PRP

POLI20900 Student ID: 8972479
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POLI20900
Politics ResearchProject 2015-16
Question: What is the British newsprintmedia’srepresentation of
Islam? Doesit providepolitical context, or is it framed in a certain
narrativedueto the rise of the Islamic State?
StudentID: 8972479
Year 2
Supervisor: PiersRobinson
Word Count: 5,497

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Abstract
This project will be examining whether British newsprint media’s portrayal of
Islam is framed in a certain narrative that is overwhelmingly negative or
whether it provides genuine political context. Using critical discourse analysis, I
analyse two broadsheet editorial articles in depth about Islam and Muslims, one
from The Daily Telegraph, and one from The Guardian, appearing in newspapers
on 16th November 2015, three days after the Paris Attacks. I find that both have
a slight frame to them with the Daily Telegraph having a more negative
narrative, which creates a degrading tone towards Islam. With the help of other
literature on political framing, one can look at the type of frame that is being put
on these editorials, bearing in mind it is the immediate aftermath of the worst
terror attack on Western soil since 9/11. The project finds that the frames in this
research, reflects other literature, in that the British newsprint media, albeit with
subtlety, is wary of Islam, creating a negative portrayal of Islam due to the rise of
the Islamic State.
Introduction
Since 2001, there has been a huge amount of media attention on Islam and
British Muslims. Almost every day there are reports in UK newspapers on
subjects of terror and the rise of the Islamic State. It is what the media are talking
about. We live in an unprecedented era where the terror threat has remained at

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an extremely high level for over a decade. During the period since 2001,
parliament has introduced four new acts of an “extensive ray of counter
terrorism measures”1. This is because of the continual attacks against the West,
which started with the September 11th Twin Towers attacks in 2001. Since that
devastating attack, Europe and the United States have been hit with Islamist
terrorist attacks including the March 2004 Madrid bombings, July 2005 London
bombings, April 2013 Boston bombings, the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting in
Paris, followed by the Paris Attacks in the same year and most recently, the
Brussels Attacks in early 2016. Not only have we had these, but what is also in
the news involving Muslims are foiled plots, terror raids and terrorist trials. In
what could be called a domino effect, with the continual negative coverage of
Islam and with the heightened political context and controversy of the British
and American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the effects on society’s
perception of Muslim communities has been a very unfavourable one. This
research project will be honing in on a specific example on whether the
newsprint media in the UK has a framed narrative that has added to this anti-
Islam or anti-Muslim atmosphere, which is very much present.
Given how good the media are at reinforcing to society their opinion on certain
ethnic groups, almost as a source of public information2, I thought that it would
be interesting to investigate to what extent the newsprint media framed their
1 Moore, Kerry. Mason, Paul. Lewis, Justin (2008). “Images of Islam in the UK”.
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies. P6
2 Bennett, W. Lance, and Robert M. Entman. 2001. Mediated Politics:
Communication in the Future of Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press

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narrative and how much political context was provided. I have chosen these two
articles from November 16th 2015, because they land three days after the most
gruesome attack on the West since 9/11. Thanks to other literature, which will
be looked at later on in a review, we know that coverage of Islam doesn’t
necessarily become more negative in the immediate aftermath of an attack3; in
fact, it can often become less negative, before returning to the usual tone in the
months after. As these two articles fall into the immediate aftermath of the Paris
Attacks, I will be taking into account the literature about common narratives and
comparing it to the research that I have found. Security concerns drive the
majority of society’s perception of different cultures. Everybody wants to be safe,
so if a particular group within society is constantly being reported in the news as
an enemy, then perceptions naturally change. Since 9/11, concerns over
terrorism have been at the forefront of national security. Yet these concerns have
played an unfair part in shaping Western opinion on Islam and the Muslim
community. We have seen the development of “new, if not a deepening of
existing, negative perceptions suggesting connections between Muslim
communities situated in the West and Islamic extremist groups.”4 In a time when
we live and have grown up in a multicultural society, this is worrying. Framing of
media coverage, especially in the newsprint media, is prominent when
describing a conflict. We know the influence that the press holds, so we will be
researching whether there is any evidence of framing in the two articles that
could have an effect on the audience that could lead to an unfair representation
3 Bleich, Eric. Nisar, Hasher. Abdelhamid, Rana. (2015) The effect of terrorist
events on media portrayals of Islam/Muslims: NYT Headlines 1985-2013
4 Pauly, J Robert. (2015). Islam in the West: Perception vs Reality. International
Studies Review p313

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of Islam in the UK. The project casts an in depth light on the reporting of two of
the most well regarded broadsheet newspapers in the UK, from each side of the
political spectrum. The findings suggest that the audience is likely to gain a
subtle negative representation of Islam, more so in The Daily Telegraph, perhaps
due to the rise of the Islamic State. We also see limited political context. This
goes in line with current literature surrounding the subject of the project.
Hypothesis
This research project expects to find a negative representation of Islam in the
British newsprint media, with the narrative being framed in a specific way to
enforce this and limited political context of the subject being addressed.
Methodology
This research project will employ a method of Critical Discourse Analysis
(CDA) in the investigation into the representation of Islam in the British
newsprint media. I will be using CDA to analyse two articles, critiquing the use of
language and tone of the narrative. CDA is suited to my project more so than
other methods of analysis as it allows one to focus specifically on what is being
written. The samples for this project were gathered from the Lexis Nexis
database of British Newspapers. Lexis Nexis has its drawbacks, with keyword
searches not being very comprehensive, however this has been taken into

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account and the two articles that were chosen to analyse are based on my own
detailed analysis. Using CDA is also beneficial as it can tie in nicely with the
framing theory, which is important as a key part of the research revolves around
whether or not the articles’ narrative has been framed in a certain way. With
CDA, we see the use of language as a form of social practice. Wodak and Meyer
describe the method of analysis as being “fundamentally interested in analysing
opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance,
discrimination, power and control as manifested in language”.5 As this project is
focusing on two articles with an in depth analysis into both, discourse analysis is
a perfect method. We can look at how the article is positioned and whose
interests are served by this positioning. What kind of language is being used and
how it is affecting the audience? What are the consequences of this? These are
examples of questions the project will be answering. By focusing on the use of
language, we pick up on specific words, or the way a phrase is being used in
context to the article. From this, being able to see how the article is being framed
becomes easier. Using Norman Fairclough’s model of discourse analysis, we have
three very inter-related strands of discourse that are inextricably linked to three
inter-related processes of analysis.6
The three strands of discourse are firstly, the object itself; in this case it is
words or phrases within the article. The second part is the ways in which the
object is produced and received by the audience, so for this research project it
5 Wodak, R, & Meyer, M. (2013). Methods for critical discourse analysis. Thousand
Oaks, SAGE, p10
6 Fairclough, N. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis. London, Longman.

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will be writing and reading. And thirdly, the socio-historical conditions which
manage these processes. According to Fairclough however, each of these require
a type of analysis. The first is text analysis, which is description of what is
occurring before we move onto the second part of analysis, processing analysis,
which is our interpretation of the object that we have just described. Finally,
there is social analysis, which is an explanation of the previous two processes.7
In this research project, the explanation will be the point at which the project
will explain what kind of representation the two articles are giving Islam, and
whether there is a type of framing on the article due to the rise of the Islamic
State. We will then, using CDA, look at whether the articles have provided any
political context on the topic. Using this process, the project will be able to use
both articles to evaluate the research question.
Because this research project could be seen to be rather paradigm, using just
two articles to evaluate how the British newsprint media represents Islam while
looking into framing of the media; by using CDA, we will be able to come to a
definitive evaluation of the question. When using CDA to analyse two articles, it
is necessary to look at the two different sides that could emerge. One would be
an evaluation showing that the narrative of the articles is severely framed with
limited political context, showing that newsprint media’s representation of Islam
in the aftermath of an attack is unfair. This could be because of the way in which
certain parts of the language are positioned in context to an aggressive sentence
for example. Or perhaps the actual linguistic selection itself and why a harsh
7 Janks, Hilary. Critical Discourse Analysis as a Research Tool. South Africa.
http://www.uv.es/gimenez/Recursos/criticaldiscourse.pdf

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word has been used instead of a more appropriate word. With CDA, much can be
analysed, from the juxtapositioning of the text to the layout. The other outcome
would be using CDA to look at how the article’s narrative has been presented to
us in a way that it impartial and fair, looking at the type of language and
analysing why the audience wouldn’t be influenced by the linguistic selection.
We would then come to the evaluation that newsprint media’s representation of
Islam is a fair one, having no frame to it and the correct political context. This
type of methodology is perfect for this research project looking at just two
articles, as it allows an in depth analysis of language and how social relations are
affected because of this.
Literature Review
This project chose to focus on British newsprint media and the representation
of Islam because it was a topic that was not as widely addressed as others in
current literature. When looking at current literature over the past decade, an
extensive body of it tells us that media coverage on Islam, and Muslims for that
matter, is predominantly negative. In Moore, Mason and Lewis’ report on the
representation of British Muslims in National Print News media, they found that
between 2000-2008, 36% of stories about British Muslims were about terrorism.
This is an astonishing figure. The language used is also said to reflect the
“negative or problematic contexts in which British Muslims tend to appear.”8
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies. P3

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From one Australian piece of literature, we learn that “Islam and Muslims have a
problematic history with the media.”9 This is backed up with evidence from
Bleich, Nisar and Abdelhamid’s report into New York Times headlines between
1985-2013. From the Nacos and Torres-Reyna report, they learnt that “there was
a shift from ‘limited and stereotypical coverage’ pre-9/11 to more
‘comprehensive, inclusive, and less stereotypical’ presentation afterwards.”10 Of
course, there were attacks from extreme Islamists on the West pre 9/11,
however the Twin Towers was when the war on terror really commenced. So the
suggestions from the literature that there was negative representation of Islam
in the media before 2001, tells this project that the coverage can only really get
worse considering the recent terror problems. Muslims are in a vulnerable
position within society, and were before 2001. This is a consistent theme in all
the literature. Noor argued that “Muslim identity and the concerns of Muslims
are increasingly being defined in terms of an oppositional dialectic that pits
Islam and Muslims against the rest of the world.”11 This is significant as although
it is not specifying the media, this is the aura that comes across in most of the
literature; this idea that Muslims are almost ‘the other’. Although the literature
almost gives a unanimous account that there is unfair representation of Muslims
in the media, it must be said that this will not affect the projects research. It must
also be said that not all coverage is negative, but that shouldn’t be the point. The
9 Akbarzadeh,Shahram. Smith, Bianca. The Representation of Islam and Muslims in
the Media. Monash University. 2005, p7.
10 Bleich, Eric. Nisar, Hasher. Abdelhamid, Rana. (2015) The effect of terrorist
events on media portrayals of Islam/Muslims: NYT Headlines 1985-2013 p3
11 Noor, F. A. (2007). Mediating the mediated image of Islam: Multiple audiences,
differentiated constituencies in the global age, in Abdul Rashid Moten via
http://www.globalresearch.ca/islamophobia-and-the-negative-media-portrayal-
of-muslims/5440451?print=1

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point should be about how too much of the current media according to literature,
is giving Islam unfair representation which obviously damages the reputation of
peaceful Muslim communities up and down the country. The tabloids in the UK
include more controversial coverage on Muslim extremism than the broadsheets
do.12 They have been seen to have used indecent and mockery language about
Islam and Muslims on many occasions in the past, as is shown in the case study
example in the report by the Cardiff School of Journalism. A good example to
show a case of extremely unfair representation of Muslims in British newsprint
is the example of when a British Muslim, Nadiya Hussain, won The Great British
Bake Off. The Daily Mail was quoted as saying “Today her adopted hometown of
Leeds is bursting with pride. It was ten years ago this July – the same year that
Nadiya and Abdel wed – that four bombers attacked London; three of them were
raised in or near Leeds.”13 This is an extreme example of unfair representation,
with no political context. Of course, this is not a regular occurrence, but is an
example to back up literature suggesting there is an unfair representation of
Islam in the media.
What must also be looked at in terms of literature is the framing theory.
According to Entman to frame “is to select some aspects of a perceived reality
and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to
promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation,
Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies.p31
13 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3265811/Nadiya-race-relations-
UK-politician.html

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and/or treatment recommendation.”14 He talked about the de-emphasizing of
certain things, the choice of adjectives and the different frames by the media for
different situations. So, according to this, framing must be journalists making
their own judgements on events or certain things, with the potential to affect
how the public understand the subject the journalist is writing on. Media frames
are so important when looking at serious subjects because as Powell says, “since
terrorism, by definition, is shocking and sensational, it draws media attention.”15
As it draws this media attention, it is of course going to come at the story at an
angle. News organisations shape their reports of narrative to gain favourable
reactions from readers, and according to Entman, “the anticipated reactions of
the public also affect the rhetoric and actions of political elites, who are the
primary ‘sponsors’ of news frames.”16 If this is the case, then it makes the fact
that the literature points to unfair representation of Islam in the media even
worse, as the media framing is happening because of the way the majority of
society think. This is most likely a result of the rise of extreme Islam, and
currently, the Islamic State. When covering Islam, Powell uses Bhatia’s example
of terrorism becoming “associated with barbarism, evil and a lack of freedom”17
within the media and that this soon becomes representative of Islam. The
literature on media framing suggests that it is very much present in the press
14 Entman, R. M. 1993. Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm.
Journal of Communication, 43, p52
15 Powell, Kimberly. 2011. Framing Islam: An analysis of U.S media coverage since
9/11. Communication Studies. Routledge. P91
16 Entman, Robert. 2006. Symposium Framing U.S. Coverage of International
News: Contrasts in Narratives of the KAL and Iran Air Incidents. Journal of
Communication. 41. P7.
17 Powell, Kimberly. 2011. Framing Islam: An analysis of U.S media coverage since
9/11. Communication Studies. Routledge p93 via Bhatia (2008 p218)

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amongst topical issues, with one being Islam and the on-going controversy
surrounding the extremist terror groups. Frames have the power to create a
sense of indifference towards a certain group of people, which in an age when
many British Muslims feel vulnerable, is important to take into account when
researching. The research regarding media frames of Islam furthers an
understanding of how news organisations portray the culture and religion of
Muslims and it is clear from literature that media framing in a certain way when
reporting on Islam does exist.
Analysis
The Daily Telegraph, November 16, 2015 Monday
National Edition
Charles Moore
The Daily Telegraph article, published three days after the Paris Attacks, draws
in the audience immediately as the headline is about the ‘struggle’ the UK has
against Islamists when making policy. After such a scathing attack on a country
that geographically and culturally is very close to home, the readers will want to
find out why there is this struggle. Compared to some of the literature that has
been researched, this headline does not have a frame on it, as the processing
analysis is that it is telling the reader that more needs to be done to fight these
radical extremists. As one of the most respectable broadsheets in the country,

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this newspaper has to be careful to not go too far in terms of presenting the
reader with a negative view of Islam as a whole. The editorial then starts with
some personal historical context of France itself from Moore, explaining the city
forty years ago and the left-wing demonstrations that went on, however we hear
that there is this “overwhelming difference between then and now.”18 The reader
is having the scene set for them but it is a fair and impartial narrative, with no
slant to it, providing political context.
When the narrative starts to move into the present day, we see the first
mention of the word Islam. Five words before the word Islam, we read the word
“murderers”19. By placing this negative noun just before the word Islam, the
audience will naturally associate Islam with murder, because by placing the noun
before the object, it is almost presupposing that murder is part of the package
that comes with Islam. The narrative has certainly been framed in a way that will
affect the audience’s interpretation of Islam, especially coming from a well-
regarded broadsheet newspaper. If we move on from looking at the linguistic
selection from Moore to looking at the political context that surrounds this
sentence, it shows a very poor representation of Islam. The word ‘murderers’ has
been used because there is an apparent struggle against “murderers waving the
green flag of Islam”20 around France rather than the “red flag of Communism”21.
This statement is completely out of context. The majority of people who ‘wave
18 Moore, Charles (2015). “We must not amplify the voices of Islamists; It is hard to
imagine a clearer foes, yet we still struggle to make policy in the light of their
threat”, The Daily Telegraph, 16 November 2015, p23
19 Ibid
20 Ibid
21 Ibid

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the green flag’ are as peaceful as any law-abiding Christian. By saying this, it
creates a tone that once again, associates anybody with the ‘green flag of Islam’
as a murderer. The framing on this is demeaning towards Islam, in a way that
will not help on going societal issues. Why is there this type of narrative?
Perhaps because there is anger in the aftermath of the attack, but to report in
such an unfair way is wrong. Not once do we hear of the murderers being
extremists, or part of the Islamic State. The paragraph goes on to put in an
emphatic parallel saying the purpose of these wavers of the ‘green flag of Islam’
would not be “the transformation of Western civilisation, but its defeat and
destruction.”22 We see two extreme opposite situations next to each other in this
sentence, creating a powerful and frightening message to any reader. The reason
why this is unfair representation, providing no political context is because the
narrative has associated the green flag of Islam with murderers.
Half way through the editorial we read, “Essentially, Islamism is a doctrine
which provides a reason to hate and kill everyone who does not subscribe to
it.”23 This may be true, and is a fair representation of what these extreme
Islamists desire. Yet we still do not read anywhere in the article, of how small a
minority within Islam these radical groups are, making it difficult for the reader
to distinguish radical Islam from the peaceful religion that it is. That may be
asking too much of the article, however towards the end, we do finally read that
most Muslims are peace-loving and decent, however in a way that is rather
derogatory and framed in a way that is not going to help the audiences’
22 Ibid
23 Ibid

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interpretation of Islam. Once again, we see a complete lack of political context.
Immigration is the topic and the editorial states, “even if it is true”24 about the
majority of Muslims are peaceful and loving as any other group of people, “you
have the simple problems of numbers.”25 Firstly, the words ‘even if it is true’ are
dismissive and patronising. We know that it is true that most Muslims are peace
loving and as decent as any other group of people. By framing the words in this
way, the reader is led on to agree that we are almost better off without Muslims.
It is on the verge of creating a ‘them’. This framing of the narrative helps to
determine which side of the debate the public will empathise with. Moore goes
on to give an example of the numbers of Muslims reaching Germany this year,
and says that if a million were to arrive then 1 per cent of those would subscribe
to Isil, meaning “10,000 people dedicated to killing their hosts and assailing the
society that accommodates them.”26 Firstly, one million is an exaggeration; the
figure was believed to be nearer to 800,00027, and secondly, this is a huge
generalization that automatically makes the reader feel distant to any Muslim.
We see a clear frame that is dismissive of Islam and Muslims.
Moore ends with a sentence that says the “grim fact is that we have within our
midst thousands of people whose lives are devoted to doing our society harm.”28
From language used throughout the article, those ‘people’ that are being referred
to are Muslims. This gives off an impression that nobody knows whom these
people are, which is true, but it means that the reader could easily interpret it as
24 Ibid
25 Ibid
26 Ibid
27 http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7199/germany-islamization
28 Ibid,Moore, Charles (2015). The Daily Telegraph, 16 November 2015, p23

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one should be suspicious towards any Muslim, which is absurd. The narrative
throughout the article gives off more of a subtle frame than a blatant one, but one
that is very effective. There are hints throughout of a degrading view upon Islam
and Muslims in general, perhaps because of the recent attack carried out by
Islamic State, but there is no real explanation that it is a very small minority
behave like this. The political context provided is also limited, and we see a right
wing and respectable newspaper, aligning with current literature that media
frames are placed in a way that represents Islam unfairly.
The Guardian, November 16th, 2015 Monday
National Edition
Michael White
When looking at the editorial from The Guardian newspaper, three days after
the Paris attacks, we start a headline comparing France and Britain, and
criticising the two countries on what they should expect from their citizens. The
headline along with the beginning of the article is written in a fair and impartial
way that provides both political context, and interesting culture. There are two
mentions of the word ‘Muslim’ in the opening paragraphs, both presented to the
audience in a just way. They are mentioned in the context of culture talking
about two authors, Michel Houellebecq and Martin Amis, and their interactions
with Muslims, providing the reader with a positive representation of Islam. This

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opening part of the article fills a gap in the research that I have chosen to do a
project on, as it goes against the literature that there is a negative portrayal of
Islam in the Western media with limited political context. We then see a criticism
of the Western leaders, Cameron and Hollande, as well as George W Bush for
their decisions. “What an irony, 12 years after the divisive invasion of Iraq, a
French leader revenge bombing like 9/11’s George Bush.”29 In a sarcastic tone,
we have criticism of Western actions on why some of these problems exist. The
social analysis here would be to say that the audience here is provided with a
fair, critical editorial paragraph with political context; and this is very much
amongst the rise of the Islamic State. A limited amount of literature finds
evidence that tows this line, so this is interesting amongst a media full of
framing.
As White continues, we start to see a very subtle positioning of language come
into play, which could be seen to have a slight frame on it. When comparing
France and Britain, we then read “albeit with deep fractures, only one of which is
disaffected Muslim youth.”30 What we learn is that there are other fractures
within the societies of these two countries, but the fact that only disaffected
Muslim is mentioned, could potentially make the reader interpret this as the
largest problem. This is being very critical of the language, and when comparing
it to the literature that this project has researched is an example of very tame
29 White, Michael (2015). “France and Britain: the differences in their struggle
with extremism; There are contrasts in our education systems, colonial histories
and national characters but, after the Paris attacks, both countries must be clearer
about what they expect from their citizens”, The Guardian, 16 November 2015,
world news section.
30 Ibid

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framing. However as this Guardian article moves on, examples of framing and a
rather more aggressive representation of Islam start to become more apparent.
There is a description of the ‘Trojan Horse’ controversy in the UK, but we then
hear of the French battleground between Islam in many areas of society and this
is “not just dress code”31, but also “mixed sports, gym lessons, and the curriculum
(‘I forbid you to mention Jesus my son’)”32 that have been the subject of
investigations. By listing these activities that are reminiscent of school, the
reader could easily interpret it as rather shocking that Islam is affecting a
younger generations schooling. The political context may be true, however
whether there is a need to include ‘I forbid you to mention Jesus my son’, is a
debatable topic. It gives the impression that pits Islam against Christianity, which
of course is wrong. The narrative continues and when talking about integration,
there is a sentence saying, “Some UK minorities have done very well.”33 Firstly
this is clearly saying that British Muslims are not in this category, because as the
article is based around Islam, and is in the immediate aftermath of the Paris
attacks, then if the author had have thought they had integrated well, he would
have said it. It is a minor criticism of British Muslims for not integrating as well
as other ethnic minorities. To most audiences, it would be interpreted as this,
giving off a slightly negative portrayal of Islam.
In the second half of the editorial, there is a paragraph on the number of
Muslims in the two countries. The number in Britain is stated, before White tells
the reader that we do not know the number of Muslims in France because the
31 Ibid
32 Ibid
33 Ibid

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census does not ask for a voter’s religion. What follows is a suggestion that this is
the reason that French police are not able to “nip plots in the bud”,34 unlike the
British. It seems as if White is saying that if they were to keep a better track of
Muslims then perhaps the Paris attacks would not have taken place. What is
perhaps being said in reality is something less confronting than this, however the
sharp end to the sentence leaves the audience perhaps thankful that Britain do
ask for one’s religion in the census. The point of a census however is not to track
extreme Islamists, it is much broader than this. It may be a benefit, however it is
not the main point, meaning that this explanation lacks political context and puts
a negative strain on Islam to the reader. Because of course Islam is so topical, it is
the only religion being mentioned, however not once in the article is another
minority mentioned. This is something that is perhaps worth noting. Towards
the end of the article, there is an emphatic line at the end of a paragraph saying
that secular France was shocked by students who told teachers: “Charlie Hebdo
deserved it.”35 In the sentence before this, ‘young Muslims’ rejecting the
ambitions of their parents is mentioned. We are presented with a frame here,
which puts two and two together. One could easily interpret it as all ‘young
Muslims’ saying these sorts of shocking statements about Charlie Hebdo,
however it is an extreme minority. Like this previous example, the article as a
whole does not offer a clear distinction between radical Islam and Islam as the
peaceful religion that the majority of Muslims abide by. This helps to answer the
research question because we start to see a common theme throughout the
article, of a subtle type of framing. With limited research in this area, it also helps
34 Ibid
35 Ibid

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to answer questions surrounding the topic that will be addressed in the
conclusion.
Conclusion
The research that has been looked into in this project contributes to new insights
into current and topical debates on British newsprint coverage of Islam and
whether it is being presented in the correct format. In making sense of the
representation of Islam for the reader, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian
employ familiar frames that the literature review told us about. U.S and UK
media coverage on Islam is often irrational and an unfair representation of the
religion, that provides limited political context. However, an analysis of the two
articles reveals that although this is the case, it is only to an extent, especially
with the article from The Guardian. There were differences between the two.
Being a more left-wing paper could be an indicator but The Guardian article was
much fairer in its use of language and provided more political context than The
Daily Telegraph article. Frames, as Guzman says, “do not always fit into polar
dichotomies”36. Compared to the Telegraph editorial piece, we came to
understand a much softer frame in The Guardian through the subtlety of
language, whereas in The Daily Telegraph, the narrative was presented as a more
obvious seclusion of Islam. What these two pieces of analysis can tell us is
36 Guzman, L Andrea 2015, Evolution of News Frames During the 2011 Egyptian
Revolution. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, P13

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surprising. The Guardian article reaches out to a gap in the literature as it is
almost a very clear, coherent and fair article with just occasional subtle frames
that undermine Islam that are perhaps expected considering it was written three
days after the Paris Attacks. This project found limited other current literature
that found this fair reporting on Islam with good political context. The Telegraph
article however backs up current literature from the UK, and the U.S, and shows
why there is this vulnerability of Muslims amongst society that is possibly
caused in the way certain newsprint media report on the ethnic group. Frames
are so powerful because they help the audience to reach an opinion. There are
clear limitations in this research project, as only two articles were analysed. But
with The Telegraph being from the right-wing side of politics and The Guardian
being from the left-wing side, and both being respectable broadsheet
newspapers, what can be concluded is that the right-wing side of the British
newsprint press backs up current literature, and thanks to critical discourse
analysis we can understand that the representation of Islam is unfair with
limited political context and unnecessary language. What was surprising is
although the narrative had a very slight frame to it, the left-wing side of the
British newsprint press was much more fair in the reporting and on the whole
provided good political context. This reaches out to a gap in the literature and as
only two editorials were looked at, this project’s methodology may be useful for
a research project wanting to continue research on whether this is a theme
across British newsprint press.

22
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