| Summary: | It has long been argued that Islam has been covered in the 'western' media in oppositional terms - with events such as 9/11 playing a pivotal role in this. In the British context, a form of stereotyping also exists which ensures that people of South Asian ethnicities (specifically Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian ethnicities) are also included in this process. Misunderstanding between different ethnic 'groups' of citizens in the UK is an important issue, and in 2001 led to violence in a number of towns / and ci!ies.This thesis provides an original contribution to knowledge through a mixed-methods analysis of three case-studies based on UK national press content, and considers the way in which the 'groups' identified above are covered. The three cases - The Satanic Verses incident (1989), Bradford Riots (2001), and Gillian Gibbons incident (2007) - are chosen because their varying characteristics enable some telling comparisons of similarity and difference. The study finds a dearth of 'ordinary' voices from within the groups noted above in British press coverage, with a heavy reliance on the voices of religious and community 'leaders' instead. This was true in cases where minority voices tended to be dissenting (1989, 2001), as well as where they were more supportive of the status quo (2007). While events such as 9/11 and 7/7 undoubtedly had an effect on coverage of British Muslims and people of South Asian ethnicities - meaning that already negative coverage was exaggerated - this study concludes that this effect may not have been as great as previously thought outside of the specific context of terrorism. This is evidenced by coverage sampled concerning the 2007 Gibbons incident.
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