Symbolic bordering: newspaper representation of Muslims and Islam in Spain

Abstract

Spain ranks low among European democracies regarding negative attitudes toward Muslims. Islam does not appear to be a contentious issue in the Spanish political arena as to the definition of ‘us,’ the people, even though Moroccans have become the largest migrant community, and even though Spain is currently one of the three major Member States of first entry into the Union from Middle East and North Africa. By conducting a media frame analysis, the aim of this paper is to know whether and to what extent the Spanish large-circulation quality newspapers ‘Abc,’ ‘El País’ and ‘La Vanguardia’ portray Muslims and Islam as a strange, monolithic and problematic ‘other.’ Variations according to ideology and the nature of the events reported are considered. This is an empirical and longitudinal study covering the entire year 2017. Insofar as the media shape public opinion, to analyse media symbolic construction of Muslims and Islam as included/excluded, diverse/monolithic, and friendly/threatening may be helpful in trying to explain Spaniards perceptions and attitudes toward them. Conclusions are expected to further contribute to comparative investigations.