Anti-Muslim hate speech gets sites removed from Google News

Those of us who use Google News have often been appalled by the inclusion of articles from anti-Muslim hate sites. To their credit, Google have now decided to remove some of the most egregious examples of internet Islamophobia.

The New Media Journal was kicked off Google News after posting an article entitled “How Has Islam Enriched Your Life?” by syndicated columnist Arlen Peck. In it, Peck wrote: “It is common for the men to have multiple wives, and harvest many children with each of his wives to train for martyrdom.” He asked: “Is it really tacky of me to smile at the nightly scenes on TV showing Arab, Afghani and Pakistani Muslims bombing mosques and killing their Muslim brothers, sisters and children at a brisk pace because that’s all they know how to do?”

The Journal said it feels it did nothing wrong by running these stories. “Something frighteningly ominous has been happening on the Internet lately: Google, without any prior explanation or notice, has been terminating its News relationship with conservative e-zines and web journals,” the Journal posted on its site.

eWeek, 23 May 2006