Philippine E-Journals

IMAGES OF MUSLIMS IN BROADSHEETS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

Kristine Grace G. Evaristo | Jessa C. Hermosa | Norberto Iii D. Bana

 

Abstract:

Despite numerous studies on how Muslims are stereotyped by the media, little is known on how evident and how powerful media could be in influencing and shaping the views of the readers. The overall image of Muslims that remains is that they are highly associated with terrorism and this lingers on, thus creating a notion that this race is a threat to other people, creating further prejudices and misconceptions towards most Muslims. In order to prove whether or not there such stereotyping, this study dealt with the issue through a content analysis of news reports in broadsheets for a period of two months. From three national newspapers all news articles related to Muslims were collected and subjected to categorizations according to their thematic descriptions, news worthiness and positivity or negativity according to the portrayal of Muslims. An analysis of the results showed that the theme of news articles affects the stereotyping of the Muslims and that news worthiness affects stereotyping of the Muslims. Results showed the prevailing topics of the articles, Politics and Terrorism. Broadsheets positioned them in sections according to their value as Banner stories, in Front Pages and in Other Inner News. Negative issues were highlighted more than the positive. Therefore, the researchers concluded that it was palpable even in print media that Muslims were stereotyped. Moreover, the researchers found that this stereotyping would continue as long as the line of thinking of media is mainly to catch the reader’s attention.