Influences on Islam-related News Content: Media Experts’ Perspectives (original) (raw)

Framing Islam in News Reporting: A Comparative Content Analysis

The emergence of modern communication technology suggests that the society as a whole is now a simple hostage at the hands of the media. However, the time has come to ask whether the people are being managed, manipulated, massaged or brainwashed by the media. Media contents are unjustifiably dominated by expressions that create negative impressions of Islam. As a result, the media accentuate anti-Muslim bias and bigotry. This study aims to comparatively examine how Nigerian and Malaysian newspapers frame Islam-related events in news reporting. Using purposive sampling, Punch and Vanguard were chosen from Nigeria while The Star and New Straits Times were chosen from Malaysia based on their popularity and readership. Relevant news articles that focus upon reports about Islam or Muslims were collected from the selected newspapers using internet-based search from November 2015 until September 2016. The newspapers produced 599 different Islam-related news articles within this period. The study found that out of 599 news articles published in the selected newspapers, 228 portrayed Islam in conflict situation by using conflict frame. For the rest, 60 news articles used consequence frame, 32 used crime frame, 11 used responsibility frame, 19 used morality frame, and 249 portrayed Islam using human interest frame. Nigerian newspapers used more conflict frames in reporting Islam than Malaysian newspapers. Collective efforts of journalists, editors, and corporate ownership of the newspapers should be directed toward suppressing the negative media portrayal of Islam.

Journalism and Islam (Reflection on the Role of Journalists in the issue of Religious Moderation)

2020

Islam is the majority religion in the country of Indonesia, with the existence of multicultural culture then Islam metamorphosed into a religion that was infiltrated by the views of several groups. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the role of journalists in reporting the issue of religious moderation. The approach used in this research is Robert Entman's framing analysis model with qualitative analysis research type. The data in this study are news stories related to religious moderation in Republika Online Media. The results of the research show that Republika Online media as information media has reported informative and balanced, but it has not been maximized in carrying out the function of media as a Watchdog in the community, as well as the lack of carefulness of Republika journalists in conducting in-depth tracing of informant statements to prevent the habit of information being loaded in the media. Keywords: Framing ; Religion Moderation ; Online Media .

Media Practitioners’ Perspective on News Media Reporting of Islam and Muslims: A Room for Improvement Through A Formulation of Writing News Guideline

‘Abqari Journal, 2020

The idea to embark this study on Islam and Muslim issues is still relevant due to there are many reportings from the Western media especially about Middle East. On that account, the purpose of this study is to find out the solution to encourage more positive reporting about Islam and Muslim issues. Eight Malaysian media practitioners have been interviewed to share their experiences and ideas in finding an answer to formulate a new, fair and balanced guideline to be practiced. All of them were interviewed via face-to-face methods and phone calls. From the interview, the researchers found out the important tips with regards to assisting students, journalists and individuals to become more expert in writing news accurately. The researchers found out how a journalist played the role of an Islamic journalist and anchor the meaning of Islamic journalism. In addition, the results of this study also managed to formulate a guideline in writing reports or news related to Islam and Muslim com...

Examining the Issue of Islam and Muslims in the Media: A Perspective of Malaysian Media Practitioners

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2020

Researching on Islam and Muslims-related issues in the media have been a never-ending debate and always have been updated time by time. It catches the attention of academics, scholars, preachers, researchers to discuss on the alternative platform in reducing or somewhat controlling what the media should report about particularly on Islam and Muslims issues. The aim of this study is to examine the reportings related to Islam and Muslims issues of the Western newspapers. Interviews were conducted among eight Malaysian media practitioners to identify how they translate the meaning of work as a journalist in Islamic context, and also to find out their best practices in producing a balanced and fair news reporting. The interviews were later transcribed verbatimly, analyzed and deliberated their experiences towards this issue. Results show that they believe as Muslim journalists, they should be true, trusted and not bias in reporting news. Further, they also find out that having good references from experts and doing some research before reporting on any issues are very important especially in reporting news globally. Thus for them, the adaptation of good journalistic practices represent a positive image of Islam and Muslims in order to continue creating a surrounding of Islam and Muslims at present and in the future.

International News Agency: Portrayal of Islam and Muslims in BBC News (2015)

This research discovers the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in the news reporting by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from March 6th, 2015 to April 6th, 2015 and retrieves the required data from their online editions, BBC News. It is a content analysis of 141 news titles that focusing on the Islam and Muslims around the globe. The findings clarify that news reporting illustrated Muslim and Islam negatively in the writing. The news reporting concentrated mostly in issues such religious affairs, security, politics and least on social, education, diplomatic, history, women, health and entertainment. Key words: Islam, Muslim, BBC Online News

Covering Islam: Challenges & Opportunities for Media in the Global Village

It cannot be denied that the events of the last few years in both the global and local arenas have had some impact on tensions between Muslims and non- Muslims. The 9-11 incident, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rise of global terrorism have all posed inevitable challenges. The media plays a very important role in analyzing and reporting these events given that they shape public opinion, which, subsequently, translates into reactions in the various sections of society. The media must, therefore, be sufficiently engaged so that biased reporting and prejudicial views are minimized as the realities of the day are presented to the public.

A Content Analysis of Islam-related News Coverage in Selected Malaysian Online Newspapers

Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, 2021

The media-generated misconception of Islam is not a new phenomenon. However, a huge amount of media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially after the 9/11 attacks, resulted in a widespread awareness of the religion and its adherents. Several studies have explored how Islam is reported in western media. Therefore, this study focuses on how non-western media cover Islam-related news. The study aims to identify the most common type of news used in covering Islam and determine the extent of Islam-related news coverage in selected Malaysian online newspapers. The Star and New Straits Times were chosen based on readership and online popularity. News articles related to Islam were gathered from the digital archives of the selected newspapers from November 2015 to September 2016 using "Islam" and "Muslims" as keywords. A total of 352 news articles were gathered and subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that a large majority (90.9%) of the Islam-related articles published in the selected newspapers contained straight news stories while only 9.1% contained feature stories. Additionally, more than half (57.7%) of the Islam-related news articles covered global news, and more than onethird (37.2%) of the articles covered national news, while only 5.1% covered local news. These findings imply that the selected newspapers tend to create the image of Islam globally. Further analysis of the findings revealed that the selected newspapers covered Islam in the context of conflict. It was envisaged that this study would be beneficial, especially to journalists, by providing information that could be used to improve news coverage of Islam.

Islamic News Coverage By The International News Agencies In The Star And Sunday Star 2010

The study examined how the news of Islam and Muslims were portrayed in The Star and Sunday Star newspapers in year 2010. The study used quantitative content analysis method and a total of 249 news associated to Islam and Muslims in year 2010 were analysed. The result showed that criminality or violence had dominated the news theme which constituted 91 (36.5%). In terms of tone of the news, 175 (70.3%) were negative and only 47 (18.9%) were perceived as positive and the remaining were perceived as neutral. In summary, the issue on religion and faith (Islam) in the media still continuous in negative way and it needs a tremendous transformation to change the image of Islam and Muslims in the eyes of people over the world.

Islam and Media

Asian Social Science, 2012

The most important roles of the media are agenda-setting and representation. The media, particularly from the West, seems to feature Islam constantly in the negative light. The portrayal of the negative image of Islam takes place by constructing an image of Islam with terrorism, violence, extremism and antipathy to the West. A more recent phenomenon of Western media towards Islam is the fanning of 'Islamophobia' a form of concerted efforts directed to frighten the world of the hostility and enmity imposed by Islam. The Muslim world needs to respond to such striking negative representation of Islam. Contrary to what is generally perceived by the West, Islam in its real essence means 'submission' and 'peace,' a religion that calls for resignation to Allah and promotes and defends peace in the person. As much as the media can disrepute the general Muslim population and Islam, it can also restore and further inform the public of the true image of the religion. Thus, the primary aim of this paper is to explore the utilization of a variety of media to disseminate information and news to Muslims as well as non-Muslims on the true teachings of Islam. Through the media, the proper propagation and understanding of Islam can be enhanced by highlighting the universal values of the teachings of Islam. The media is a very important tool for effective communication and dissemination about Islam which the Muslim world could utilize.

Portrayal of Islam and Muslims in Western Media: A Study of Fox News

Global Mass Communication Review, 2021

The study is aimed to analyze the portrayal of Islam and Muslims through the content that is being disseminated by western media all over the world. Nowadays, the perception about any nation, religion, and society is building through media perspective. Media is playing a major role to bring peace, war, and alliance among the nations of the world. The mediated propaganda by western media is leading the world towards Islamophobia. Muslims are not freely enjoying their rights in many non-Muslim societies. This study is a content analysis of "Fox News Report", "Fox News Alert" and "The Five" programs of Fox News. The data were examined to identify common terms, words, and patterns of meaning that come up repeatedly in context with Muslim's portrayal in Western media. The result shows that prejudice and prejudgment are portrayed in western media against Islam by representing it as a religion of terrorism and extremism.