Whenever you do anything or take a step, you must think about the result it would produce. The step should be result-oriented. You must remember that if a step you take distorts the image of Islam, then you should stop yourself even if your action is very truthful. We get many examples of this in the Prophet's life. In the Prophet's time there was a person in Madina called Abdullah ibn Ubayy. In the early period of Islam, Ibn Ubayy created a lot of strife and discord. The Prophet had political power in his hands. All his companions advised that Ibn Ubayy should be put to death. Even Ibn Ubayy's own son used to say that his father should be killed. He was of the opinion that his father should be put to death. The Prophet didn’t kill Ibn Ubayy in spite of having power. 

Why? Because the Prophet said that if I get him killed, people will say that Muhammad kills his own men. (Sahih al-Bukhari 4907) The image of Islam that will become famous among people is that Islam believes in violence. The Prophet left Ibn Ubayy until he died his natural death. Ibn Ubayy was involved in propogating the famous lie about Hazarat Aisha. The principle is that any step or action that results in defaming Islam should be completely halted. This is a great teaching of Islam. But in the past 200 years, Muslims didn’t care about it in the least. They behaved in a way that distorted the image of Islam in this age of media. A double crime happened. When Islam was already defamed, Muslims began to blame the media for this distortion of the image of Islam. This is a 100% lie. The media doesn’t distort, rather it is Muslims' own actions that the media reports, which causes tarnishing of the image of Islam.