Weaponisation and UK newspapers: Do jihadist-Salafist terrorists get the coverage they desire?

Abstract

This dissertation examines the degree to which UK news outlets are ‘weaponised’, in the sense that they
are uncritical ‘instruments of warfare’ in coverage of terrorism, or delegitimised, in the sense that
terrorists get coverage opposed to the kind they desire. This is achieved by using a syntactic content
analysis to explore how four UK newspapers present jihadist-Salafists with reference to their religion,
political motivations, rationality and claim to act on behalf of Muslims. Research first assesses claims of
weaponisation with reference to coverage of a domestic terror attack. Further analysis is added by
comparing coverage of this domestic terror event with that of an attack against a geopolitical ally (the
USA) and a geopolitical rival (Russia) to shed light on how weaponisation may vary with physical
proximity and/or geopolitical circumstances. This dissertation finds that UK news outlets appear not to
be weaponised in coverage of the domestic attack, weaponised to a limited extent in coverage of the
attack against a geopolitical ally and to a greater extent in coverage of the attack against a geopolitical
rival.