A major new report has found systemic and widespread anti-Muslim bias across British media in 2025, with a cluster of right-wing outlets responsible for the most severe and persistent harmful coverage.
The findings come from the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), which unveiled its research at an event in the House of Commons on Monday night.
Titled The State of British Media 2025: Reporting on Muslims and Islam, the study analysed 40,913 articles published across 30 major UK news outlets, making it the largest and most comprehensive review of its kind ever conducted in Britain.
Structural Bias, Not Isolated Incidents
According to the report, biased portrayals of Muslims and Islam are not occasional lapses but deeply embedded structural patterns within large sections of British journalism.
Rizwana Hamid, Director of CfMM, said the findings were deeply troubling.
“When nearly half of all articles referencing Muslims or Islam are biased, and almost 70% associate Muslims with negative aspects or behaviours, it points to a systemic problem within our media ecosystem,” she told Geo News.
“When entire communities are repeatedly framed through suspicion or threat, it shapes public attitudes, political debate, and the everyday lives of British Muslims.”
Methodology and Key Findings
Each article was assessed against five measurable indicators of bias: negative associations, sweeping generalisations, misrepresentation or distortion, omission of context or diverse perspectives, and sensational or problematic headlines.
Articles containing two or more indicators were labelled “biased”, while those with four or five were classified as “very biased”.
The study found that nearly 50% of all UK media articles about Muslims in 2025 contained measurable bias. Across the full dataset, 70% of articles linked Muslims or Islam to negative themes, reinforcing narratives of conflict, threat, and controversy.
Right-Wing Media Dominates Harmful Coverage
The most severe reporting was concentrated among a group of right-wing outlets, including The Spectator, GB News, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Express, The Times, and the Jewish Chronicle.
The Spectator showed the highest proportional level of extreme bias, with more than one in four of its articles classified as “very biased”.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph and Daily Mail published the highest volume of severely biased content overall.
Generalisation about Muslims was found to be overwhelmingly a right-wing editorial practice. GB News recorded the highest rate of sweeping generalisations at 39%, followed by The Telegraph at 32%.
In contrast, outlets such as the BBC and The Guardian recorded significantly lower rates.
Contextual Omission a Widespread Failure
The report found that contextual omission was the most common form of harmful reporting, appearing in 44% of biased articles. Unlike other indicators, this problem extended beyond right-wing outlets, pointing to a broader weakness in UK journalism.
GB News emerged as one of the most harmful performers overall, despite its relatively recent launch, with hostile portrayals of Muslims described as a defining feature of its editorial policy.
BBC Performs Best
Among all outlets studied, the BBC consistently recorded the lowest levels of bias, demonstrating that large-scale journalism can maintain editorial standards and that public service obligations help limit harmful framing.
Journalist and author Peter Oborne said the report was a sobering reminder of the prejudice faced by British Muslims. “This authoritative and fair-minded study shows how bad things have become – and they are getting worse,” he said.
Impact on British Muslims
For Britain’s nearly 4 million Muslims, media reporting remains a primary source of information shaping public opinion, policy debates, and lived experience. Extensive research has linked negative media portrayals to rising hate crimes and increased support for discriminatory policies.
The CfMM report concludes that without urgent reform, British media will continue to deny audiences balanced and accurate reporting on issues of major social importance, with serious consequences for community cohesion and democratic discourse.
