Trump’s Muslim ban: A critical discourse analysis of AlJazeera English, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal

Abstract

One of the major campaign promises of the former US president Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign was to bar Muslims from entering the United States. Donald Trump kept his promise by issuing an executive order on assumption of office. The executive order banned Muslims from seven countries from entering the United States until a judge in Washington halted the executive order. The story received wide coverage in the media. This article will study the news coverage of the executive order in three leading international media organizations, AlJazeera English (AJE), the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. These three media organizations were selected because they provide different perspectives to news and have global audiences that consume the news on daily basis. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), the article seeks to compare how the three media organizations pitched the story. CDA is interested in identifying the relationship between power, ideology and social inequality. The article explores the issues related to power, ideology and social inequality in relation to the Trump’s executive order as reported in the three news media organizations. What are the ethnic, political and cultural issues that dominated the discourse of Trump’s ban on Muslims in the three newspapers? The results from the study found ideological differences in the coverage, with AlJazeera and the New York Times being slightly more critical of Donald Trump and his policies in their approach, while the Wall Street Journal was supportive of the executive order. Nevertheless, all three news organizations were similar in promoting discourse, which promotes the interest of power elites. This approach in news discourse further contributes to creating a divided society that is unequal in nature. The article concludes by recommending the practice of a more contextual journalism that promotes a peaceful and harmonious society.