GB News accounted for half of all news broadcast coverage of Muslims over a two-year period, much of it negative, according to new analysis.
The findings demonstrate an “excessive” focus on Muslims bordering on an “obsession”, according to a new report by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM).
Researchers alleged the stories about Islam are “overwhelmingly negative” and fail to understand the diverse nature of Muslim communities in the UK.
They said the coverage could fuel community tensions and contribute to civil unrest.
Sayeeda Warsi described the research as “shocking”, while former ITN executive and Ofcom regulator, Stewart Purvis, said the findings raised vital questions for the broadcasting regulator
The two-year analysis found that GB News mentioned Muslims or Islam more than 17,000 times in its output, which they say accounted for almost 50% of total mentions on UK news channels. BBC News and Sky News accounted for 32% and 21% respectively.
The report found that GB News was particularly focused on domestic stories on these topics in comparison with its rival channels, where foreign news contributed a greater amount to their output.
It also alleged that Muslims and their beliefs are often presented on GB News as part of a conspiracy to undermine Britain or the British way of life. This takes the form of depicting Muslims as a Trojan horse in the UK.
According to the findings, Islamophobia was referenced on GB news on 1,180 occasions, accounting for 60% of all mentions when compared with BBC News and Sky News. The researchers said the stories were overwhelmingly critical of the concept of Islamophobia.
During last summer’s riots, GB News accounted for 62% of all clips on UK news channels that associated Muslims with the riots. Researchers allege that GB News repeatedly framed Muslims as “perpetrators rather than victims of violence”, pushed disinformation, and that the channel “downplayed attacks on mosques and Muslim communities”.
The report also notes that GB News were particularly animated by the idea of ‘two-tier’ policing, airing debates which questioned whether police responses were harsher towards certain groups, such as white working-class Britons, while allegedly being more lenient towards Muslim communities.
Lady Warsi said: The consistent stereotyping and stigmatisation of British Muslim communities as the “enemy” or the “problem” by a platform with millions of viewers is deliberate, dangerous and has real life consequences. Seeing the impact of far-right radicalisation with the alarming year-on-year rise in anti-Muslim hatred, culminating in this summer’s riots where mosques and Muslim communities were openly targeted, should have been a wakeup call for all.
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“It is imperative that both the regulator and the government take decisive action to ensure broadcasting platforms are not used to fuel hatred and extremism that plays out as violent disorder on the streets of Britain.”
Purvis, who also wrote a commentary in the report, said the findings raise questions for Ofcom: “Has its deregulated model for broadcast news created an unintended consequence? Can a broadcaster be allowed to try to build its audience and political influence by a consistently negative portrayal of an ethnic community?”
Rizwana Hamid, the director of CfMM, said: “Prior to GB News entering the British media landscape most of our attention was focused on the misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam in print and online publications given that Ofcom’s broadcast regulations were always more robust than the press regulator IPSO. However, the volume of anti-Muslim hate on GB News and Ofcom’s reluctance to regulate its harmful content has meant that politicians and commentators have been give carte blanche to malign Muslims and Islam in a way that no other channel does.
“A robust regulator should demand that the channel performs according to long-established codes for broadcasters and enforce impartiality regulations.”
A GB News spokesperson said: “This inaccurate and defamatory report is nothing more than a cynical, self-serving attempt to silence free speech. It proves exactly why a news organisation like GB News needs to exist and why it is succeeding. We are concerned that at no point did this project of the Muslim Council of Britain contact GB News or its presenters to allow them to respond to these highly defamatory allegations.”