A guide for using this toolkit to cover your Muslim community

The role of the media in informing the public has never been more important, especially when it comes to marginalized communities, such as the Muslim community. At the same time, journalists are constantly asked to cover more and more, with less resources. Therefore we are excited to share that the Muslim Media Toolkit is now live and ready to be utilized by any newsroom or journalist. 

How it began

According to media content analysis, more than 80 percent of television media coverage of Islam and Muslims in the United States is negative. We want to help create a more accurate picture of who Muslims are and the RJI Fellowship was a first step towards making this a reality.

To begin this project, journalists  across the country filled out a survey so that we could learn what features and tips would be most useful to include. The toolkit we built was created with inspiration, guidance, and language from multiple sources — including the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU)’s, “Covering American Muslims” which is also a wonderful resource. We drew on much of their previous work and added sections and information we thought would further assist journalists in their work today.

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit was produced as a starting point for journalists looking to improve coverage of Muslims in the media. It is impossible to encompass every possible question that a journalist may have, but this provides a strong foundation. 

This toolkit was designed to be a living document and is open for comments. Tell us what areas we should expand or add. To chat more, contact us here. 

Join us for the RJI 2022 Fellows Presentation on March 16. Each resource will be demonstrated by the fellow who created it and there will be an opportunity to ask the fellows questions about the toolkits, guides and tools built during their RJI Fellowship.