Exploring Visual Framing of Islam: A Comparative Analysis Isyaku Hassan(isyaku87@gmail.com), Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi Faculty of Languages and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia Abstract The prevalent image of Islam in the media moved from being presented as quaint to something else. Research shows that analysis of visual elements in the media coverage of Islam is under-represented. This study explores and compares visual framing of Islam in selected Nigerian and Malaysian newspapers. Punch and Vanguard were chosen from Nigeria while The Star and New Straits Times were chosen from Malaysia based on their online readership. The study employed content analysis to analyze 425 photos and 23 videos used in the selected newspapers. Sample was collected from November 2015 until September 2016. Only photos and videos used in articles directly related to Islam were collected from the respective websites of the newspapers. It was found that significant differences exist between Nigerian and Malaysian newspapers in visual framing of Islam. Nigerian newspapers used more violent photos in reporting Islam than Malaysian newspapers. Of all the photos used in the selected newspapers, 43 reflected violence blamed on Islam while 382 were non-violent. None of the videos reflected violence. Though the use of violent photos is minimal in the newspapers, their implication might be highly influential. Visual bias could be avoided through collective effort of journalists, editors, and corporate ownership of the media. Keywords: Visual bias, news reporting, Islam, terrorism 1 Introduction Controversies dominate the media coverage of religion, and Islam has become the main focus of the media in recent years. Newspapers tend to focus on Islam as a backward religion. It should be noted that stereotyped depiction of Islam in the media is not a new phenomenon. Thompson (2013) pointed out that Islam has been subject to certain trends of depictions that are as old as the news media themselves. An opinionated part of the media content contributes to the depiction Islam as a religion of violence. Islam is labeled as being extremely a threat to the western beliefs. Ali, Khalid, and Lodhi (2009) claimed that conventional media in Europe and the US have for long been propagating false information and highlighting negative issues about Islam. As a result of the misleading images, which are mostly created and manipulated by the media, Islam is the name of negativity in the West. It is commonly believed that the western media repeatedly misrepresents and inaccurately interprets Islam and its manifestation. News media content depicts negative images of Islam and Muslims. Mostly, the newspapers give priority to issues that highlight the immoral activities of Muslims compared to the moral ones. According to Rupar (2012), the unfortunate instances of media reportage of Islam typically involve negative labeling, designated use of figures, generalizing events, portraying one side of story, using pejorative words, combining truths and opinions, lack of fact proving, and miss-matching of headlines, news content, imageries and sound. Newspapers use a combination of words and visuals to report news stories. They provide audiences with visual messages, which could be influential (Barrett & Barrington, 2005). It can be argued that the media contribute to the society’s ignorance about Islam. Ramji (2016) argued that the media failed to demonstrate how Muslims across the globe could recognize their own destiny and beliefs in the new global order. This indicates the media’s inability to provide public with the true picture of Islam. This argument lies in the particular ways of reporting the stories. According to Thussu (2011), ignorance about Islam results in the failure to identify the role of Islam in developing the modern society and offers possibility for anti-Islamic propaganda. The prevalent image of Islam in the media moved from being presented as quaint to something else. Research shows that analysis of visual elements in the media coverage of Islam is under-represented. Also, Muslim nations and non-western media have been mostly neglected (Ahmed & Matthes, 2017). Therefore, this study explores and compares visual framing of Islam in selected Nigerian and Malaysian newspapers. 2 Visual Framing of Islam Continuous criticism on the way visuals are used in the media is predominant in communication literature. The use of explicitly violent images of terrorism, disasters, accidents, or executions is identified as an increasing occurrence and receiving negative criticism. For instance, photographs are taken out of the context which gives them meaning in their original use. Photos and videos are usually edited to suit new purposes for which they were not originally intended. According to Jacobsen, Jensen, Vitus, and Weibel (2012), stereotypes were mostly reproduced in the graphic