What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to analyze how Belgian news media has depicted Islam and Muslims from 2014 to 2024.

February 22, 2026Journalism

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

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Reveals negative portrayals of Islam in Belgian news media, suggesting editorial biases persist over the decade.

The aim is to analyze how Belgian news media has depicted Islam and Muslims from 2014 to 2024.
Conducted thematic analysis of selected Belgian news articles
Applied topic modeling using BERTopic to identify prevalent themes
Employed an innovative sequential approach to blend qualitative and quantitative findings
Islam is primarily portrayed negatively in Belgian news media
The main themes include terrorism, religious practices, politics, sports, and global crises
Dutch-language newspapers focus more on religious and political themes, while French-language outlets prioritize security concerns
Higher-quality newspapers provide more extensive coverage of Islam across diverse topics

Nolf et al. (2026) studied this question.

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