rights extremists" because of their use of violence.

The term campaigners softened their actions in the minds of readers as campaigners would refer to people who pursue non-violent means to achieve an outcome i.e. advertising to get increased sales or petitioning to lobby for change, not smashing windows.

For argument's sake imagine for a second that the perpetrators were Muslim who had smashed the windows of a porn shop that had opened in a family residential area and the shop had closed as a result. The headlines would probably come out with terms like 'extremists', 'shariah mob' or 'shopkeeper forced to close for fear of terror'....etc The list could go on.

I am recording this article to present a point of contrast should a story like this ever emerge involving Muslims. I'd be interested to see how the M.E.N reports it. For this article a 'not applicable' rating is awarded.

Article Verdict: Not Applicable

Metro

Nil Return

Wednesday 1st April

2009-04-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Three sons' wives 'kept like slaves'
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 7

Outline: This news story about a woman in Blackburn, Lancashire who treated her 3 sons wives like slaves subjecting them to beatings, restricting access out of the house and making them work day & night.

The woman in question is 63 year old Naseebah Bibi and all of the 3 women, the "wives", involved in this ordeal tale are from Pakistan.

There is however no mention of their religious background in the article and it is presented factually hence is awarded a 'neutral' rating.

Article Verdict: Neutral

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Break the language barrier
Section: Features
Written by: Yakub Qureshi
Page: 9

Outline: This article is printed on a full page and is about a primary school in Rochdale called Heybrook.

The article examines the fact that all 520 pupils at the school speak English as a 'foreign' language and their ethnic origin is from the Asian Subcontinent.

The article presents an extremely positive view of the pupils and features comments from the Headteacher at the school who acknowledges that many of the pupils come from bilingual households.

The article goes onto mention that the ability to speak another language actually helps the children and an example is given where pupils have enthusiastically taken to French lessons because they have a natural aptitude for foreign languages.

The article also mentions that whilst the school has no white students the pupils do mix with white peers at various extra-curricular events that are organised in the Rochdale area, in addition to this it's pointed out that most of the students will go onto a mixed race high school that has been praised for its diversity.

It's highlighted that the school's results in the core subjects of Maths, English and Science are at a par with the national average thus rebutting any notion that the pupils may be at a disadvantage.

There is mention of the pupils religious background towards the end of the article where it states that most pupils are Muslim although the school is non-denominational and "has permission to opt out of Christian-led prayers at assembly"

The article also mentions that the schools is due to receive a "good" grading from Ofsted later this month and ends with a quote from the Headteacher, who is not Asian and states that he would want his own children to come to this school.

Overall this is a very positive article which rubbishes many of the reports/comments and analyses that are published by right wing and right leaning thinktanks & political figures, which suggest that not speaking English as a 1st language puts people at a disadvantage. Clearly in the case of Heybrook primary it doesn't and hats off to Yakub Qureshi for bringing this to the attention of all of M.E.N's readers.

Article Verdict: Positive

Tuesday 31st March

2009-04-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Top doc 'sexually abused women during abortions'
Section: Front page
Written by: Mike Silingsby
Page: Front Page and continued on page 2

Outline: This article is about a doctor, Narendra Sharma, who has been accused of sexually abusing patients. Although not a Muslim I have decided to include this story to see how news about another minority group is presented by the M.E.N.

Thr first thing to note is that there is no reference made to Dr Sharma's ethnic or religious background in the text of the article although there is a photo of him on the front page and there is some commentary on page 2 that alludes to the fact that allegations against Dr Sharma by his former colleagues may have been driven on racial grounds.

However the story itself is factual in nature with no attempt to address Dr Sharma according to his ethnicity or religious background. He is treated as an individual who is alleged to have committed these acts. A 'not applicable' rating is given as this story as it does not relate to reporting about Muslims or Islam but has been featured to present a point of contrast should a similar story ever be featured about a Muslim person in a similar situation.

Article Verdict: Not Applicable

Article 2
Headline: Teenager held over bouncer killing
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: Page 2

Outline: This story is about a doorman, Mohamed Kaleem Rafeek, who was killed in Manchester.

The story describes the circumstances that may have led up to the attack, which appears to have been a revenge attack for an earlier altercation when Mr Rafeek refused to allow entry to a group of people.

The article is written in a factual manner and there is no mention of Mr Rafeek's ethnicity or religious background hence it is given a 'neutral' rating

Article Verdict: Neutral

Article 3
Headline: Mum who called for a holy war is spared jail
Section: News
Written by: Lucy Collins
Page: Page 13

Outline: This article occupies alomst three quarters of a page and the photo of the "Mum" takes almost half of the space allocated to the article.

There are 2 sub headings to the headline, the second of which reads;

"Muslims urged to go abroad and fight a jihad"

This story is about Shella Roma who is accused of distributing leaflets inciting people to commit acts of terrorism.

Whilst the article makes reference to Jihad and presents its interpretation as holy war, Ms Roma is not identified by her religious background although anyone reading the article will be able to guess fairly easily that she is Muslim given the content of the article.

A description of the alleged activities that have led to Ms Roma's conviction are presented in the story, including that Ms Roma gave her husband 200 copies to dsitribute outside a Mosque.

Interestingly the presiding Judge's comments are also presented including the following comment by QC Clement Goldstone

"You sought to distribute them (the leaflets) in two ways, by leaving them in your home.....and, more significantly, to distribute outside a Mosque to which normal, practicing Muslims had gone to pray"

This was a sympathetic comment directed towards the wider Muslim community by Judge Goldstone, which sought to disassociate Ms Roma's actions from the wider Muslim community. Carrying it in the article was a positive move however Lucy Collins should have also obtained a comment from the Management Committee of the Mosque outside which copies of the leaflets were distributed to present a view from the community.

Given that the content of the article is related to terrorism and there is mention of the words Jihad and Mosque the article presents a negative view of Islam to the readers although there doesn't appear to be any willful intent on part of the author, Lucy Collins thus this is given a 'negative' rating.

Article Verdict: Negative

Metro

Article 1
Headline: '19 dead' in eight-hour gunfight at police school
Section: News
Written by: Joel Taylor
Page: 15

Outline: This article covers the terrorist attack on a Police training academy outside Lahore, Pakistan.

The second paragraph uses the words "Islamist militants". There are 3 photos featured in the article, two of which show wounded policemen and the 3rd shows one of the attackers.

Whilst referring to the attackers as "Islamist Militants", Joel Taylor fails to mention that most of the victims of the terrorists were Muslim and that Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim Country. The reason for this is to show readers that acts of terror are not crimes committed solely against Non-Muslim victims, in a lot of instances the victims are in fact Muslim.

This would help readers disassociate acts of terror from Islam and Muslims, in this respect the article presents a negative portrayal of Islam.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Drawing on the horror of war
Section: Metrolife
Written by: Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
Page: 24

Outline: This is a review of a DVD called "Waltz with Bashir", an animated documentary by a former Israeli conscript during the Lebanon invasion - Ari Folman.

In the review Larushka Ivan-Zadeh provides commentary which tells readers about the context to the film, a factual and sympathetic narrative is provided as readers are told that the film is set against the backdrop of the "invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli troops stood by as an unknown number of Palestinians were massacred".

This is an important point to make when referring to the massacre of Palestinian Civilians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, which was a horrendous crime that wouldn't have happened had the Israeli soliders not allowed and helped the Christian Militia in carrying out this crime. The language used by Ivan-Zadeh doesn't try to dress up the truth in diplomatic language and leaves readers with a disturbing image of soldiers allowing a massacre to unfold, which unfortunately in this case is the truth.

As this review, rightfully, presents the Israeli action in Lebanon as a negative which included this massacre it encourages the readers to have a sympathetic view towards the Palestinians hence it's given a 'positive' rating.

Article Verdict: Positive

Monday 30th March

2009-03-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Metro

Nill Return

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Nill Return

We've been taking a snooze!

2009-03-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Apologies but we've taken our eye off the ball, quite literally, hence why there hasn't been any activity on Manchetser Evening Snooze.

However we will be rectifying this situation and you should start to see more life on this site, even if it's just to say - Nil Return.

Thanks for bearing with us.