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According to a recent national survey, 44 percent of Americans believe the US government should suspend civil rights and use surveillance techniques to spy on Muslim Americans. The poll was commissioned by the Media and Society Research Group through Cornell University’s Department of Communication. In what may indicate increasing intolerance for Islam and Muslims in America, 22 percent of respondents believed the federal government should profile Muslims as potential internal security threats, and 27 percent of pollsters were in favor of formal registration of Muslims and 26 percent replied that places were Islamic services are held should be routinely monitored by law enforcement agencies. The poll also indicated that sixty-five percent of Christian respondents believed that Islam is prone to violence more than any other religious faith. Also 50 percent viewed Islamic nations as fanatical, dogmatic and dangerous. Since most Americans have little, if any, personal contact with Muslims, their views and opinions are shaped and shaded by what they absorb from the mass media particularly television network news channels. Mainstream movies, magazine periodicals, and newspaper articles also play a central role in fashioning Islamic prejudices and fears.[more]