The aim of this work is to provide an insight into the major drivers and platforms of such rhetoric in two Western Balkan countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This work employs the critical discourse analysis method to study the pervasive representation of Islam and Muslims in a number of leading Bosnian Serb and Croat owned newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in a number of high-circulation newspapers and tabloids in Serbia published over the course of one year (August 2018-August 2019).

Following the collocation and concordance of the most frequent terms and words that revolve around the representation of Islam and Muslims, the findings indicated that in an overwhelming number of cases, Islam and Muslims are associated with violence, religious radicalism, ethnic nationalisms and political obstructionism.

Harun Karčić is a PhD degree holder from the Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo and a journalist and political analyst based in Sarajevo. He is a news producer at Al Jazeera Balkans. He specializes in post-communist Islam in the Balkans and has published extensively on Islam and foreign influences in the Balkans with particular focus on Arab, Turkish and Iranian activities.

Ivan Ejub Kostić is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. He is one of the founders of the Balkan Centre for the Middle East and its Executive Director. He is the author of numerous scientific papers in the field of Islamic studies and a frequent commentator for the leading media in the country and region on the topic of the Islam in the Balkans, religion and nationalism, Islamophobia and Middle East.

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PREUZIMANJE: Media Discourse on Islam in the Western Balkans – Harun Karčić and Ivan Ejub Kostić