Framing a Mosque Project as a Sunni-Shia Conflict : A Case Study on the Discursive Construction of News Frames

Abstract

In January 2015, the City of Helsinki received a proposal for the construction of ‘a grand mosque’. In December 2017, the Urban Environment committee rejected the proposal. In the interim, the proposed mosque was the subject of intense public debate. A key point of dispute was whether the mosque would increase tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Finland. This article explores the ways in which the mosque project became framed as a Sunni–Shia conflict. Special focus is put on a newspaper article published in the Helsingin Sanomat in July 2015 and the framing devices used therein.