Email to a friend | Printer friendlyPress ReleaseReport: Right-wing Pundits Use Mainstream Media to Smear Muslims10/8/08 Report profiles 12 top Islamophobes in U.S. media, examines the rise of "smearcasting" phenomenon how Islamophobes use the mainstream media to spread fear, bigotry and misinformation New York Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), the national media watchdog group, released a first-of-its-kind report today profiling 12 of the leading Islamophobic pundits and media figures and examining the ways they’ve negatively influenced media coverage in the U.S. The report, “Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation,” describes a loose network of right-wing, anti-Muslim partisans who regularly use innuendo, questionable sources of information and even lies to smear, and effectively marginalize, Muslims in the media. The report is available for download at: www.smearcasting.com. “This report takes a fresh look at Islamophobia and its perpetrators in today’s media,” said Steve Rendall, one of the report’s authors and a senior analyst at FAIR. “We found prominent right-wing pundits and activists using misinformation and innuendo to broadcast hate against an entire community in this case, Muslim-Americans and major media have either fallen asleep at the wheel or, in many cases, have actively helped to spread the smears.” "Media should seek various points of view, but the message of the Islamophobes cannot possibly comport with the standards and practices that should constrain media outlets from airing smears against ethnic and religious groups," said Rendall, "We're talking about double standards." The report's "dirty dozen" list includes talkshow hosts like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Glenn Beck; activists like Michelle Malkin, Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz; and influential writers like Mark Steyn and Robert Spencer. The report also features four case studies, or snapshots, of how smearcasting has ...
