A new study has found that nearly half of UK media coverage referring to Muslims or Islam contains some form of bias, with right-wing outlets amongst the worst culprits.
The research, conducted by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), analysed more than 40,000 articles published in 2025 across 30 major British media outlets.
According to the study, around 20,000 pieces (nearly 50%) of all articles referencing Muslims or Islam in 2025 contained some degree of bias.
The report also claims that approximately 70% of coverage associated Muslims with negative behaviours or themes, often framing them in the context of conflict, threat or controversy.
The report identifies structural patterns of bias in news reporting and examines how these patterns shape public narratives about Muslims and Islam.
The analysis highlighted a cluster of right-wing media outlets responsible for producing the most severe and persistent forms of harmful coverage, including The Spectator, GB News, The Daily Telegraph, The Jewish Chronicle, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mail and The Times.
These outlets scored the worst across five indicators used to measure bias in the research, which the report suggests may reflect consistent editorial hostility rather than isolated reporting failures.
“As the largest study of its kind ever conducted in the UK, this report presents deeply concerning evidence of structural bias in how Muslims are portrayed in the UK press,” said Rizwana Hamid, Director of CfMM.
“When entire communities are repeatedly framed through lenses of suspicion or threat, it inevitably shapes public attitudes, political debate and the everyday lives of British Muslims.”
Outlets highlighted in the report
The report claims that The Spectator recorded the highest concentration of severe bias, with more than one in four articles classified as “very biased”.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail published the largest number of severely biased articles overall, reflecting their scale and readership, said the report.
According to the study, sweeping generalisations about Muslims appeared most frequently in GB News (39%), The Daily Telegraph (32%), Daily Express (24%), The Times (22%), The Sun (21%) and Daily Mail (20%).
By comparison, broadcasters and outlets often considered more left-leaning recorded lower rates in the study, including BBC (6%) and The Guardian (11%).
“GB News has rapidly established itself as one of the most harmful outlets despite its relatively recent launch,” said the report.
“Across all 5 bias-categories, GB News records rates that place it consistently among the worst performing outlets, thereby suggesting that GB News has embedded a systematic pattern of hostile coverage towards Islam and Muslims as a core feature of its editorial identity.”
In its recommendations, the CfMM calls on media organisations to improve reporting practices, including greater awareness of Islamophobia, stronger engagement with Muslim communities and increased Muslim representation in newsrooms.
It also encourages journalists to rely more consistently on evidence-based reporting when covering stories about Muslims and Islam, and to expand beyond politics, conflict, and crime to include everyday life, culture, and community.
Journalist and author Peter Oborne said: “Not all the findings in this report are unexpected. Who would have guessed that the Spectator is the most Islamophobic media outlet in Britain? But this authoritative and fair-minded study is a sobering and scrupulous reminder of the prejudice British Muslims have to endure. And it’s getting worse. Much worse.”
