The media, too, has been complicit in spreading hatred and fear of Muslims. A 2017 study (pdf) of more than 16,000 New Zealanders linked news consumption directly with Islamophobia. New Zealanders—whether liberal or conservative—show both increased anger and reduced warmth towards Muslims if they are more avid news consumers. The study showed that it wasn’t because of particular bias on the part of individual media outlets (although there is evidence of that (pdf)), but rather, the overarching portrayal of Muslims which tended to focus on violence overseas with little or no context.[…]
fair.net.nz
I wonder what possible “context” could ever make the ongoing and terrible news stories about Islamic terror attacks inside Western and other countries any less terrifying and worrying to consumers of news?
If Christians were running around blowing themselves up inside Western countries and running non-Christians down with trucks and stabbing people while yelling “Jesus is great!”, news consumers would have “reduced warmth” towards Christians too. It is an understandable fear. The whole point of “terror” attacks, after all, is to strike fear into people’s hearts.