Erroneous Cartography
The Moor Next Door, a blog that covers the politics, foreign policy and diplomacy of the Maghreb and the Arab Middle East, posted on an incorrectly labeled map of Islamic nations that appeared in Newsweek. It’s since been corrected, but it had initially marked the Palestinian Territories as Israel. However, there is a larger issue the blog brings to our attention: although the map states that its purpose is to focus on “some of the countries with the largest Muslim populations,” it fails to highlight several that would be valuable inclusions, e.g. Tunisia, Libya, Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Geography is an important aspect of cultural awareness and is vital to building sensitivity. Media outlets serve the public when new knowledge, like statistics in the aforementioned map on religious freedom, are accurately and comprehensively portrayed.
See the post here.
