Friday 28th November

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Muslim and Hindu Unite
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 7

Outline: In light of the atrocities in Mumbai this news brief comments that British Hindu and Muslim groups united to condemn the attacks.

The news brief is presented in a small box at the top of the page which has a coloured background as opposed to white, which helps to give the article more prominence.

At a time when news reports often portray Islam and Muslim in a negative light this was a positive article to be featured in the Metro.

Article Verdict: Positive


Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Commandos kill Mumbai gunmen
Section: News
Written by: Jon Smith
Page: 5

Outline: This article is about the atrocities in Mumbai. The opening paragraph mentions that "suspected Muslim militants stormed ... across the city". This type of language is inflammatory as it implies guilt by association for anyone who happens to be Muslim. To the average reader this phrase will present a negative image of Islam and Muslims.

Article Verdict: Negative

Thursday 27th November

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Heard about the racist jokes sent by 118 188?
Section: News
Written by: Miles Erwin
Page: 11

Outline: This article is about 2 students, Kameron Abbas and Imran Shah, who used the directory service 118 188 to get jokes, only to be sent racist jokes by text.

The article starts off by saying "A Muslim student was stunned..."

Whilst there's nothing factually wrong with that statement there's absolutely no reason to mention his religious background. If anything he should have been described as an Asian student as the jokes in question were racist and derogatory towards Asian people hence a racial categorisation of Mr Abbas could have grounds for being more relevant to the article.

In summary the article will be marked as negative because there is no need to mention Mr Abbas' religious background in this article, if anything it ends up showing 'another Muslim person complaining'.

Article Verdict: Negative


Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: MEP takes shelter from bullets in basement
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 6

Outline: This story is an account of the unfolding Mumbai terrorist attacks by Sajjad Karim, MEP, who hid in the hotel basement.

The article goes onto give a description of the events as per Mr Karim's testimony. It finishes by saying "He was the first British Muslim elected to Parliament".

The article is a factual description of events and the mention of Mr Karim as the 1st Muslim MEP could be interepreted as a positive portrayal of him.

Article Verdict: Positive

Article 2
Headline: Father cut his sons' throats then tried to burn bodies
Section: News
Written by: Sam Reeves
Page: 18

Outline: This story does not concern Muslims but instead focuses on the tragic murder of 2 innocent young children at the hands of their Father, Ashok Kalyanjee.

The reason for including this is because the murderer is an Asian man yet there is no mention of his religious background anywhere in the article, despite taking up three quarters of page 18. This is how reporting should be done so that the people are presented with facts about the story not the religious background of the person, which may lead to prejudiced opinions amongst readers against a particular group.

Quite often we see Muslim people being identified on the basis of their religion, I have reported several articles in the past where people have been identified in the article in Muslims when there is no need to do so.

There is no ranking for this article as it's not applicable however it's listed here to give readers an example of how stories about Non-Muslim Asians are reported

Article Verdict: N/A

Wednesday 26th November

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Pioneers on Mission to Kuwait - Break free of kitchen sink, Muslim women told
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 20

Outline: This article is about the trip of Manchester Councillor Maryam Khan and Fatima Mahmoud of the British Muslim Heritage to Kuwait at the invitation of the Government there to talk about women's rights.

The actual event itself is positive but the way its been reported is negative as the caption above the photo accompanying the article makes reference to Muslim women in some way being tied to the kitchen sink. The opening line of the article states "Two pioneering women...." this is a missed opportunity to highlight the fact that the two pioneering women are in fact Muslim pioneering women.

Quite often we see Muslims identified in situations where a negative story needs to be told, why can't the same be true when there is a positive news to report?

Article Verdict: Negative

Tuesday 25th November

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Barclays funding gets the nod
Section: Metro Business
Written by: ?
Page: 48

Outline: This article is about the sale of a third of Barclays Bank to investors from the Middle East. The best caption to sum up this article is "making a mountain out of a mole hill". This is because of the writer's attempt to magnify the opposition by Barclays shareholders to the deal. The words used are "More than one in ten voters...opposed or abstained from plans" so in plain english this would be written as 'more than 10%. This doesn't represent significant opposition to the plan at all but rather the fact that just under 90% approved the deal. Why then is the writer trying to paint a different picture to the readers, does he or she have an objection to a third of Barclays in the hands of Arab investors, who knows?

In summary this is an article which attempts to portray a distorted view of how the shareholders actually voted hence it's been given a negative rating.

Article Verdict: Negative


Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Barclays shareholders back £7bn Middle East deal
Section: Business
Written by: ?
Page: 5

Outline: This reports on the same story as the Metro however is complete contrast as it acknowledges that the proposed deal was approved by shareholders. It refers to the investors as "Abu Dhabi royalty" and mentions the fact that one of the investors, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan is owner of Manchester City. This helps to paint the investors in a positive light as Manchester City is a popular football team with locals of Manchester.

The article also provides more detail on the percentage of shareholders in favour of the deal (80%) but also makes reference to those opposed to the deal.

Overall the article provides a balanced view of the details involved in the proposed deal and does not attempt to cast any personal opinions on the deal thus it's given a positive rating.

Article Verdict: Positive

Wednesday 12th November

Nil return from both newspapers today

Monday 10th November

Metro

Article 1
Headline: Fight the fatwas 'with free speech'
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 14

Outline: This article talks about a report issued by the Centre for Social Cohesion, an organisation that has a reputation for its Islamophobic rhetoric, and its Director Douglas Murraywho has in the past delivered a vile anti-Muslim speech.

It quotes Murray talking about allowing Muslims the freedom to express themselves free from fear of reprisals by fellow Muslims who Jo Steele describes as "Militants".

What's interesting is that the "Muslims" that Murray is seeking protection for are in fact considered by mainstream Muslima and in some cases by the individuals themselves to actually be outside of the fold of Islam e.g. Maryam Namazie (Head of Council of Ex-Muslims), Salman Rushdie and Ibn Warraq (author of "Why I am not a Muslim") to name a few of these so-called Muslims.

Whilst Murray can be excused as he clearly has an Islamophobic agenda, it's Jo Steele who should perhaps be provided adequate training so that a more balanced article can be presented to the readers where some of Murray's less cohesive views towards Muslims can be exposed.

I have provided a photo of the article as the online edition of Metro features a different story on page 14, in case you think that this is fabricated.

Without doubt this article is negative as it's one sided and does not highlight the repulsive views held by Murray which should invalidate any contributions made by him to the cause of social cohesion.

Steele should have made reference to another fatwa which would have had far more credibility, this example shows India's largest Muslim Seminary issuing a fatwa condemning terrorism.

Article Verdict: Negative

Article 2
Headline: Attacks fear as bombers given burial
Section: News
Written by: Jo Steele
Page: 21

Outline: This story is about the execution of 3 men in Indonesia for their part in the Bali bombings. Steele opens the article by describing them as "Three Islamist militants", the opening line sets the tone for the reader as they are immediately told of a link between militancy and Islam.

The article presents a negative view of Islam and Muslims and is the 2nd such article by Steele in today's Metro.

Article Verdict: Negative

Manchester Evening News (City Edition)

Article 1
Headline: Church can't belive hymn ban
Section: News
Written by: ?
Page: 6

Outline: At first glance one may be forgiven for thinking that this story will most likely be about a hymn ban imposed out of fear of offending Muslims. This is because the tabloid Media has previously used such ludicrous and sensationalist headlines in relation to Islam and Muslims.

However, this article is actually about a ban imposed on the phrase 'singing from the same hymn sheet' by Salisbury Town Hall.

Not Surprisingly this is an extremely brief story at just 49 words long. It features none of the subjective and inflammatory narrative that often accompanies similar stories about bans where Muslims are involved.

If anything this is a perfect example of the negative media bias that exists against Islam and Muslims in the UK.

Article Verdict: Negative

Thursday 6th November

Nil return from both newspapers today