'Muslim,' 'Islam' censored in terrorism news reports

Visit our News page September 25, 2013 “‘Islam,’ ‘Muslim’ censored from newspaper reports” Take a stand for free speech today by adding your name to our free speech resolution! As part of ACT! for America’s project “Americans United to Defend Free Speech,” we have designated today “Freedom of Speech Day.” Today is the 224th anniversary of congressional passage of the Bill of Rights. ACT! for America chapter leaders and members will be hosting nearly 275 “Freedom of Speech Day” events across America and even in some foreign countries. How fitting, then, for the article below to come out yesterday. This must-read article documents how 90% of America’s top ten newspapers deliberately censored any description of “Muslim,” “Islam,” or “Islamist” when writing about the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya and Pakistan. Our public school textbook analysis report released last year found the same kind of censorship. Virtually all of the 38 textbooks we analyzed failed to describe the 9/11 jihadists as either “Muslims” or “Islamists.” This is not an accident. This is by design. This kind of unacceptable, deliberate censorship is enabling our enemies and deceiving the American people – and this is why we’re fighting back against it. There’s one thing you can do today about this – please add your name to our free speech resolution we will be sending to Congress and the 50 state legislatures. 'Islam,' 'Muslim' censored from newspaper reports on Kenya, Pakistan attacks By Katie Yoder Published September 24, 2013 FoxNews.com http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/24/islam-muslim-censored-from-newspaper-reports-on-kenya-pakistan-attacks/?cmpid=NL_morninghl Editor's note: The following commentary originally appeared on NewsBusters.org. It is used with permission. Dare a top newspaper journalist to play connect-the-dots and chances are he’ll fail miserably – at least with drawing the line between Islam and terrorism. In Nairobi, Kenya last weekend, Islamist militants took over a high-end shopping mall and began executing non-Muslims. In Pakistan, Islamist suicide bombers detonated at a Christian Church on Sunday. Yet on Monday, September 23, 90 percent of the top ten (via circulation numbers) daily newspapers’ headlines in the United States censored the words “Islam” and Muslim” from Nairobi and Pakistan reports. One – the New York Daily News – didn’t even have a headline for the latest Islamic terrorist attacks. That’s journalism at its finest. The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) headline by Heidi Vogt announced that “Assault on Mall Stuns Kenya” and called the act a “terrorist attack” by “armed militants.” In a small reference to the Pakistan Christian fatalities, the newspaper credited a group linked with the “Pakistan Taliban.” As the second most popular newspaper after the WSJ, proclaimed “Carnage In Mall Shows Resilience of Terror Group” for an article by Nicholas Kulish, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt. In fact, on the front page the Times used every description but the Islamic connection to describe the aggressors: “the ferocious armed political movement known as the Shabab” – with ties to Al Qaeda and Boko Haram. Only USA Today (number three in circulation) broke Islam silence with a headline admitting, “Islamists kill dozens in Kenya and Pakistan” (under an even larger headline: “Two New Terror Attacks”). Jim Michaels and William W. Welch’s story detailed how “Islamic extremists unleashed bloody attacks.” For Pakistan, the reporters called Sunday’s two suicide bombers assault “the deadliest-ever attack against the nation’s Christian minority” and included a picture with a caption describing, “a relative of victims of the Christian church bombings.” The New York Post’s front page read “BLOODY RAID” and “Kenyan soldiers storm mall, save most hostages. Its Sunday cover showed a woman running with a baby above the words “Terror massacre in Kenya.” Only inside the piece were the assailants described as “Islamist attackers” related to “Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents.” The Chicago Sun-Times’s website broadcast “2 Militants Killed in Mall Attack: Kenya Minister” by Associated Press’ Jason Straziuso and Tom Odula. Inside the piece, the reporters noted that “two Islamic extremists were killed.” The Washington Post’s front page read “Kenyan Forces Move Into Mall, Rescue Many” for a piece by Sudarsan Raghavan and Greg Miller. The story below noted “Islamist militants” connected to al-Shabab militia and Al Qaeda. For Pakistan, The Washington Post blamed “suicide bombers” for murdering “scores outside a Christian church.” The rest of newspapers unabashedly blacked out Islamic ties in reports. The Los Angeles Times’s front page to “Kenya Fights Terrorists in Mall Siege,” by Nicholas Soi and Robyn Dixon, charged “Somali militants.” The Denver Post’s front page, for “Kenya Moves to End Siege at Mall” by The Washington Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan, faulted “heavily armed assailants” for Nairobi and “bombers” for Pakistan. Chicago Tribune’s front, entitled, “Security Forces Launch Assault to End Mall Standoff,” cited “Somali militants.” Last and least, the New York Daily News offered nada on the front page to the attacks. The publication deemed the Emmys and baseball news more worthy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACT for America P.O. Box 12765 Pensacola, FL 32591 www.actforamerica.org ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. 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