The British mass media are considered to be the source of the emergence of anti-Islam and Islamophobic sentiments in the country. Hence, members of parliament, human rights defenders and British Muslim leaders joined forces to press for an investigation into the unfair mass media coverage of Islam and Muslims in Britain.
"An alternative investigation is needed to investigate widespread and systematic discriminatory practices in the reporting of Islam and Muslims in the British media," they said in a joint letter cited by Guardian.
The letter was signed by a number of prominent British citizens, including human rights lawyers Imran Farooq Khan and Murad, Secretary General of the British Muslim Council (MCB). Signatories also include MP Jeremy Corbyn, Lord Navnit Dholakia, and Anas Altikriti, president and founder of the Cordoba Foundation.
The letter blames the British media for creating a climate of hatred against Muslim minorities.
British Muslims, estimated at 2,3 million, have long complained of unfair media coverage of them.
"Over the past decade, a number of academic studies have shown a trend towards increasing negative coverage of the Muslim community," the letter said.
Recent government studies have found imbalances in the British media by demonizing Muslim minorities, by spreading prejudice and portraying them as enemies in British society.
An earlier study accused the media and film industry of perpetuating Islamophobia and prejudice by projecting Muslims as cruel, dangerous, and threatening.
A recent report by ComRes found, most Britons blame the media for fueling fear and hatred of Muslims. The survey results show that the British public blames the media for causing Islamophobia (29%) rather than the right (13%), or Muslims themselves, either abroad (14%) or in the UK (11%).
Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to sit in the British government, said last year that anti-Muslim sentiment had become an accepted thing in British society.
A Financial Times poll recently showed Britain is the country most suspicious of the Muslim community. (Mel / Onislam.net / ddhongkong.org). *
