‘MUHAMMAD’ BECOMES MOST POPULAR BOYS’ NAME IN UNITED KINGDOM

Fri 10 December 2021:

The name of the Islamic prophet, “Muhammad” has become the most popular boys’ name in the United Kingdom in 2021, a British website focusing on pregnancy and baby care has said in a blog post.

“There was a change at the top of the girls’ chart as Olivia reclaimed the top spot after falling back to second place last year. Muhammad held strong for another year in pole position as it proved to be the most popular boys name again with parents,” said Sophie Bell, a blog writer for BabyCentre which is a resource for moms-to-be and parents in Britain.

According to latest census, there are over 3.3 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom.

According to Muslimcensus.co.uk, half of Muslims in Britain are considered to be living in poverty compared to 18% of the entire country.

The coverage of Muslims and Islam in the United Kingdom is mostly negative, with online media almost hitting 60% and television clips just under the 50% mark, a report by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) also showed recently.

The research analyzed over 48,000 online articles and 5,500 broadcast clips over a time span from 2018 to 2020. The news agencies Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse (AFP) were named as the most likely to publish negative articles about Muslims, arguing that they set the framing of Muslims and Islam. These wires are used by many news outlets and broadcast networks, making big waves in media that mostly copy and publish the articles one to one.

Other key findings show that 7% of all articles that were analyzed included one or more generalizations about Muslims, Islam with “the worst offenders being right-leaning or religious outlets,” the report states. The highest percentage of generalizations are made on the topics of terrorism or extremism with 25%, followed by politics with 18%. Closely afterward with 17% comes the topic of the Middle East and religion with 15%.

The 162-page report shows in detail how biased the reporting is – with the U.K. weekly “The Spectator” being the worst in “antagonistic bias” and “supportive bias” towards Muslims and Islam.

Upon the publication of the report editors of The Sunday Times and Daily Mirror voiced their support and called for fairer reporting. Emma Tucker of The Sunday Times said: “I welcome this report – in the full knowledge that it contains criticisms of the press, my own paper included.”

-DS | FILE PHOTO

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