The Daily Express – Blatant Islamophobic Propaganda

It is sad to read the almost daily attacks on the Daily Express against Muslims in the United Kingdom. It is almost as if the proprietor of this so-called newspaper is purposefully trying to promote hatred, or even violence against British Muslims.

A common practice in the Daily Express are misleading headlines. Constantly they will run sensationalist headlines, such as “Britons at war against Islam,” on articles with a tenuous relationship, at best, with said headline (in the case of that particular headline, the article was really a poll among readers of the Daily Express about their feelings of Islam in British society.)

A common theme, typical of this newspaper, is the fear-mongering about Shariah courts and law and the existence of some sort of dual judiciary system, which is of course complete nonsense. The Shariah courts that do exist deal only in civil matters, never infringing on the role of British courts; participation in this kind of court is completely voluntary for all people involved and they can always petition a British civil court if one of the parties is not satisfied.

It doesn’t really matter that the Beth Din, a similar court system in the Jewish community, has been operating for many years. The fact that this is the case and that there hasn’t been a single hysterical, ranting, antisemitic article like those published in reaction to Shariah courts, speaks volumes about the prejudice and Islamophobia that is rampant in Britain today.

The front page of the Daily Express clearly serves the purpose of inciting Islamophobia and ill will against Muslims. Misleading headlines which can be easily misused by political conservatives and far right-wing extremists seem to be the norm. It is not uncommon for the far right of British politics to quote or reference the stories in the Daily when talking about the supposed Islamification of the country. These headlines are often matched to stories and photographs that are not well researched and even blatant lies. Of course, the damage done by a huge headline on the front page can never be offset by a tiny correction in one of the back pages (if any at all.)

To summarize, the Daily Express is a truly horrible rag. It is not so much a newspaper as a vile political pamphlet designed to feed the fears of the xenophobes and right-wing extremists in Britain. It is opposed to Islam in every way and should not be taken at all seriously. Hopefully with time the bias of this rag will grow ever more obvious, to the point of alienating its ever shrinking reader base.

Number of View :1833