Defining the conversation aboutShari’a: Representations in Australian newspapers

Abstract

Debates about Shari’a law and legal pluralism have come to the fore of political discourse in many western multicultural societies including Australia. The mass media, in particular newspapers, have been active in reporting on Shari’a related news items and in doing so, have made a significant contribution to shaping political debate across western nations from governmental to grassroots levels. Understanding how newspapers report on Shari’a will provide important insights into how political discourse about Islam, western Muslims and Shari’a is formed. Utilizing the example of newspapers in Sydney, Australia, this article draws upon methodologies used to analyse the negative portrayals of new religious movements in the press. The article aims to analyse the way that Shari’a has been reported in key newspapers in Sydney over the last five years. It explores a variety of issues influencing the reporting of Shari’a including reporting of Shari’a at the local and international levels, the division between ‘good’ Shari’a (Islamic finance) and ‘bad’ Shari’a (family and criminal law) and differences between newspapers and media owners.

One pope, two churches: Refugees, human rights and religion in Croatia and Italy

“…The content analysis drew on the methodologies of Van Driel and Richardson (1988a;1988b) and Possamai et al (2013). The unit of analysis was every article published from September 2015 (which coincided with the pope's appeal for every parish to welcome one migrant family) to September 2016 containing the words 'migrant/s' and 'refugee/s'.…”

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“…I have here presented qualitative analysis of one specific, telling event, but what of a quantitative analysis of a series of cases? Possamai et al (2013) analysed articles from the five years following the Archbishop of Canterbury's famous lecture on 7 February 2008, which included backing for the introduction of Shari'a in Britain. In all, 696 articles and opinion pieces across the four main Sydney newspapers were analysed.…”

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Speaking through Silence: Racial Discourse and Identity Construction in Mass-mediated Debates on the “War on Drugs”

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