GOP Election Tactics and Media Bias Stoke Resurgent Islamophobia

Interview with Sam Husseini, communications director with the Institute for Public Accuracy, conducted by Scott Harris

Over the last several months, America has seen an explosion of hate and fear targeting Muslims at home and abroad. Conservative politicians and right wing talk show hosts have led an ugly campaign to oppose the proposed location of an Islamic community center 2 blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. More recently a little-known Florida pastor's threat to burn the Muslim holy book, the Koran, on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks received extensive coverage on cable TV news and talk radio, as well as international attention. Although the burning of the Koran was postponed, angry protests took place around the world, some of which turned violent, resulting in deaths and injuries in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Links between recent open displays of bigotry toward Muslims in the U.S. and this November's mid-term congressional election can be seen in the comments of former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has compared Muslims to Nazis and who said on Sept. 11 that President Obama may follow a "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldview. An August poll by the Pew Research Center found nearly a third of conservative Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim. A CNN poll found that 41 percent of Republicans say Obama was definitely or probably not born in the U.S.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Sam Husseini, communications director with the Institute for Public Accuracy. He examines the connection between the emergence of blatant Islamophobia, Republican party political strategy in advance of the upcoming mid-term election - and the exclusion of Muslim voices in U.S. media.

Visit the Institute for Public Accuracy's website at www.accuracy.org

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