Media Channel

Roundtable on
Islam and American Politics: Deepening the Dialogue
Convened by
Community of West and Islam Dialogue of the World Economic Forum
April 3, 2008, 10am-1pm
2237 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC

With the 2008 US presidential election campaign in full swing, Muslim voters and issues are having a greater impact than at any other point in US history. The fact that Barack Obama had a Muslim grandfather – and his middle name is “Hussein” – has surfaced as a campaign issue. And John McCain repeatedly calls “the struggle against radical Islamic extremism” the “transcendent challenge of the 21st century.”

A diverse Muslim community is a growing force in US society and politics. On average, Muslims have higher educational and income levels than their fellow citizens. Nevertheless, Islam remains poorly understood and is a source of broad anxiety. More than six years after September 11th, 2001, most Americans profess a general ignorance of Islam and often associate it with terrorism. In a 2006 Gallup survey 39% of Americans supported the idea of a special identity card for Muslims.

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Georgetown University, is convening a roundtable to debate the role of Islam in the current US election campaign, the challenges facing the Muslim community, and positive examples of dialogue and collaboration with non-Muslims in government and civil society.

The roundtable, to be chaired by Georgetown President Dr. John J. DeGioia, will feature Keith Ellison (D-Minn), the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, as well as other academic, political, and religious leaders. It will mark the official US launch of Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue, a joint project of the Forum and Georgetown.

The roundtable will be led by Sally Quinn, co-moderator of Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive’s On Faith website.

The following questions will animate the discussion:

I. How is Islam emerging in the presidential campaign, and what will be its likely impact?
II. What are the major tensions at the intersection of the Muslim minority and wider American society?
III What are positive examples of dialogue and coalition-building at the national, state, and local level that have brought Muslims and non-Muslims together around shared social, political and positive agendas?

In conjunction with the roundtable debate, Media Tenor has released the following research report:

Western-Islamic World Dialogue

Cycle of violence drives coverage of Islam

References to Islamic protagonists deal primarily with the violence in Iraq (cf. slide 10). The quiet phase after the “surge” is reflected in the low volume of reporting after November 2007.

Islam in US TV news: Volume and tone, 01/2007-03/2008

Basis: 5,792 statements in 3 US main evening TV news, 01/2007-03/2008

Islam portrayed as the source of evil

Islam in US TV news: Tone, 01/2007-03/2008

Basis: 5,792 statements in 3 US main evening TV news, 01/2007-03/2008

Political protagonists shape Western-Islamic Relations

Over the course of the last eleven months, from May 2007 on, political protagonists from Western and Muslim countries accounted for roughly 80% of all media coverage of the relationship between the West and the Islamic World.

Religion in US TV news: Visibility of religions/religious organisations/Western and Islamic countries

Basis: 57,475 statements in 3 US main evening TV news, 05/2007-03/2008

CBS news reported most critically about Islam

Overall reporting about Islam was most intensive on NBC news, while the three networks did not differ significantly in their distribution of awareness between the different religions.

Religion in US TV news: Visibility and rating of religions/religious organisations