Mass Shooters and Religious Bias in the US Printed Media: A One Card Game?

Abstract What drives the religious media bias in their coverage of mass shooters in the US? Understanding the source of media bias can structure future research on the portrayal of mass shooters and can be a major step in promoting bias-free reporting. This article aims to identify the potential determinants of religious media bias by focusing on the shooter (religion and religious motivation) and victim (race) characteristics. It covers 34 mass shootings that took place since 9/11 and conducts content analyses of all media reporting about them in two major newspapers. We provide evidence that media religious bias occurs frequently in the case of Muslim shooters, while the other potential determinants do not make a difference.