Cover nonviolent Muslims

As an American who has lived both in the U.S. and the Middle East, I’m noticing a huge problem with the media’s coverage of issues such as ISIS, the Charlie Hebdo attack and other radical Islamic groups. People are asking, “Where are the moderate, nonviolent Muslims? Why aren’t they speaking up?”

They are, but we aren’t giving them enough media coverage. Islamic authorities all over the world are denouncing terrorism publicly, and many Muslim communities have even organized protests, but why do we never hear about them? Imagine what would happen if even just 50 percent of what the news covered about Islam was Muslims condemning the attacks, instead of giving terrorists all of our attention.

Terrorists gain power when we pay attention to them, and when we only show these stories, we’re creating a distorted and inaccurate view of Islam, causing mass Islamophobia, misunderstandings and widening the cultural gap between the West and the East.

Let’s switch it around and give the majority of Muslims (who condemn terrorism) at least half of the airtime.

Sarah Cockey

Spokane