Did Media Blow ‘Quran Burning’ Out Of Proportion?
Has media coverage of the planned burning of Qurans by the Rev. Terry Jones and his tiny Florida congregation given this provocative event too big a stage? Or has the coverage been reasonably proportioned in view of the larger controversy over a proposed Islamic center in New York City? Melissa Block talks with NPR’s David Folkenflik about coverage of the event.
BLOCK: The story reached a fever pitch in large part because of international media coverage. I asked NPR’s media correspondent, David Folkenflik, to trace the evolution of this story.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: Well, it started off as a very small story. There was actually a tiny bit of coverage on a local TV station, and that got sent to CAIR. CAIR is this group - a Muslim rights organization called the Council on American-Islamic Relations. And they issued this statement in - around the 19th of July saying it’s important that we take this as a day of education in response to what seemed to them a very hateful act.
CAIR used to be one of the favorite punching bags on the internet.