Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2023)
Media representations of Islam in Germany. A comparative content analysis of German newspapers over time
Abstract
Against the background of persistent Islamophobia in German society, we investigate the role of the media in reproducing problematic images of Islam. This paper presents and discusses the findings of a quantitative and over-time comparative study of Islam coverage in eight German newspapers in 2014, 2019, and 2021. The results demonstrate how Muslims and Islam continue to be represented and contextualized in conflictual settings. In fact, 37% of the Islam-related articles in German print media discuss Islam in the context of terrorism, war, and political unrest. Geographically speaking, the Islam-related coverage focuses on Western countries and their relations to conflict-ridden Muslim-majority countries such as Syria and Iraq, leaving readers without more information about these Muslim societies beyond the conflicts. An analysis of cited actors in Islam coverage reveals that Muslims are rarely quoted and mostly represented as a homogeneous group. In particular, media coverage in the fields of economy and education rarely refers to Muslims, while news coverage on social issues disproportionately focuses on stereotypical topics such as the rights and clothing of Muslim women. On a separate note, our findings indicate informative and balanced forms of Islam coverage: Specifically in local newspapers, we found a stronger focus on cultural, religious, and civic activities of Muslims.
