Islam and democracy: An analysis of representations in the United States prestige press from 1985--2005

Representations of Islam and democracy published in the prestige press between 1985 and 2005 were examined using the quantitative method of content analysis. The qualitative method of discourse analysis was used to understand post-9/11 coverage of Islam and democracy in the Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian contexts. The prestige press included The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. The content analysis study showed that coverage of Islam and democracy increased substantially after the 9/11 attacks, reaching its peak when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. The top two primary topics associated with the framing of Islam and democracy in the U.S. prestige press were threat of extremist Islam and political conflict. However, the U.S. prestige press rarely focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict or America's oil interests in the Middle East in the context of Islam and democracy. Marginal coverage of perceived political injustices contributed to the framing of political resistance by Muslims as pathological and buttressed the perception that Muslims are inherently violent and anti-democratic.;Results indicated that overall prestige press coverage was three times more likely to emphasize the incompatibility of Islam and democracy rather than the compatibility of the Muslim religion and democratic system of government. However, the percentage of articles focusing on incompatibility of Islam and democracy declined in the years during George W. Bush's presidency (2001-2005) when compared to coverage during the presidential tenures of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Further, compatibility of Islam and democracy was more likely to appear in letters to the editor and editorials than news articles and opinion columns.;The discourse analysis study on representations of Islam and democracy in post-9/11 Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian contexts showed that despite significant differences in portrayal, fear of political Islam persisted in all three discursive environments. Overall, the U.S. prestige press framed the secularization and Westernized modernization of Islam as necessary conditions for democracy. Visibility of commitment to Islam in the public sphere was framed as an anathema to democratic aspirations. The U.S. prestige press supported the need for Western intervention to contain the projected threat from extremist Islam and to ''save'' Muslim women. Finally, discourses that contested dominant perspectives on Islam and democracy were limited.