Representations of Islam in the News: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

The results from the research project “Cultural values in the news : a cross-cultural content analysis of the representation of Islam in the European press”, funded by the Flemish Research Foundation “FWO-Vlaanderen” (2012-2015)” are reported in this book. The representation of Islam is unquestionably a critical test for comparing journalistic reporting across countries. The Islamic religion has weight in international reporting (defining what we termed “foreign Islam”), but it is also the religion of numerically important minority groups residing in Europe (“national Islam”). The first part of the book is ‘setting the scene’. Three chapters give an insight in dominant patterns in Islam representation detected by various authors and studies involved with Islam representation in Europe. Part two is the core section of the book devoted to the research project that inspired this book in the first place. The project aimed to contribute to the development of the field of comparative journalism studies by comparing five countries and six media systems in Western-Europe: the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (Flanders), the French-speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia), the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK. Less often than media representation of Islam and Muslims, the audience’s reactions to these presentations are studied. Part three of this book presents two reception studies, one qualitative and the other quantitative. Equally important, as the bulk of attention goes to Western Europe, is the extension towards the representation of Muslims and Islam outside Western Europe. Part four of the book is devoted to the representation of Islam in some of the so-called BRICs-countries: Russia, China and India.

ISBN:9781498509879

Publication year:2016