Don't I know it. I studied Islam a bit, and the problem is not the religion, but the cultural attitudes of people that pervade the religious aspects. For example, a moderate Muslim living in the US is going to have differing cultural attitude compared to a moderate Sunni or moderate Shiite from Iraq. The problem are the extremists and there are extremists in every religion, from Christianity (Reverend Phelps) to Islam (Osama Bin Ladin). I haven't heard anything about extremist Buddhists, but I am sure they are out there. Sneaky bastards.
In any case, I think the main problem that US media has with Islamic countries is the sheer amount of censorship that goes on. Censorship is the first step in removing freedom.