Representation of Islam and

Muslims in U.S Media Coverage

of Charlie Hebdo attack:
A Critical Discourse Analysis
BY
D AYA N A N AYA N
TGB1300 48

Overview
INTRODUCTION
Problem statement
Research purposes
Research questions
LITERATURE REVIEW
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
Faircloughs method of CDA
Van Leeuwen (1996)s sociosemantic inventory
RESEARCH METHODS AND METHODOLOGY
News sources
Methods of data analysis
EXPECTATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

Introduction

Statement of problem
Some U.S news coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attack coverage has been criticizedstereotyping by linking the act of the perpetrators as Islamic terrorist attack and
linking terrorism and violence to Muslims and the faith of Islam.
The representation of Islam and Muslims after the 9/11 incidents in the media might
not be just an action of reporting facts but the manipulation of the language to
convey particular ideologies.
Language functions as a vehicle for the media to construct their preferred
representation of Islam and Muslims; it is through language that this presupposition
of reality by media can be detected (Richardson, 2006).
An analysis of language can give detailed account of the mechanisms through which
the media mediate sociocultural changes (imposition of certain ideology) discreetly.

Research purpose
To examine how Islam and Muslims are
represented by two U.S Media (Huffington Post
and Fox News) through the use of language
during the reporting of Charlie Hebdo attack.

Research questions
Research question

Justification

1. What are the main

themes projected by
Huffington Post and Fox
News to represent Islam
and Muslims following the
Charlie Hebdo attack?

To examine if Islam and Muslims are represented

negatively through the construction of dominant
themes in the news articles

2. What are the linguistic

structures and discursive
strategies used to create
and promote this
representation?

To investigate whether the different media use

different or similar linguistic tools and discursive
strategies to construct the representation of
Islam and Muslims in their news reports.

3. How are other voices

incorporated in the news
articles to present a
particular representation
of Islam and Muslims?

To examine the quotation patterns and

reporting verbs used in the news articles
during the incorporation of the voices of
others to serve different objectives.
To examines how power is manifested through
the selection of the sources based on their
status or role in a particular institution as well
as illuminate the sources reaction to and
opinion about Islam and Muslims.

Method

Linguistic
analysis-Van
Leeuwens
Sociosemantic
Inventory

Intertextual
analysis focusing
on quotation
patterns,
reporting verbs
and reported
voices.

Research question
4. Does the representation
of Islam and Muslims
constructed in both news
media reveal a polarized
discourse? What does the
construction of we-they
dichotomy reveal about the
medias attitude towards
Islam and Muslims?

Justification
To discuss if the construction of
the representation of Islam and
Muslims in the news reports
meant to simultaneously
attach positive view towards
other social actors and if both
media involve similar other
social actors in constructing
the polarized discourse.
To discuss whether the
construction of the polarized
discourse reflect a blame on
the entire religion which leads
to negative stereotypes about
Islam and Muslims.

Method
Making social sense of
the findings in the
data analysis chapter
by connecting to
existing theoretical
discoveries.

Literature review

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

Discourse as social practice
Discourse is socially constitutive as well as socially constituted.
i)
ii)

helps to reproduce the social status quo

contributes to transforming it

constitutes situations, objects of knowledge,

and the social identities of and relationships
between people and groups of people.
(Wodak & Meyer, 2009)

Discursive practices can help produce and reproduce unequal power relations between social classes,
gender, and ethnics through the ways in which they represent things and position people (Fairclough &
Wodak, 1997).

Meta-functions of language use

describe the reality (production of reality)

construe it to be a certain way (reproduction of social reality)

Aim of CDA

(Richardson, 2006)

developing understanding of how language works in constituting and conveying knowledge during the
organization of social institutions or exercise of power
reveal the structures of power and unveil ideologies

Faircloughs method of CDA

Social
practic
e

Power can manifest in terms of the control of action: power can be exercised
by controlling the discourse and its properties
Ideology in discourse can be traced when actions or actors are illustrated as
extra or less positively or negatively

Discour
se
practice

production, dissemination and consumption of texts; how texts are

created, received and interpreted (Fairclough, 2001).
the way discourse producers draw on existing discourses and genres to
produce a text and how consumers of texts also draw on available
discourses and genres in the consumption and interpretation of the text
(Jogensen, 2002 as cited in Richardson, 2006, p. 75).
Texts must be understood in relation to other text; justified the concept of
intertextuality.

Text

Texts are representations or recontextualisations of social

practices which could be ideological (Ang, 2010).
The examination of text involves linguistic analysis.

Van Leeuwen (1996)s sociosemantic inventory

Category

Explanation

Inclusion/Exclusion

Exclusion of social actor: can be bias-free/ideological

Suppression: no trace of the social actors anywhere in the text
Backgrounding: social actors are not blatantly being excluded,
but it is more accurate to say that they are being de-emphasized
and positioned in the background
Linguistic device:
Suppression: passive agent deletion, non-finite clauses and
nominalization
Backgrounding: ellipses in non-finite clauses

Activation/Passivation

Activation: the social actors are portrayed as the operating forces

of the activity
Passivation: the social actors are represented as being affected by
the activity
Linguistic device:
Transitivity

Individualization/Assimil
ation

Individualization: Social actors denoted as individuals

Assimilation: Social actors denoted as groups
Linguistic device:
Assimilation: A noun symbolizing a group of

Category

Explanation

Functionalization/Identificati
on

Functionalization: Social actors are referred to their action,

occupation or role
Identification: Social actors are represented by who they
are, instead of what they do.
Linguistic device:
Functionalization: A noun formed from a verb with the
addition of suffixes, a noun formed from another noun with
the addition of suffixes, compounding of nouns denoting
places or tools closely associated with an activity
Identification: Nouns

Personalization/Impersonaliz Personalization: Social actors are represented as human

ation
beings
Impersonalization: Social actors are realized by non-human
element

Research methods and methodology

News sources
Genre of
news:
Online news reports
News
sources:
Huffington Post and Fox News
Justification for the
choice:
Huffington Post and Fox News are listed as among the ten most popular and have most
number of unique monthly visitors as of April 2015 ("Top 15 most popular news
websites," 2015).

Time-frame for the collection of the

news reports :

From 7th January 2015 which marks the day of the attack until two weeks after the killing
of the suspects.

Methods of data analysis

Linguistic
analysis
Focuses on the use of discursive strategies and linguistic tools
Borrowing Van Leeuwen (1996)s Socio-semantic Inventory of Representation of
Social Actors.

Intertextual
analysis

Examines how the reported speech and reported voices are incorporated into
the text to serve different purposes

Research expectations

Limitations
Cannot be generalized to all U.S news media or all events involving Muslims
social actors as the findings are confined to two U.S news media pertinent to
the Charlie Hebdo attack only.
Any suspicion of ideologically biased representation presented in this study
would only serve as a caution towards potential manipulations or harmful
effects during text interpretation and consumption.

References
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