Beyond the headlines: A decade of Belgian news coverage on Islam through thematic analysis informed topic modeling

Abstract

This study investigates the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in Belgian news media from 2014 until 2024, adopting a combination of manual thematic analysis and topic modeling (BERTopic). The thematic analysis of selected articles identified key news themes. Then the top five themes (along with an ‘other’ category) were further modeled using BERTopic. To ensure coherence between qualitative and quantitative approaches, we employed an innovative sequential topic modeling technique to reproduce the themes identified through qualitative research. These themes, in order of prevalence, were Terrorism and Extremism, Religious Practices and Education, Elections and Political Stances, Sports and Culture, and Global Crises and Conflicts. The analysis shows that Islam is consistently portrayed negatively, with frequent associations to terrorism, violence, global conflicts, and political threats. Dutch-language newspapers tended to emphasize more Religious Practices and Political stances (cultural concerns), while French-language outlets focused slightly more on Terrorism and Extremism (security concerns). Moreover, higher-quality newspapers covered Islam or Muslims more extensively and across a broader range of topics. These findings point to a persistent editorial issue in Belgian media, where negative portrayals of Islam and Muslims and the reinforcement of certain stereotypes remain common.