Terrorists are not Muslim

Peter Manning say Journos are racist and he'll prove it:

THE Australian media's coverage of Muslims and Arabs is tainted with a racism that portrays them as "tricky, sleazy, sexual and untrustworthy", according to one of the country's most experienced journalists.

…Peter Manning, former head of ABC News, now Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Sydney's University of Technology… said that the words "Arab" or "Muslim" were associated with terrorism in 89 per cent of articles that appeared in Sydney's two major newspapers in the year after September 11, 2001.

So, we have some data that needs explaining: After September 11 the words "Arab" or "Muslim" were associated with terrorism in 89 per cent of articles.

Manning's hypothesis: it's because the Australian media is tainted with racism.

I'll Spin Another Hypothesis for you Pete: it's because newspapers report, you know, news. And "Arab Muslims" carried out September 11 - so in the year after it, wow, the words "Arab" and "Muslim" were associated with terrorism in newspapers. Imagine that.

Hey, I wonder what the stats are now? After all, the terrorism since September 11 (in Bali, Madrid, London, Afghanistan, Israel and Iraq to name a few places) hasn't had anything to do with "Arabs" and/or "Muslims".

Now, even once, did a newspaper make the claim all Muslims are terrorists? Methinks not. Here's another idea, why don't you compare these Sydney newspapers to, say, The Jakarta Post. Look, a major newspaper in a Muslim country is racist against Muslims! Oh, they say: "Muslim militants", so this must not be racist…

Via Tim Blair

Update: For the life of me, I can't (re)find the Jakarta Post article I refer to above. The link is wrong, but I don't think it's my fault, as I googled: jakarta post navy US RI Muslim and I got this result:

The Jakarta Post - RI, US navies conclude joint exercise aimed at ... JAKARTA (AP): The Indonesian and US navies Monday wrapped up a joint exercise ... The two navies practiced maritime interdiction using two US Navy vessels, ...www.thejakartapost.com/detaillgen. asp?fileid=20060308150203&irec=0 - 37k -

Yay! I found it... but click on that, and the result is as with my original link - an article entitled: Residents block access to church during Sunday service.

Unless it magically reappears, you'll just have to take my word for it, or not.