This has been a big year for Islam and Islamic law in American media. As politicians vied for local and national office, anti-sharia messages -- and sometimes overtly anti-Islam messages -- were broadcast across the media, at times functioning to normalize anti-Islam discourse.
Turmoil in places like Egypt and Mali ensured that there were plenty of stories with "sharia" in the forefront, but little contextualization for the average reader to give a sense of what Islamic law means in those places.
As we look back at media coverage in 2012, a number of trends emerge, ranging from regional and national hotspots like Tennessee and Egypt; in specific areas, such as gender and Islamophobia; and in wider issues of how Islamic law was covered and who was cited by the media as an authority.
[A COMMENT] Editing the Koran is unnecessary. The Koranic teachings that accepted slavery are now widely ignored. Teachings on the goal of political supremacy for Muslims through jihad against the unbeliever can also be interpreted away. But they haven't been. That's the problem, not Spencer and Geller. [The Huffington Post] Read more
