Media Coverage of Muslims: Room for More Moderate Voices

MUSLIMS IN THE MEDIA: ROOM FOR MODERATION? 1

Muslims in the Media: Room for Moderation?

Heather Risley

George Washington University


Introduction

The September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States were an obvious turning point in

Muslim-American relations. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, it was widely speculated

in the media that the perpetrators of the attacks were Muslims. The American public seemed

caught between an emotional backlash against the Muslim community and a call for tolerance.

The West, in general, has always had a tenuous relationship not only with the politics of Muslim

nations but with the Islamic culture more broadly. For many years, stereotypes have persisted in

the West that the Islamic culture is backward, Muslims are prone toward violence, and at their

most extreme, that Islam promotes terrorism. Edward Said, a well-known critic of Western

portrayals of Islam, wrote in 1980 that “Malicious generalizations about Islam have become the

last acceptable form of denigration of foreign culture in the West; what is said about the Muslim

mind, or character, or religions, or culture as a whole cannot now be said in mainstream

discussion about Africans, Jews, other Orientals, or Asians” (1981, p. xii).

Whether they have chosen it or not, Americans now feel that what happens in Muslim

countries has a greater significance on their own lives. More American soldiers have completed

multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, a high number of American humanitarian workers and

journalists are engaged in the multiple conflicts happening across the Middle East and North

Africa, politicians are facing tough choices over which side to support in sticky conflicts, and

average Americans are feeling the economic effects of these conflicts at the gas pump while still

fearing the very real risk of global terrorism.

As a result of this increased engagement with the Muslim world, a question arises as to

whether or not the media’s representation of Muslims has changed from a simplistic analysis of


“us” versus “them” to a more sophisticated understanding of the diversity within Islamic culture.

Muslims are a group often misunderstood by Americans. More than other groups, it has been

difficult for many Americans to see similarities between themselves and Muslims. Breaking

through these cultural barriers has been a long-time challenge.

If indeed media coverage of Muslims and Islamic culture has become richer, it would

have positive implications across American society. Featuring more Muslims who hold

moderate views or who live religious and nonviolent lives would go a long way in breaking

down lingering stereotypes and fostering cross-cultural understanding. Disassociating violent

political groups with the true Islamic religion is important not only for promoting tolerance, but

also for policymakers who might apply similar policy prescriptions to all Islam-oriented groups.

Literature Review

Research conducted on the media’s representation of Islam and Muslims is vast and

diverse. Efforts have been made to analyze how Muslims are depicted in both print media, as

well as film, editorial cartoons, and television. A significant amount of work has been done

analyzing coverage during the 1980s when the Arab-Israeli conflict was dominating the news.

Since September 11, 2001, more studies have been done which attempt to describe how Islam

and Muslims continue to be portrayed negatively, particularly in the American media, but most

of the analysis is purely descriptive. All the research I have read assumes the negative portrayal

of Islam overall, but authors have taken different approaches to explain exactly how negative

stereotypes are played out in different media sources. In my search, I could not find any studies

that attempted to look for the presence of positive stereotypes. In looking at negative

stereotypes, some authors have conducted a narrative analysis of what role Muslims play in

American news articles while others have taken a semiotic approach to try to describe the


nuances of how negative depictions of Islam seep through the media. While the theoretical

analysis is rich, relatively few quantitative studies have been done to test these assumptions. Of

the relevant studies that I found, most focus on a very specific aspect of the “negative depiction

of Islam” narrative, such as Muslim women as repressed victims, Arab terrorists versus Israeli

victims, Muslims as thieves, Muslims as backward and ill-educated. But still none have looked

at the reverse. In this literature review, I will present some of the most important qualitative

research to give more context for my own study and then highlight several quantitative studies

whose findings and methodologies I can build upon.

Qualitative Research

Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) and Covering Islam (1981) provide the foundational

literature in the discussion of Western understandings of Islam. Perhaps more than any other

author, Said makes the strongest case for how pervasive negative Muslim caricatures are in

Western media and the significance this has on the future of Western-Arab relations. Said

provides a detailed discussion of not only how Western media has portrayed Islam and Muslims

negatively in different contexts, but also proposes various theories of why this is so. Said posits

“The media say what they wish about Islam because they can…little else is covered because

anything falling outside the consensus definition of what is important is considered irrelevant to

United States interests and to the media’s definition of a good story” (1981, p. 150). For Said, the

ubiquity of negative Muslim stereotypes is based in Western political interests and the media

structure, which suggests that any major progress toward realistic and just coverage of Muslims

will require systemic shifts.

Despite the challenge, Said does mention models of reporting that break down the

boundaries imposed by Western power structures. The younger generation, he believes, better


understands that “Human experience, and not limiting labels like ‘the Islamic mind’ or ‘the

Islamic personality,’ defines the unit of attention. Moreover, they are genuinely interested in

exchange, and have made it a matter of conscious choice to overstep the rigid lines of hostility

put down between peoples by governments” (p. 160). The theory that human experience can

change perspectives plays a major role in my own study. The trauma of 9/11 in the United States

has arguably forced Islam into political discussions on a higher level than ever before. The

importance of the issue has certainly increased human engagement with Muslims on different

levels, which if the theory holds, would bring about alternative perspectives.

Said also addresses the inherent difficulty of defining “Islam” as a singular concept. In

reality, Islam is a loaded term that isn’t able to convey significant meaning on its own. Although

Islam is a religion, it is often used to describe a broader culture and more commonly, a brand of

politics. The strong influence of interpretation is what makes a coherent conversation on media

coverage of Islam quite difficult. Although researchers have attempted to build on work done in

the past, the definitions and interpretations used for various terms are often inconsistent. This is

not to say that terms like Islam and Muslim hold no meaning at all. It is only to underscore the

importance of clearly defining how concepts are interpreted in a way that can be related to

similar concepts discussed in the past.

Karim supports Said’s explanations for why the media perpetuates negative Muslim

stereotypes. Karim (2002) focuses specifically on how terrorists and violent groups are

described. Like Said, Karim believes the media recycles their governments’ definitions of

terrorists and violent groups by arguing that “Although mainstream journalists in technological

societies do challenge the day-to-day functioning of incumbent governments, they rarely bring

into question the fundamental structures of thought or of power” (p. 105). Because of this


dynamic, Karim believes journalists failed to produce a nuanced and contextual understanding of

Islam after 9/11. He cites examples of the “eagerness” to apply Islamic characterizations to

terrorist groups where other violent groups with known Christian influences were not described

in a religious context.

Although Karim and Said attempt to provide explanations of how and why media covers

the Islam the way it does, Hafez (2000) suggests that the lack of a comprehensive theory of

foreign reporting severely limits our knowledge of the processes underlying Western media

coverage of the Middle East and Islam. He rejects the causal assumption that Western media

generally follows the norms of the state as too simplistic. Instead, his study attempts to build a

theoretical framework for foreign reporting which he believes helps to explain why journalists

might cover Islam the way they do. In doing so, Hafez relates a large number of widely

recognized communication theories into a singular framework that specifically relates to analysis

of international reporting. Overall, the framework is a more structured mechanism than either

Said or Karim have provided under which one could analyze news.

In Hafez’s discussion, he makes several important assumptions on how news is

generated. First, journalists are both influenced by and influence the politico-economic

environment. Additionally, there is pressure from the general public about the kind of

information they want to consume. It has been shown that the public cares more about foreign

policy when it is connected to domestic concerns, and often stories are presented in that context.

Both of these assumptions explain the limits under which journalists often work. Hafez then

draws the conclusion that journalists have to make a conscious choice of whether they will be

“agents of international and intranational conflict or agents of transcultural communications” (p.

38). The role that journalists see themselves playing could be particularly salient directly after


the 9/11 attacks. That period certainly elicited emotionally charged reactions, but it also

produced a number of reflective articles about how America will be different going forward. A

number of authors immediately recognized the implications that racist stereotypes in the media

could have on the Muslim American community. There was a louder call for compassion and

tolerance toward Muslims that implied a need for “agents of transcultural communications.” So

far, no study I have found explores whether this call for tolerance had enough staying-power to

affect alternative narratives in media coverage since 9/11. A cursory overview of the studies

produced would lead one to believe it has not.

An analysis of polls conducted in the United States since 9/11 also suggest that whether

or not media narratives have changed, public opinion still remains largely cautious of a skeptical

of Islam (Panagopoulos, 2006). Soon after 9/11, more polling organizations started regularly

collecting public opinion data on attitudes toward Islam and the Muslim community. In a

comprehensive analysis of the data, Panagopoulos concluded that Americans were more

informed about, tolerant of, and sensitive to Muslims and the religion of Islam directly after the

9/11 attacks. As people became removed from the events, the data indicate that Americans

appear less informed about and more cautious toward Arab and Muslim Americans. Even more

concerning, Panagopoulos concludes that “even as Americans do not appear to possess a firm

grasp on the basic elements of the Islamic faith, these data suggest the public is, at best, skeptical

about how the Islamic faith’s teachings relate to tolerance and respect for other viewpoints.

Moreover, anxiety over Islamic fundamentalism appears to be on the mount” (p. 611). Given

this kind of data, it is certainly evident that any possible attempts in the media to associate

Muslims with positive frames in the news have not moved public opinion. Any findings that


suggest improvements in media coverage would be particularly interesting in this kind of

domestic climate.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative studies that explore media coverage of Islam are relatively few and narrow

in scope. Of course, large-scale studies of highly complex subjects like Islam are time consuming

and expensive, but certainly more work in this area is needed to empirically test the wealth of

qualitative analysis that already exists. Although not a perfect delineation, a number of studies

have sought to build upon one another over time. As discussed above, most studies do not

necessarily define terms in exactly the same way, and different methods are often used.

Comparative analysis between studies is not always appropriate, but certainly broad trends can

be drawn.

Though most studies focus on the period before 1948, when the state of Israel was

created, Mousa (1984) conducted a quantitative analysis of media coverage of Arabs in The New

York Times between 1917 and 1947. Using “theme” as his unit of analysis, rather than the more

commonly used newspaper article, the overall results were largely negative. Also, Mousa

concluded that limited information and imbalanced press coverage contributed to misconceptions

about the Arabs prior to 1948, which helped to create stereotypes that distorted

the Arab image as a whole. In many ways, Mousa laid the groundwork for quantitative analysis

in this area and there have been numerous efforts to build on his work.

Until 1995, most quantitative studies focused on Arabs. Al-Zahrani (1988) was one of

few systematic studies focusing on Muslims which concluded that coverage was mostly negative

and centered on crisis events. The study covered the years between 1979 and 1987 by using both

ABC News and The New York Times. A study was designed to build on this work by updating


the analysis to the period between 1988 and 1992 (Sheikh, Price, Oshagan, 1995). Two theories

are posited as explanations for why media coverage of Islam and Muslims is overwhelmingly

negative: The authors claim that reporters are reporting on what they don’t know well and are

influenced by the hard news cycle.

The authors tested a number of different assumptions related to foreign affairs coverage.

They hypothesized that press coverage would be foreign affairs related (specifically Middle

East), tied to crisis events, refer to a Muslim individual or group in a way that implied it applied

to all Muslims, have an overall negative tone (“fundamentalism,” “radical,” “terrorist,”

“militant,”), and in communities with larger Muslim populations, coverage would be more

positive in tone (i.e. Detroit). To determine their sample, they filtered articles that used root

words “Muslim-”, “Islam-”, and “Moslem-”, in the lead paragraphs to ensure that the entire story

would be relevant. They then drew a sample of 400 stories overall by using probability sampling

and pure random sampling which fit their goal of 25 issues per year, generally accepted to be a

sufficient sample size (Stempel, 1952). To operationalize variables such as use of stereotypes

and tone, specific information about each article was recorded. The study tracked location; story

context (using nine categories: Islamic world politics, world politics, crisis events, religion, war

and conflict, business and economics, disasters and accidents, general information, and other);

specificity of reference to Muslims: individual, aggregate, nation, and general; tone of coverage:

positive, negative or neutral; and descriptive references employed: selection of specific terms.

Other information about the articles was noted as well, such as the type of story, the byline, and

whether the story described Muslims in terms of “in a state of conflict” or “cooperation.” As the

authors expect, the results indicated that the media focused largely on events, groups or

individuals from the Middle East in response to crises, war and conflict. This study, more than


any others I found, did not start out looking for only negative frames. Although they found that

overall coverage was more negative, it would be interesting to see whether the existence of

positive frames (such as their definition of “cooperation”) has increased.

Oumais (2001) further extends the timeline of analysis by assessing media coverage of

Arabs/Muslims and Israelis largely in the context of the Arab-Israeli peace process. Oumais

used quantitative and qualitative content analysis of both American and international reporting

between the years 1991 and 1999. He used four sources: The New York Times (American), The

Times of London (British), Le Monde (French), and As-Safir (Lebonese). He conducted random

sampling for each individual newspaper by choosing every fifth article from the comprehensive

sample for the entire time period, which yielded 139 news articles per newspaper. The study

evaluated coverage of Arabs/Muslims and Israelis in terms of “aggression,” “intransigence,”

“terrorism,” “competence/incompetence.” To operationalize terrorism, coders looked for words

like: terrorist, hostage taker, kidnapper, captor, murderer, Jihad, Guerrillas, mob. A similar

approach was taken to the other key terms, all of which were organized in a coder manual and

coder sheet. In total, 12 volunteer coders were recruited, and three coders were assigned to one

newspaper. To determine inter-coder reliability, every second coder coded the first 10% that was

coded by the first coder. Oumais used the Holsi formula which requires a minimum of 80%

inter-coder agreement. He then conducted a training session where the coding sheet and key

concepts were explained, and the researcher and coders coded three articles together. Results

showed that all four newspapers considered Arabs and Muslims as more incompetent, whereas

Israel was considered more competent. Israel was considered more aggressive and intransigent,

whereas Arabs and Muslims were more likely to be considered terrorists. The Times of London

and Le Monde focused more on intransigence, while The New York Times focused more on


terrorism. This study only measured negative stereotypes and how often they were associated

with Israelis and Arabs/Muslims. It also narrows the context of news to articles where both

Israelis and Arabs/Muslims are mentioned together. Although this study is helpful in confirming

widely held assumptions that Western media has a positive bias toward Israelis, the narrow scope

left out a lot of content that only addressed Muslims.

Quantitative studies conducted after 9/11 are even more difficult to find, which suggests

that a comparative analysis that includes post-9/11 data is particularly important. Mishra (2006)

conducted a study that does cover both the period before and after 9/11. This study looked at

how the media described Islam’s compatibility or incompatibility with democracy from 1985 to

2005. Content was categorized in three ways: democracy is compatible with Islam; democracy

is incompatible with Islam; and other (which included topics Iraqi and Afghani electoral issues,

U.S. policy problems, Israel-Palestine conflict and “other”). Using a detailed set of criteria, four

newspapers qualified for membership in the U.S. prestige press: The New York Times, The

Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. To analyze these

newspapers, LexisNexis was used for selecting articles in The New York Times and The

Washington Post. Factiva was used for identifying articles in The Wall Street Journal. Relevant

articles from the Los Angeles Times were purchased directly from its website.

Results indicated that overall the media was three times more likely to emphasize the

incompatibility of Islam and democracy rather than the compatibility of the Muslim religion and

democratic system of government. However, the percentage of articles focusing on

incompatibility of Islam and democracy declined in the years during George W. Bush’s

presidency when compared to coverage during the presidential tenures of Ronald Reagan,

George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Further, compatibility of Islam and democracy was more


likely to appear in letters to the editor and editorials than news articles and opinion columns.

Looking at references to the compatibility of Islam with democracy could be one indicator of

what might constitute moderate news coverage. The references apply largely to political Islam at

the state level. More analysis is needed which includes additional indicators of moderation in the

news that apply to the individual level and community level as well.

The selected studies in this review are largely designed to test assumptions about

negative stereotypes and Islam. It is not surprising that results confirmed assumptions overall.

Although I don’t expect that an updated analysis would produce a shift from overall negative

framing to overall positive framing, a new study that focuses only on positive framing would be

a good sign of whether there is a trend toward increased moderation in coverage.

Theoretical Framework

It’s safe to say that much of the media commentary after the 9/11 terrorist attacks was

often emotionally charged. But given the trauma of the event, many writers were also reflective

about how “the enemy” was being betrayed and how that might affect Muslim Americans at

home. When the dust settled, there were calls for tolerance and a rejection of the tendency to

apply the actions of a violent few to the values of a peaceful many. Even after 9/11, Muslim

nations have dominated international news reporting. Americans are reading more about the

various groups, governments and cultural shifts within the Muslim world. Because of this higher

level of engagement, I speculate that media coverage of Muslims has become more nuanced.

During the course of the various conflicts that have sprung up in the past 10 years, the media

itself has had to play catch-up on who the key players are, where they come from, and what their

motives truly are. In an effort to perhaps better explain political motives and put them into

context, I would contend that the media has worked harder to portray a more complex picture of


Muslims by choosing to publish articles that reject a depiction of “the other” and employ positive

frames more often associated with Westerners. Instead of stories that reinforce notions of

Muslims as backward, extreme, fanatically religious, or deceitful, I predict more stories have

appeared that show Muslims sharing what are considered to be “American” values. This is not

to say that more coverage is now positive rather than negative. Muslims and Islam are in the

news frequently simply because violent conflicts have been taking place across the Muslim

world. Terrorism is also still a genuine problem, and many do associate themselves with Islam,

albeit a highly radical and corrupt version of it. Thus, I don’t predict that writers and reporters

will be able to completely free themselves of the hard news cycle. Therefore, I propose to test

three hypotheses to measure whether the number of print articles that associate Islam and

Muslims with moderation have increased or decreased since before 9/11:

H1: Compared to the period before 9/11, more stories overall will use positive frames
after 9/11.

H2: There will be more feature stories that employ the use of themes reflecting
moderation after 9/11.

H3: There will be less change in themes among hard news stories.

In H2, feature stories range from a column, an editorial, or any article that does not contain a

lede that reports breaking news. Including feature stories as an independent variable is an

important measure of attitude shifts toward perspectives on Islam because they are not driven by

the regular news cycle, and writers have more agency in the topics they choose to pursue as well

as the angle they choose to write from.

Methodology


The study will employ content analysis to measure article themes in a selection of U.S.

national newspapers between the time period of January 1979 and November 2010. November

1979 marked the start of the Iranian hostage crisis and December 2010 was the beginning of the

Arab Spring movement. The Iranian hostage crisis was a particular turning point in American-

Arab relations where media coverage heavily focused on the “cruelty and authoritarian” nature

of the Iranian regime. The study will start in January of that year to capture coverage both

directly before this event and after to see if any changes may have taken place. The Arab Spring

has been another turning point, but perhaps in the opposite direction. The revolutionaries have

been largely supported in the West, and media coverage of the movement has ascribed more

democratic values to the protesters. This study will measure up to the beginning of the Arab

Spring so that this exceptional movement will not affect the data.

The media outlets chosen for this study are considered to part of the American “prestige

press.”1 Past studies have largely focused on print media due to their extensive influence on the

rest of media and have always included at least an analysis of The New York Times. This study

will also use The New York Times in addition to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post,

and The Los Angeles Times. LexisNexis will be used for selecting articles in The New York

Times and The Washington Post. Factiva will be used for identifying articles in The Wall Street

Journal. Relevant articles from the Los Angeles Times will be purchased directly from its

website.

To test H1, the number of articles that employ moderate themes will be recorded during

the specified time period. To test H2 and H3, the article type will also be recorded. Additional

1
I have borrowed the rationale for qualification in the U.S. prestige press from a study of Islam and democracy
conducted at the University of Texas. For the complete justification, see Smeeta Mishra’s study (2006, p. 82).


information will also be recorded including the publication, date, and level of analysis. The

complete Coding Manual and Coding Sheet can be found in Appendix I.

Discussion of Terms

Coding for a moderate theme cannot be a completely objective task. For the purposes of

this study, I have chosen five important indicators that cover the political, ideological, cultural

and economic aspects of “moderation” and which could be applied at the individual, group, or

state level. The indicators for a moderate theme will be Muslims as responsible allies, Muslims

as promoters of democratic values, Muslims as supporters of non-violence, Muslims as

intellectuals, and Muslims as successful businesspeople. Although these indicators provide a

scope of a definition for moderation, these themes are not measureable by themselves. In order

to conduct a quantitative analysis, I have created a dictionary that is appropriate for each

indicator (see Figure 1). In a database search of newspaper articles, the terms Islam (+ any

variation), Muslim (+ any variation) in combination with the words from each indicator that

appear within the first three paragraphs will constitute a salient reference to a moderate theme.

Some articles may make only a passing reference to these terms. In order to weed them out, only

the first three paragraphs of the article will be analyzed, which is where the theme is usually

established.


Indicator: Terms:
Muslims as responsible allies Partner, ally/allies, cooperation, trust,
invaluable, reliable, team
Muslims as promoters of democratic values tolerance, religious freedom, free speech,
women’s rights, human rights, equal rights,
secular, open debate
Muslims as supporters of non-violence peace, understanding, diplomacy, healing, non-
violence, pacifism, moral high ground
Muslims as intellectuals Intellect, thinker, opposing views, authority,
dialogue, wisdom, expert
Muslims as successful businesspeople Business-savvy, modern, innovative,
entrepreneur, free market, jobs, employment

Figure 1. List of Indicators and Relevant Terms

Sampling

Once database searches are completed, I anticipate that the initial sample will be very

large. To make the study feasible, a sampling method will be employed also used by Sheikh,

Price, and Oshagan (1995, p. 144). Based on their study, collecting 30 articles per year was

deemed to produce a sufficient sample size. For each newspaper, eight stories per year will be

systematically sampled (with a random start date) that adds up to a total of 32 articles a year.

This sample will yield a total of 256 articles per newspaper and a total of 1024 articles

altogether. For each newspaper, the 256 news articles will then be given a number of 1 to 256.

A table of random numbers will be consulted to sample 200 articles from each newspaper. The

final sample will have a total of 800 articles.

Inter-Coder Reliability

To code the samples, 12 volunteer coders will be recruited so that three coders will be

responsible for one newspaper. The coders will be trained on the coding manual and coding

sheet. Discussion will be encouraged when questions arise. Then a pretest will be conducted


where the coders for each newspaper will code 20 articles. Every second coder will code the

first 10% of the articles coded by the first coder to increase inter-coder reliability. At the end of

the pre-test, all coders will share their results with each other. The Holsi formula requires 80%

inter-coder reliability (Oumais, 2001). Additional questions will be resolved and any necessary

adjustments in the guidelines for coding will be made. Coders will continue to complete the

Coding Sheet for the 800 articles and the results will be analyzed.

Conclusion

It is clear that a wide-reaching study is needed to look at the presence of positive

stereotypes associated with Muslims and Islam. As a society, it’s important to assess our own

progress. To measure moderate themes in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The

Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, I’ve chosen five indicators that I believe is the

best representation of what most people would characterize as moderate. Each indicator is also

associated with a list of terms which will serve as the best guide for defining a salient reference.

I’ve attempted to employ a method which will yield a large sample size, but still maintain the

study’s feasibility.

Fortunately, a content analysis study is relatively inexpensive. There may be some costs

involved in obtaining a sufficient number of articles from each news source, especially now that

newspapers have started to monetize their content. It may also be difficult to recruit qualified

coders who are experienced in textual analysis. My intent is that by providing a larger number of

coders, I will increase the amount of agreement between them. Even still, the amount of content

relative to the number of coders is high. Assembling the content might take one to two weeks,

but I anticipate the coding portion of the study to take a couple of months. Coders will need time

thoroughly analyze the text, discuss any hesitations, and take a sufficient number of breaks.


Although I’ve tried to provide clear guidelines on what constitutes a moderate theme, I

will also have to sacrifice some objectivity. Training and the pre-test exercise will be critical to

obtaining a certain level of consistency. I am also limiting this study to a small number of print

media sources. Others have argued that television news is a ripe media source for analyzing

cultural stereotypes. Including news-magazine style media sources, such as The Atlantic

Monthly and The Economist, may also yield a greater amount of feature content where

alternative narratives are often told. In the end, I chose the four newspaper sources purely for

their long-term influence in foreign reporting. Additional studies that include additional sources,

and perhaps a wider definition of moderation, would be beneficial in order to further strengthen

data that results from this study.


Appendix I

Coding Manual

Article Type: Newspaper: Theme: Level of Analysis
1 – News article 1 – New York Times 1 – Muslims as responsible allies 1 – individual
2 – Feature article 2 – Wall Street Journal 2 – Muslims as promoters of 2 – group
democratic values
3 – Editorial/Column 3 – Los Angeles Times 3 – Muslims as supporters of non- 3 – state
violence
4 – Letter to the Editor 4 – Washington Post 4 – Muslims as intellectuals
5 – Muslims as successful
businesspeople

Coding Sheet
ID Number

Publication

Newspaper

Analysis
Level of
Theme
Article
Type

Date


References

Al-Zahrani, A.A. (1988). U.S. Television and Press Coverage of Islam and Muslims.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma, USA.
Breuning, M. (1983). "Local media structure and issue salience as determinants of coverage: The
case of the Arab world as covered by The New York Times. Unpublished master's thesis,
Ohio State University, Columbus.
Hafez, K. (2000). Islam and the West in the mass media : fragmented images in a globalizing
world / edited by Kai Hafez. Cresskill, NJ : Hampton Press, 2000.
Mishra, S. (2008). Islam and Democracy: Comparing Post-9/11 Representations in the U. S.
Prestige Press in the Turkish, Iraqi, and Iranian Contexts. Journal of Communication
Inquiry, 32(2), 155-178. doi:10.1177/0196859907311694
Mousa, I. (1987). The Arab Image: The New York Times, 1916-1948. Gazette: The International
Journal for Mass Communication Studies, 40(2), 101-120.
Oumais, N. (2002). The Western Elite Press Construction of Islam (the Arabs and Iran) (1991--
1999). Dissertation Abstracts International. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences,
62(12), 3982.
Panagopoulos, C. (n.d). The Polls – Trends – Arabs and Muslim Americans and Islam in the
Aftermath of 9/11. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70(4), 608-624.
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
Said, E. (1981). Covering Islam. New York: Pantheon Books.
Sheikh, K. Z., Price, V., & Oshagan, H. (1995). Media Treatment of Islam: What Kind of Picture
Do the Media Paint?. Gazette: International Journal for Communication Studies, 56(2),
139-154.
Stempel III, G.H. (1952). "Sample size for classifying subject matter in dailies," Journalism
Quarterly, 29(3): 333-34.

Media Coverage of Muslims: Room for More Moderate Voices

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Media Coverage of Muslims: Room for More Moderate Voices

Similar to Media Coverage of Muslims: Room for More Moderate Voices (17)

More from Heather Risley

More from Heather Risley (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Media Coverage of Muslims: Room for More Moderate Voices