Fatima Al-Majdhoub, Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Azizah Hamzah
This article highlights the undeniable role of the media in framing issues of human concern which helps in shaping public opinion worldwide. The emergence of the Muslim refugee crisis has attracted the attention of media especially the international media when tragic refugee stories were splashed in the headlines while crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. It is the intention of the researchers to understand the nature of coverage of this crisis by one of the influential international media that has opened a debate between pro-and antiMuslim refugees in the host countries. Aljazeera media outlet is one of the most influential media globally and in the middle East as well. This study examines the representation of Muslim refugees in the online news coverage by Aljazeera from January 2015 to December 2016. Applying the deductive approach in media framing studies, this study collected a total of 169 online news articles were served as the unit of analysis to examine the media coverage on Muslim refugees by regional as well as one of influential international media. It was found that in most of Aljazeera coverage, attribution of the responsibility frame was the most salient and frequent frame while the morality and consequences frames were the least in in the coverage of Muslim refugees. This study also examines the thematic and episodic frame and found that the news coverage of the Muslim refugees was more into thematic frames as the crisis was reported from a broader context rather than reported in personal or individual experiences or episodic frames. The finding shows that most of the online articles by Aljazeera described Muslim refugees in humanitarian terms that frames them as victims and in need for humanitarian assistance. Most of the articles focused on bringing the voices and experiences of refugees which indicates that the Aljazeera wants to grab the attention of the international community, implant thought in people minds about how serious this issue is, and to show the world how refugees are treated which can be attributed to the culture and region proximity.