Britain's oldest political magazine has spent years publishing harmful anti-Muslim narratives that have become normalised in public debate, researchers and media experts told The New Arab , as a major new report accused The Spectator of systemic bias against Muslims.
The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) on Tuesday published the most extensive independent analysis ever conducted of a single British publication's coverage of Muslims, examining almost 4,000 articles published by The Spectator over the past eight years.
The report, No Mere Spectator: Anti-Muslim Hostility in Britain's Oldest Political Magazine , found that more than half of the articles analysed, over 2,100 pieces, were rated either "biased" or "very biased" against Muslims, with only a small proportion meeting standards of balanced and fair representation.
"Our findings have shown that on so many levels, in terms of the kind of themes, patterns, narratives that they're regurgitating on a daily basis, not only is it not acceptable, but it's really harmful," CfMM director Rizwana Hamid told The New Arab.
"This kind of Muslim bashing has gone on for too long, and it's no longer acceptable and [The Spectator] need to be made aware of that," Hamid said.
Hamid said the publication's reporting formed part of a broader pattern of media narratives that repeatedly portrayed Muslims through the lens of security, extremism and cultural conflict, contributing to growing hostility towards British Muslim communities.
The report comes amid growing concern over rising anti-Muslim hatred in Britain, following a series of far-right incidents and renewed debate over Islamophobia in politics and the media.
According to the findings, over a third of The Spectator 's articles discussing Islamophobia framed it as a threat to free speech or British values, while coverage frequently undermined accepted definitions of Islamophobia and questioned Muslim experiences.
Researchers also found recurring narratives portraying Muslims as a civilisational threat, repeatedly linking Muslims with terrorism and crime while platforming far-right figures including Tommy Robinson and Geert Wilders.
The findings were presented on Tuesday during a panel discussion featuring Hamid, former Conservative Party chair Baroness Sayeeda Warsi , journalist and former Spectator political editor Peter Oborne, former Sun editor David Yelland, broadcaster Gavin Esler, and academic Aaron Winter.
Yelland told The New Arab he doubted the magazine would be surprised by the findings.
"It is entirely possible that [ The Spectator ] won't disagree with quite a lot of what's in this report, because a lot of these columnists believe what they're writing," he said.
While describing the report as important, Yelland cautioned against expecting immediate change.
"We need to be realistic about this. If we're going to see progress, it won't be linear. They're not going to wake up tomorrow and completely change their opinion," he said.
"I think it's very important that this report exists. I think it'd be a very uncomfortable reading," he added. "It's very difficult to read the report and come away without realising, for without any shadow of a doubt, that there is bigotry and racism."
CfMM had previously identified The Spectator as the publication with the highest level of anti-Muslim bias in its 2025 State of the Media Report , which compared coverage across multiple British news outlets.
Academic Aaron Winter, whose research focuses on the far right, warned that giving extremist figures a platform under the banner of free speech helped normalise anti-Muslim hatred.
"We need this kind of evidence. We need to call out the establishment legacy media for their role in it, both Islamophobia and the mainstreaming of the far right," Winter told The New Arab .
Winter said politicians also needed to confront the impact of such rhetoric.
"So much damage has already been done. There needs to be a continuation of the racial reckoning of 2020. But it needs to also fight attempts to repress it politically through legislation, through demonisation, and through sort of counter-extremism and counterterrorism."
Baroness Warsi also spoke about the impact of Islamophobia on British Muslims and reflected on her own experiences as the only brown member of a Conservative cabinet, saying anti-Muslim prejudice had become increasingly mainstream.
She added that she had been in contact with The Spectator 's editor, Michael Gove , before the event and believed he was willing to engage with the report's findings.
While The Spectator has yet to publicly respond to the report or The New Arab 's request for comment, Hamid said CfMM stood firmly behind its findings.
"We know what they're going to come at us with, but the reality is, we have the evidence, and so that's what we will defend our analysis on the evidence that we have there," she said.
"We're not going to hide behind what we've found," she added.