Wednesday, November 02, 2005

University study shows persistent Multicultural bias of Dutch media

The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad yesterday published a newspaper article stating that the press are not negative about the Muslim community. The press has a continued commitment to the Multicultural society and its ideological precepts. This goes against the argument often repeated by the media that they, the media, would write too negatively about Muslims and Islam.

The piece, an interview by NRC editor Merel Thie with University of Amsterdam Professor of Political Science Maarten Hajer and researcher Justus Uitermark concerns media bias of Dutch printed media in the period running up to the murder and afterwards. The period of four months running up to the assasination and the four months thereafter is excluded, due to the high volatility of the period. The researchers explain that compared to the period before the assasination the treatment of Muslim minorities continued to be rather positive. This is also the case when negative phenomena of the Islamic community are the topic of an article. In over a hunderd articles causes for the Islamic community's failure to contribute positively is solely blamed on societal factors, such as discrimination. Only six articles take on the community itself.

Basically print still can not be trusted.

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