Islam is particularly difficult for western media. It isn't a church, with a hierarchy that sets the rules and theological standards. Its traditions range from something quite comfortable and recognisable, a bit like the C of E, to demented insurgency led by crazed and sometimes deeply evil visionaries.
The problem for media organisations isn't condemning the out-and-out terrorists and suicide bombers. It is criticising those moderate Muslims who for one reason or another - fear, confusion or visceral sympathy - refuse to distance themselves clearly from the, er, bad guys. This makes the whole issue very slippery. Journalists get irritated and cut corners. It's a balls-up.
Some years ago I was offered the job of reviewing a new edition of an old translation of the Koran. The lit. ed. of the small paper involved seemed worried that the paper might get bombed if I said the wrong thing. It was an interesting job and no one got bombed. There's no need to pussyfoot around. No one except hypocrites will mind if you tell it as you see it. But you have to see it clearly and find out a thing or two first, not just bulldoze in with half-formed opinions. Educated Muslims are infuriated, usually justifiably, by the attitudes they see in our media. Yet the difference between these annoying views and views that can be defended is often very subtle.
As I said, slippery.
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