News Media Representations of Religion

Brookes, Gavin and Clarke, Isobelle and McEnery, Anthony (2023) News Media Representations of Religion. In: The Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion :. Routledge Handbooks in Linguistics . Routledge, London, pp. 180-193. ISBN 9781032293530

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Abstract

This chapter explores how studies of discourse can be used to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which religions and religious identities are represented in the news media. It introduces key concepts, such as representation and discourse, and highlights key considerations regarding the social practices underpinning news production, which should guide any critical analysis of news media discourse. The chapter also considers the role of news media discourse in mediating understandings and experiences of religion(s), including highlighting the discursive means through which particular religions and religious identities might be legitimated or delegitimated in the media. The concepts introduced in the first half of the chapter are then put to use in a case study, which reports on a corpus-based critical analysis of the discursive representation of Islam and Muslims in British newspapers.