{"619711":{"#nid":"619711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Terror Attacks By Muslims Get 357 Percent More Media Coverage Than Other Terror Attacks, Study Shows ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EATLANTA\u0026mdash;Terror attacks carried out by Muslims receive on average 357 percent more media coverage than those committed by other groups, according to research conducted at Georgia State University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe study, published in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/07418825.2018.1524507\u0022\u003EJustice Quarterly\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E,\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;found perpetrator religion is a major predictor of news coverage of a terrorist attack. Other factors also drive coverage, but to a lesser extent. The study authors note that in the United States, \u0026ldquo;members of the public tend to fear the \u0026lsquo;Muslim terrorist\u0026rsquo; while ignoring other threats.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research highlights a serious imbalance in news coverage.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;What was especially surprising was the sheer amount of coverage granted to the small handful of domestic terrorists who were both Muslim and from outside of the U.S.,\u0026rdquo; said Allison Betus, a Presidential Fellow with Georgia State\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tcv.gsu.edu\/\u0022\u003ETranscultural Conflict and Violent Extremism Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;This tiny minority of the dataset accounted for a very large amount of coverage.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOut of 136 terror attacks in the U.S. over a span of 10 years the authors studied, Muslims committed on average 12.5 percent of the attacks, yet received more than half of the news coverage.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research team found that factors other than the perpetrator\u0026rsquo;s religion also affect coverage. When a suspect was arrested, there was a 287 percent increase in news coverage on average, and attacks against the government received 211 percent more coverage. The number of fatalities in a given attack also affected the extent of coverage. The study found that for each additional fatality, an attack received 46 percent more coverage.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe study was led by Dr. Erin Kearns, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama and former post-doctoral research fellow at Georgia State, and Betus, working with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/shared.cas.gsu.edu\/profile\/lemieux\/\u0022\u003EAnthony Lemieux\u003C\/a\u003E, professor at Georgia State and director of the university\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gsi.gsu.edu\/\u0022\u003EGlobal Studies Institute\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers looked at all terror attacks in the U.S. between 2006 and 2015. Using\u0026nbsp; information from the Global Terrorism Database, they reviewed national print and online media to analyze coverage.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;While some may have held impressions that attacks by Muslims are more likely to get more media attention, we got to the bottom of this and quantified it,\u0026rdquo; Lemieux said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s no longer opinion, perception or conjecture.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is the first study to specifically look at how perpetrator religion affects coverage across such a wide scope of terrorism cases, the researchers said. It highlights the inequity in media coverage in the digital age following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.\u0026nbsp; The researchers said this imbalance can create misconceptions about the prevalence of attacks and fuel prejudice and discrimination.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a related study, the same group of researchers found a strong trust in science is the overarching factor in determining if Americans will change misperceptions about the threat of terror attacks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research published in the journal\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/1057610X.2018.1543145?journalCode=uter20\u0022\u003EStudies in Conflict \u0026amp; Terrorism\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;found neither the information source, amount of detail about terror attacks, a person\u0026rsquo;s level of Islamophobia nor trust in media affected whether people were willing to update their views.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA recent Gallup poll cited by the authors found that nearly half of Americans believe they or a family member are likely to be the victim of a terrorist attack. According to figures from the Global Terrorism Database,\u0026nbsp;99 people have been killed in 136 terror attacks in the U.S.\u0026nbsp;since 9\/11.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELemieux said the two studies highlight a larger issue, for the media and the public at large, in an era of debates about \u0026ldquo;fake news\u0026rdquo; and an abundance of information sources.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The two recent studies are part of a bigger set of questions about what people think of as terrorism, how they understand the actual threat terrorism poses \u0026ndash; and whether they would update beliefs about terrorism when presented with data,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"error attacks carried out by Muslims receive on average 357 percent more media coverage than those committed by other groups, according to research conducted at Georgia State University."}],"uid":"34815","created_gmt":"2019-03-27 13:59:10","changed_gmt":"2019-04-05 13:16:31","author":"esnelling3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"619710":{"id":"619710","type":"image","title":"Terror Attacks By Muslims Get 357 Percent More Media Coverage Than Other Terror Attacks, Study Shows Terror Attacks By Muslims Get 357 Percent More Media Coverage Than Other Terror Attacks, Study Shows","body":null,"created":"1553695076","gmt_created":"2019-03-27 13:57:56","changed":"1553695076","gmt_changed":"2019-03-27 13:57:56","alt":"","file":{"fid":"235948","name":"terror attacks.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/terror%20attacks.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/terror%20attacks.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":66867,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/terror%20attacks.jpg?itok=tQkvdyEL"}}},"media_ids":["619710"],"groups":[{"id":"612000","name":"Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEmily Snelling\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarketing and Events Coordinator\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["esnelling3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}