Islamophobia exposed: UK media's hierarchy of racism

Islamophobia — The UK’s hierarchy of racism was clearly on display after the terror attacks in Edinburgh on 19 June, as an analysis of news coverage has shown.

The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) has previously called out the amount of anti-Muslim propaganda in the British media. And having now compared coverage of the Edinburgh attacks with coverage of the 29 April Golders Green attacks, it has found that the media is also underplaying terror attacks that target Muslims.

Islamophobia — The UK’s racist media establishment

The hierarchy of racism in the UK is particularly obvious on the right of the political spectrum, but it dominates our media establishment. This has been clear, for example, from how our national broadcaster has treated Israeli deaths as 33 times more important than Palestinian deaths during the genocide in Gaza.

Our media establishment has been more than happy to jump to conclusions about attacks in the UK when doing so fits the divisive narrative of our crooked political class.

This was absolutely the case at Golders Green, when a mentally ill Muslim man allegedly attacked a fellow Muslim and then two Jewish people. Commentators quickly pushed the Muslim survivor to one side and focused almost totally on the Jewish survivors. They also underplayed the question of mental illness.

Two months later, when a white man allegedly attacked five people in a pretty clear anti-Muslim attack in Edinburgh, it was a very different story. So the CfMM analysed media coverage, and shared the statistics. It found that TV news:

Spent much less time focusing on anti-Muslim attacks than it did on anti-Jewish attacks.
Underplayed the suffering of Muslim survivors.
Invested less effort (or none) in humanising Muslim survivors.
Placed less (or no) focus on the ethnicity and history of the white attacker.
Named anti-Jewish hate but shied away from naming anti-Muslim hate.

Right-wing coverage was worse, but the imbalance was across the board.

6/7 Antisemitism is real, rising and deserved every minute of coverage. This is about why #Islamophobia gets a fraction of the same. Both communities deserve equal protection and equal airtime. The data says they don't get it. pic.twitter.com/kljBaB6MW2

— The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) (@cfmmuk) June 22, 2026

There was an equally stark picture in online news too, which:

Gave 22 times more coverage to Golders Green than to Edinburgh, potentially reaching many more people as a result.
Failed to name anti-Muslim hate where it had clearly named anti-Jewish hate.
Spread more doubt about the reasons for the Edinburgh attacks.
Humanised Golders Green survivors much more.

Although right-wing outlets were clear offenders, the CfMM also criticised the Guardian‘s coverage.

The obvious difference in coverage, the CfMM said, was that:

One attack barely made the news. One was a national crisis.

8/8 "Edinburgh: "terror" used 20 times always procedural, "counter-terror cops."

Golders Green: "terror" 472 times, "antisemitic" 185 times, "national emergency" 20 times.

One attack barely made the news. One was a national crisis." pic.twitter.com/Y7utoz6Xs7

— The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) (@cfmmuk) June 23, 2026

Oppose ALL racism equally

‘Race hate’ reportedly represents two thirds of hate crimes, primarily affecting people who are visibly Black or Asian. These survivors are also more likely to suffer violence and repeat victimisation than white survivors.

Among the attacks that people face because of their religious identity, meanwhile, Muslims reportedly face the highest risk. But hatred against them often comes along with racist slurs or comments about pro-Palestinian political activism too. This was often the case in the 4,971 Islamophobic incidents that took place in 2024.

The Community Security Trust (CST), meanwhile, has recorded 3,700 incidents it considers to be antisemitic. Almost half of these included references to the crimes of the Israeli state in Gaza and the Middle East more generally.

Both Islamophobia and antisemitism are big problems, and have increased since Israel’s genocide against Palestinians intensified in 2023. The dangerous conflation of political issues and religious identity, often by cynical actors, has no doubt contributed to this significantly.

The key issue is that, as the CfMM clearly stated:

Both communities deserve equal protection and equal airtime. The data says they don’t get it.

As the Islamophobia Response Unit noted in its 2025 annual report:

• Jewish communities: Receive over £14m annually in government security funding (via CST).

• Muslim communities: Mosque security funding exists but is smaller and less consistent.

• Result: Muslims face higher prevalence but weaker protective infrastructure.

And the new CfMM analysis of media coverage shows this imbalance also plagues our journalistic establishment.

We sincerely hope the UK’s media and political elites will start to oppose all racism with equal seriousness. But unfortunately, without significant pressure from below, we strongly suspect that their hierarchy of racism will continue.

Featured image via CambridgeUniversity