Differences in Religious Framing of Muslims and Islam in American Media Coverage Before and After the Trump Campaign

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the last 20 years Muslims have received a disproportionate amount of news media attention. In 2017 they were again thrust into the spotlight when the Trump administration issued a travel ban blocking entry from seven predominately-Muslim countries. With our hand coding of over 900 newspaper articles and mixed modeling techniques, we examine the newspaper rhetoric surrounding Muslims before and during the Trump administration and across US states. We find that after President Trump’s election, fewer newspapers mentioned religion or referenced Muslim claimsmakers. We also reveal that higher state-level religious salience was associated with more newspapers referencing religious claimsmakers in Islam-related discussions. Other state-level political and religious characteristics had no effect on the use of religious elements or Muslims claimsmakers. These results provide insight into the position of Muslims and Islam in the United States, as well as the impact of political rhetoric on media portrayals.