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European Union flagsReuters

A report from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that the British media omit any mention of the religion of terrorists when the terrorists happen to be Muslim.

The 83-page report found that there was an increase in hate speech and racist violence in the UK between 2009 and March 2016.

Going beyond identifying a problem, the report makes 23 recommendations to the government of Theresa May to fight against racism.

However, some of the recommendations are aimed at restricting what the British press is allowed to report, raising the specter of censorship.

The report laid much of the blame for its reported rise of Islamophobic incidents in the UK on how the British press reported ISIS-linked and inspired terrorist attacks throughout Europe in recent years.

“It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians,” said ECRI chairman Christian Ahlund.

In the report, the ECRI claimed that, "in light of the fact that Muslims are increasingly under the spotlight as a result of recent ISIS-related terror attacks around the world, fueling prejudice against Muslims shows a reckless disregard, not only for the dignity of the great majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom, but also for their safety."

The report also states that "In this context, it draws attention to a recent study by Teeside University suggesting that where the media stress the Muslim background of perpetrators of terrorist acts, and devote significant coverage to it, the violent backlash against Muslims is likely to be greater than in cases where the perpetrators’ motivation is downplayed or rejected in favour of alternative explanations."

The report recommended that the British government "give more rigorous training” to journalists to avoid causing what it terms further "Islamophobia."

The British government issued a written response to the recommendations that it stop its press from reporting when terrorists are Muslims. “The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law.”

While the ECRI report mentions that there has also been a rise in anti-Semitism in the UK, with 2014 having the most anti-Semitic incidents on record, it does not make any recommendations whatsoever that the British press change how it reports on Israel or other Jewish topics despite the widespread belief among many Jewish organizations that skewed reporting on Israel has contributed to the rise in anti-Semitic discourse and violence in the UK.