Charlie Hebdo Attack and Discourses of Muslims in British and Danish Newspapers: A cross-cultural critical discourse analysis of four newspapers

Abstract

A perceived shift to the right when representing Muslims in the press in Europe has beenevident in recent years. Events such as 9/11, the July 2005 London bombings, broaderEuropean discussions and mainstreaming of populist discourses have marked a significant shiftin the media focusing on Muslims living in Europe. This paper outlines the discourses used to represent Muslims, via conducting multimodalcritical discourse analysis. The paper focuses on the 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack andcross-culturally compares four newspapers in two countries – the UK and Denmark. Resultsindicate a recontextualisation of the terrorist attack situating the threat within each country,with newspapers positioned as ‘left’ utilising the same framing and discourses of right leaningnewspapers. This situated threat is demonstrated through discourses framing both countries incontrast to Muslim ‘values’. Furthermore, both countries focus on utilising Muslim ‘voices’who are part of a Star System that are critical of Muslim communities.