How Media Represents Terrorism: A Critical Analysis

This research project focuses on the role of media in representing terrorism. The aim is to analyse how media presents terrorism to the world and whether it is biased or not. The background of the research highlights the interactive relationship between media and terrorism. The literature review provides findings on media's role in portraying terrorism, media's biasness in presenting terrorist attacks and media's role in spreading Islamophobia. The research methodology is based on qualitative research techniques and secondary data collection. The findings indicate that media often presents a negative image of a particular agency, nation or religion. The conclusion provides suggestions on how media should form policies or comply with policies of presenting news. The subject of the research is media and terrorism, and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

Running head: PROJECT DISSERTATION
Project Dissertation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2PROJECT DISSERTATION
Abstract
This research project is performed on the context of “How media represents terrorism”. The
major purpose of the research is to analyse how the role of media in representing terrorism.
Terrorism and media is one of the hot topics in the recent time due to the involvement and
exaggeration of media. The introductory chapter of the dissertation presents the fact that it is
unclear how media fuses original facts when presenting a terror attacks. Considering this
confusion three major questions have been formed including the role of media in spreading
Islamophobia. The background to the study helps to observe the fact that advancement of
mass media and strong belief on the western media is a breakthrough to the terrorist
organizations, as terrorist organisations can use media to convey their message. The review
of literature provides the findings that media can alter the news for their own and the interest
of nation. The review also provides the fact that as the United State is the sponsor of the
international media channels such as The Guardian, The New York Time and The
Washington Post, which is why international media temper the occurrence of attack. It is
found in the existing literature that the perpetrator is found to be Muslim, one could expect
that attack to receive about four and a half times more media coverage than if the perpetrator
was not Muslim. Likewise, there are sensitive facts are found in the literature. Second
research has been used in the course of this research work. The researcher have pertained to
qualitative method of research in this dissertation. By means of the qualitative research, the
researcher have attempted to analyse the news trends that the major powerhouses of western
media have published regarding terrorism. Empirical research accomplished in the course of
this research work have led to various crucial findings. Research work makes it evident that
the western media have biased perception about terrorism and the schools of terrorism. The
media plays an active role in creation of animosity regarding the whole Muslim community
thereby leading to social fragmentation. Of all the extremist activities, the functions of the

3PROJECT DISSERTATION
Muslim functionaries are only highlighted. However, media never seeks to dig deep into the
causes that leads to the occurrence of terrorism. They are limited to the criticism and
abomination. The western media is however concerned with the terrorist activities that takes
place in their own domain. The severe terrorist activities that have been taking place in the
Middle East and African countries. These statistics reveal that western media needs to exhibit
a wider representation of terrorism that have paralysed humanity all over the world.

4PROJECT DISSERTATION
Table of Content
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................6
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................6
1.2 Background to the research..................................................................................................6
1.3 Significance of the topic.......................................................................................................8
1.4 Research Aim and Objectives..............................................................................................9
1.5 Research Questions..............................................................................................................9
1.6 Outline of the chapters.........................................................................................................9
1.7 Summary............................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................12
2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................12
2.2 Scope of the Literature.......................................................................................................12
2.3 Role of media in portraying terrorism................................................................................13
2.4 Biasness of media in representing terrorists.......................................................................18
2.5 Media’s role in spreading Islamophobia............................................................................24
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................30
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................30
3.2 Methodology......................................................................................................................32
3.3 Research onion...................................................................................................................33
3.4 Research philosophy..........................................................................................................34
3.5 Research approach.............................................................................................................35
3.6 Research design..................................................................................................................36
3.7 Data collection and analysis...............................................................................................37
3.8 Reliability and validity.......................................................................................................38
3.9 Ethical considerations........................................................................................................39

5PROJECT DISSERTATION
3.10 Research limitations.........................................................................................................41
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS.........................................................................42
4.1 Findings and Analysis........................................................................................................42
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION.................................................................................................58
5.1 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................58
5.2 Future Scope of the study...................................................................................................61
References and Bibliography...................................................................................................62

6PROJECT DISSERTATION
Topic – How media represents terrorism
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The research project is based on the context how media presents terrorism to the
international audience. The purpose of the research is to analyse how the international media
channels represent terrorism to the readers and this analysis is highly significant because
terrorism is one such context that is seeming to have no end. Over the decades, terrorism has
found its platform to spread across the world; the same has occurred due to advancement of
technology and media’s stands on the context. Keeping the technology aside, many studies
have highlighted the fact that traditional media plays a very significant role in presenting
attacks carried out by the terrorists. Scholars claim that media coverage sometimes seems to
be in the favour of awareness of terrorism; otherwise it prints a negative image in the mind of
people about a particular agency, nation or religion. Media coverage of all international new
channels have become a hot topic of the global debate. Thus, it is highly necessary to perform
a research on how media is acting in front of global audience when it comes to bombing,
attack or massacre. This chapter provides a detailed background to the context of the research
presenting the coverage of international media on terrorism. The analysis and discussion
revolve around three different sub-context –such as the role of media in representing
terrorism, media’s biasness in presenting the terrorist attack and media’s role in spreading
Islam phobia. The chapter also provides a set of research questions and objectives on the
basis of which, a review of literature have been performed in the next chapter.
1.2 Background to the research
The new paradigm of terrorism is somewhat an outcome of a sudden development of
information technology but the role of traditional media is undeniable in the fact that terrorist

7PROJECT DISSERTATION
organizations have identified the significance of media on the accomplishment of their
activity. A study performed by Pfefferbaum et al. (2014), has revealed the fact there is an
interactive relationship between media and terrorism; such relationship exists as the trends
and patterns in media industry are formed in a manner that it heads towards the preference
seeking contents, while the terrorists agency could do, because of their actions ensure
themselves an extending presence in the media. In accomplishing this, the terrorist agencies
are trying to manipulate as well as exploit free media for their own purpose but there is a set
of arguments made by scholars which reveals a comprehensible fact that not in all cases
terrorist groups uses the media to spread their message. This means that media often tempers
the story and present their own view to the world. Consequently, the whole context creates a
cumbersome perspective in which, sometimes a particular religious community is accused, or
the nation. In implementing so, terrorist agencies are persistently trying to exploit as well as
manipulate the media and here mass media is a breakthrough in the progress of the same.
A study on media and terrorism carried out by Eid (2014 ) reveals the fact that media
influences the way public perceives terrorism and the danger that comes out of it; it cloud
influences political decisions taken by thee nations as the response to terrorism. Till date, the
studies performed on the context, indicate the fact that media does not need to become an
instrument of terror group. Kaplan (2017) particularly mentioned the fact that using
thoughtful approach media could, in western nations, turn into a kind of weapon which is
often used as the way out to spread terrorism across the world. Likewise, a study performed
by Gerhards and Schäfer, (2014), mentions the fact that western media such as The
Washington Post is more after its sponsor’s decision to present terrorism pointing out the
finger towards the religion, which creates the scope for Islamophobia.
While Patrick (2014) mentioned that country politics play a significant role in
presenting the entire scenario; this means due to country’s own political stand, media finds a

8PROJECT DISSERTATION
bit of oxygen in extending its role in presenting the terror attacks. In this context, Nacos
(2016) mentioned that whether the disproportionate coverage appears to be conscious
decisions on the part of journalist or, nor, such stereotyping strengthens cultural narratives
regarding what and who need to be feared. Beckmann, Dewenter and Thomas (2017)
mentioned that by presenting terrorist attacks by Muslims gradually more than other incident,
the media frame such sort of events as more prevalent. On the basis of such finding, it is
worth mentioning that Americans are in the state of fear due to this radical Islamic terrorism
but the realty demonstrates that such fears can be misplaced.
In the recent time, many studies have discovered the role of media in contemporary and
historical conflict situations; for instance, Melki and Jabado (2016) recognizes the exposure
to Serbian nationalists radio propaganda as the major driver of voting for extreme nationalist
parties in Croatia. In a larger context, media forms a powerful tool to influence the political
development as well as voting. Simons (2016) provided a solid distinction between the
media’s role in terrorism and the conflict setting and the authors have mentioned that the
media could facilitate the dissemination of propaganda to create impact on people’s political
beliefs as well as attitudes. The authors have also highlighted the fact that terrorist agencies,
nonetheless, “select” their timing to maximize media attention. However, the analysis in the
current study reveals the fact in detail with respect to the role of media in re This chapter
presents a comprehensive.
1.3 Significance of the topic
There is a direct relationship between media and terrorism because people in the remote
areas or nations learn about terrorism through the traditional media coverage. Now, the
readers go through several media channels and they find alternation in the news, which is the
source or the reason of questioning the media. So, the topic is significant because terrorism
has now become unavoidable to nations due to which people are traumatized and the world

9PROJECT DISSERTATION
wants to know the reasons, factors, perpetrators, direct and indirect role players in the action.
So, as there are many studies have already been performed on media’s role in terrorism, it is
highly significant to learn how and why media represents terrorism in their own pattern.
Thereby, an intensive research is required to unveil the real facts behind terrorism and
media’s interest.
1.4 Research Aim and Objectives
The research aims to discuss issues about the representation of terrorism by media. The
research also sheds light on whether media plays its role for the interest of its own or other
parties. The following are the key objectives to achieve the purpose of the study:
 To critically analyse the role of media in presenting terrorism to the world
 To identify whether the media is biased in presenting terrorism
 To assess whether Islamophobia is caused by media
1.5 Research Questions
1. What are the roles played by media in general, in reporting and representing terrorism
across the world?
2. Are the representations of terrorist incidents by the media biased?
3. Does media played its role in spreading islamophobia?
1.6 Outline of the chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents and introduces the topic which is “how media represents
terrorism”. The purpose of the research is to analyse how media represent terrorism to the
world. This chapter also provides a brief background to the research with respect to the

10PROJECT DISSERTATION
findings of the existing studies. The chapter also provides a set of objectives and questions
based on which a detailed review of literature has been performed.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
This chapter provides the findings of the existing studies on media and terrorism. The
review has been conducted considering 25 journals and books. According to the literature
review, media’s role in presenting terrorism and Islamophobia. The review of literature has
been performed considering three significant questions. In the discussion, it is found that
Sela-Shayovitz (2015) compiled the famous studies with help of 109 variety of definitions of
terrorism and generated a list of possible definitional elements that could be used to forget
sort of consensus definitions. Likewise, there are many other facts and argumentative points
presented in the review.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
This is a vital chapter in the entire research work because this chapter presents a set of
research techniques that determine the outcome of the study. As the research particularly does
not focus or insist on any specific organization, thereby, a qualitative research technique has
been followed which is based on themes. The secondary data has been collected from books,
journals, news articles of some newspaper such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, The
New York Time, Herald, etc. The analysis also includes some real-world incidents such as
Paris Attack (2015) and Somalia attack (2017). The chapter also includes the limitation –such
as the research is limited to secondary analysis only; thereby, primary analysis is omitted.
Chapter 4: Finding and Analysis
This chapter presents a detailed thematic analysis with the use of many themes related
to media and terrorism. The findings indicate that there is a high possibility that terrorist
agencies belong to Muslim community but media is presenting the incident in manner that

11PROJECT DISSERTATION
Muslims are involved or behind all terror attack. Moreover, according to the western media
and some recent scholarly researches, there are many illegal and unknown groups in America
carry guns and are involved in killing but they are represented as terrorist by media.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation
This chapter presents a comprehensive implication about the discussion on how media
represent terrorism. To conclude the research work, the chapter traverses all other chapter and
provides a brief suggestions in general about media should form policy or comply to the
policy of presenting news.
1.7 Summary
This chapter presents the topic and the significance of the research. Background of the
research helps to learn the fact that media plays a questionable role in presenting terrorism to
the world. Research objectives are derived from the research topic and background to the
research. This chapter generates the backbone of the entire research work as the chapter
includes the purpose, aim, research questions and objectives.

12PROJECT DISSERTATION
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter provides an intensive analysis of terrorism and media’s exposure. The
relationship between the terrorism and media is well researched and it has been the
fundamental question terrorism which has mostly been used with the struggle of terrorism
research. Moreover, it is widely accepted that there is a representative relationship between
terrorism and media as terrorism provides catchy and exciting stories which remains as good
product and help the media channel to attract the readers and indirectly, media helps terror
groups to spread their message across the nations. This creates a state of fear among the
general public. The chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of the following questions.
1.What are the roles played by media generally in reporting and representing terrorism across
the world?
2.Are the representation of terrorist incident by the media biased?
3. Did the media play its role in spreading Islamophobia?
The purpose of the review is to identify what the scholars have mentioned about media’s role
in terrorism and find a solid gap in the studies, which is supposed to be addressed in the
current study.
2.2 Scope of the Literature
The review covers the existing research findings in terms of role of media in
presenting terrorism, whether media has biasedly spreading Islamophobia in the world
civilization. The review is comprehensive because each fact provides a clear meaning with
respect to what media does and how terrorism remains in the limelight taking the shelter in
religion. In order to support the discussion 25 different peer reviewed journals and books

13PROJECT DISSERTATION
have been used as well as four different newspapers namely New Work Times, Washington
Post, Guardian, Telegraph and Sunday Mail. Moreover, in order to increase significance of
review few real world incidents such as Paris Attacks (2015), Burssels Attack (2016), Army
Public School Pakistan (2015) have been presented in the review. The scope of the review is
limited to the recent materials –such as the materials are 10 years older. However, the review
is broadened to seek literature in related disciplines.
2.3 Media’s role in portraying terrorism
As put forward by Ayalon, Popovich and Yarchi (2016), the relationship between
terrorism and media largely depends on how an individual consider terrorism when it is to
refer. According to this author, some definitions pay attention to physical action of violence,
while others insist on the fundamental of the innocent and the public nature of the act. Sela-
Shayovitz (2015) compiled the famous studies with help of 109 variety of concepts of
terrorism and produced a list of possible definite elements that should be used to make a
consensus definitions.

14PROJECT DISSERTATION
Figure 1: Elements in the definition of terrorism
(Source: Sela-Shayovitz 2015)
One significant aspect of which was not openly mentioned; however plays a crucial role in
many of the components provided in the above figure is the concept of terrorism as the
strategy of communication.
In this context, Vasterman, Yzermans and Dirkzwager (2005) commented that if an
individual considers terrorism to include some kind of communicational element to convey a
message and then the media remains at the core to fact of what media makes violent
terrorism. Conventionally, studies on terrorism tend to consider the media as the significant
platform for terrorist as they do spread the fear to wide audience compared to small groups of
immediate victims, nonetheless, media creates the means of grabbing attention to the groups
(Klausen 2015). On the basis of the findings of this study, it can be ascertained that the
fundamental purpose of the terrorism may not be much of violence or the killing of target

15PROJECT DISSERTATION
pole but it is the spreading of terror as well as uncertainty among population as well as the
dissemination of group’ message via newsworthiness of the violent act.
In this context, Georgiou and Zaborowski (2017) arguably mentioned that an
individual could consider media to be terrorist’ accomplices or their best friend because it
appears to deliver oxygen of publicity. Nonetheless, with a complete different view, Estrada
and Koutronas (2016) mentioned that terrorism struggle to use media in different ways; for
example, firstly, terrorism tries to gain public attention and thereafter, it tries to gain
sympathy for its cause. Eventually, terrorism pays attention disseminating concerns as well as
fear among the public which further creates a significant effect on the political change. .
However, Bakker and Roy (2015) argued that there is any particular evidence that the
presentation of terrorism in the media actually leads to the increase of public sympathy
towards those committing the terrorism activities or the reasons. The author also provided an
example that a study performed in 1980s the RAND Corporation discovered that in spite of
the media’s prolonged coverage of terrorist hijacking during the time when public approval
was almost non-existent (Vandentorren et al. 2016). The competition of other two strategies
are such as gaining the attention from public as well as dissemination of fear, which seems to
be more effective. In addition, terrorism in the earlier days was deemed mostly with the
former (the dissemination of their particular message via TV interviews with terrorists
attacking at the time of hostage situation) could claim that the latter has been the fundamental
aspect of Islamist terrorist today.
However, in the middle of this growing confusion of media’s role in presenting
terrorism President Trump in the recent time has accused the news media of not covering
attack of terrorists adequately and the president has also mentioned that “Radical Islamic”
terrorists are supposed to attack the nation as they did on 9/11 (Carli et al. 2017). Conversely,
Bruns and Hanusch (2017) mentioned that terrorism label is often applied to the cases where

16PROJECT DISSERTATION
the perpetrator is Muslim. In this context, Cragin (2017) arguably mentioned that it is
identified that when the perpetrator is found to be Muslim, one could expect that attack to
receive about four and a half times more media coverage than if the perpetrator was not
Muslim. Another significant example is Paris Attack (2015), which is according to Huey
(2015), Lebanon could share a border with Syria as well as be intimately acquainted with the
clash there; however, it has enjoyed a peaceful year and it remains something of a framework
of religious pluralism in the Middle East. The author has pointed out the fact attacks in Beirut
were the deadliest in decade, which is committed by the same perpetrators from outside.
However, it has been identified that major American and European media outlets did not
consider the two incidents in a similar manner. In contrast, headlines regarding the violence
in Paris tended to spread alarm and grief and the New York Time announced “Terror Strike
in Paris” while CNN has referred it as a “massacre” (Library 2018). Hence, the New York
Time has prioritized thee civilian phenomenon of the scene barring the ethno-religious
makeup of the region attacked (Shannon 2018)
“Then came the sharp, unmistakable crack of an explosion, overwhelming the roar of the
crowd. A stunned moment passed. Players and spectators seemed confused, and finally the
awful realization swept through the stadium: Terror, for the second time this year, had struck
Paris”
This statement is provided by the opening of a “New York Times” story, which is
acclaimed by Simons (2016) and the authors seem to have paid attention to derive the human
emotion amid the unexpected horror, particularly, to humanize the victims. Georgiou and
Zaborowski (2017) arguably mentioned that this piece of information is a reference to
France’s military campaign against the ISIS in Syria. Notwithstanding, such kind of context
regarding the broader conflict under which the attack took place have dominated several
articles regarding the Beirut bombing while the coverage of Beirut featured comparatively

17PROJECT DISSERTATION
little intensive regarding the bakery and mosque where the explosion took place. Here,
arguably Estrada, and Koutronas (2016) mentioned that media covered both the Paris and
Beirut attacks, as it covers the most of the actions of terrorism however, New York Time did
not cover them in the similar way.
The findings of a study performed by Simons (2016) reveal the fact that while the
existing studies have been performed on the relationship between media coverage as well as
geographic location of Paris where the attack has occurred, there is a limited understanding of
this relationship with respect to terrorists event. With the help of an agenda setting theory and
the news framing theory lens to contrast news coverage of 2015 terror attack in Paris have
unveiled the discourse usage on the basis of the event. In this context, Bakker and Roy (2015)
mentioned that American news coverage have positively framed Franc adding sympathetic
coverage, while negatively framed by overgeneralising and putting the blame.
However, the attack in Paris has not been ceased to New York Time’s controversial
coverage, the popular news article of Washington Post came up with a different framing.
Considering the coverage of Washington Post, Bruns and Hanusch (2017), mentioned that
one significant reason due to which the attack withdrew much international attention is that
the France does not experience nearly as much terrorism as nations with usual terror attacks
like Lebanon experiences. On the other side, a popular newspaper known as The Guardian
came up with the headlines “Paris attacks kill more than 120 people as it happened” and
along with the headings, Guardian also presents the fact that “A Paris city hall official said
four gunman systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at
the Bataclan music hall”. “and 40 people killed in other region of Paris” (Phipps et al.
2018). According to (Pfefferbaum et al. 2014), this statement has no proper evidence about
even the number of victims killed and the locations where it occurred; however, the front
page of The Guardian has responded with the horror to the unfolding events in Paris. In

18PROJECT DISSERTATION
addition, according to The Guardian the French government has declared a €426m
programme, as the action of combating terrorism, few weeks after the attack leading to 20
people dead with the inclusion of three Islamist Gunmen. Now, here Patrick (2014)
mentioned that the inclusion of “three Islamist gunmen” required a clear explanation because
those attackers were yet to identify; thereby, referring them as “Islamist” actually spread the
hatred across the world towards the religion.
On the basis of this statement, it can be ascertained that the relationship between the
media and the terrorism may remain the same if an individual considers that the number of
casualties remains proportional to the salience of action of a terrorist in the media.
Conversely, Graber and Dunaway (2017) mentioned that most of the terrorist acts indicate
that terrorist acts are performed to gain attention of the global media. The author has also
mentioned that terrorist activities insist on causing heavy causalities; however, increasing fear
with public and all this takes place with a perfect shape due to the media. Giroux (2016)
added that modern technologies have made it possible for newly growing terrorist groups to
utilize the mass media as the powerful weapon in a way the mass media seems to be serving
in the interest of terrorist. As an implication, it can be mentioned that some scholars have
made the attempts to form a theory in accordance to which the development of mass media
had a primary influence on the expansion of terrorism however, Giroux (2016) Wilkinson,
Hoffman and some the authors have stood against the attempts in their works by claiming
that the terrorist groups through the history have attempted to convey their word or actions in
several ways with the inclusion of technological development. However, with a different
view, Pfefferbaum et al. (2014) mentioned that freedom of media in an open society actually
lead to terrorists’ manipulation and exploitation. Furthermore, in the field of media, Doward
(2015) mentioned that a great revolution in communication of news came up in the end of
20th century and it is compared to the previous, which is less reliant to emerging technological

19PROJECT DISSERTATION
advancement but utilized the existing one to alter the style of new presentation. Particularly,
Ayalon, Popovich and Yarchi, (2016) refers this as “CNN syndrome” which has transformed
news broadcasting through the appearance of “round the clock” and this is probably the
reason why media in American were proclaimed “the best intelligence agency”.
2.4 Biasness of media in representing terrorists
A significant difference between the media’s role in representing terrorism as well as
the conflict setting presented above is related to the implied mechanism. According to
Gerhards, and Schäfer (2014) the media can facilitate the dissemination of propaganda and
the information to influence people’s political attitudes and beliefs. The author has also
mentioned that the terrorist agency has selected their timing to increase the media attention
and could strike more when the media attention is on them. On the other side, Pfefferbaum
(2014) mentioned that terrorist groups may attempt to exploit the media platform which they
currently have. Ironically, such focus of maximising the coverage of media could stand in
contrast government’s desire to attack when “the world is not seeing”. Contrary to that,
terrorist agencies usually depend on the media to disseminate their message and to generate
fear in a target population. However, Eid (2014) provided a strong argumentative point along
with the fact that media’s role in representing terrorism is wide with variance. According to
the author, country’s government and politics is also involved in news framing. This means
that the news media is biased towards its nation and it can frame the coverage considering the
interest of the nation and nation’s political stand towards other nation, religion or the
organizations. For example, The New York Time came up with heading “suicide bombing in
Somalia kills dozens at a Market” (Gettleman 2018)
“and it presents the fact that Shabab Militant group has been terrorizing the nation for years
and the attack came up as US under the President Trump had made a renewed push to the
defeat the Shabab, Somali-based militants who terrorized the nation and East Africa for

20PROJECT DISSERTATION
many years, killing civilians across the borders worsening famine as well as destabilizing for
the bombings” (Gettleman 2018).
Now, in this context, Burke (2018) commented that Shabab Militant Group is an
illegal agency who are against nation’s board selection system and the clash with the
government remained for a very long time. In this context, Williams (2018. commented that
Somalia is famous for its oil and gas reserves and it has been exporting its resources to other
nations but there is another unknown group of attackers who are experiencing a persistent
financial crisis in Somalia. Consequently, those unknown pirates attack the supply chain of
oil and gas which is exporting through the sea. A recent study performed by Patrick (2014),
investigated that those unknown groups of attackers are basically the beggars and they are
attacking the transport merchant ships to steal money and resources for survival. So, if these
facts are to be believed that then it is worth mentioning that the credit taken by US army for
killing those pirated group of attackers are actually not terrorist. On the other side, Shabab
militant group cannot be referred as terrorist as their fight is actually with the nation instead
of any particular religion. Notwithstanding, the international news media like The New York
Time presented the fact that Somalia’s attack is carried out by Shabab militant group and
they are referred as terrorists. Thus, the debate presents a tiny scope of statement that media
may remain biased towards the interest of the nation.
On the other side, another popular news media The Guardian made the headline that
“Somalia bombing may have been revenge for botched US-led operation” and according to
this Guardian, the man who killed more than 300 people with a truck bomb at the heart of
Mogadishu is known as the former Somalia’s army whose home was once raided by the
regional troops and US special forces for a controversial operation in which almost 10 people
were killed (Burke 2018). The Guardian presented the fact that “the death toll from bombing
now stands at more than 300, which makes it one of the most devastating terrorist attack

21PROJECT DISSERTATION
anywhere in the world for several years”. Lind, Mutahi and Oosterom (2017) mentioned
that the information presented by The Guardian and the New York Time are quite similar and
thereby, it can be mentioned by western media is not actually occupied by the terrorist groups
but the nation. When reviewing the news feed provided by Guardian, it is observed that the
devastating bombing which instigated global condemnation, may focus attention on the
decade-long fight against the Shabab and the Islamist groups in Somalia.
The Guardian presented the fact that “such cowardly attack strengthen the
commitment of United State guide Somalia and African partners to remove the source of
terrorism”. Hence, Ayele (2017) argued that United State is gaining the credit by mentioning
Shabab militants as terrorist agency to the world omitting the long-term internal fight
between governments and Shabab Group. The author has concluded the debate by
mentioning the fact that Western media has a great role in generating hatred towards religion
among people and manipulating the mass audience. The debate on media’ biasness towards a
particular group, party or nation is not limited to Somalia’s incident but the following
incident had received a severe criticism from the scholars.
The New York Time made the headlines that “Islamic State claims attacks at
Brussels airport and metro station” and according to this newspaper, Islamic State claims
responsibility for the two bomb attacks that increased the death toll to 31 and injuries are up
to 220 in the departure of Brussels’ Zaventem airport and the newspaper has particularly
mentioned that fighters of ISIS agency performed a series of bombing along with the
explosive belts and devices (Shannon 2018). The Guardian framed the news that
“extremists opened the fire at the airport and this coordinated bombing occurred days after
the Belgium officials informed the possible attack considering the arrest in Brussels shootout
caused by Salah Abdeslam – the only known survivor of the 10 Islamists who performed the
attack” (Burke and Traynor 2018).

22PROJECT DISSERTATION
However, according to the news presented by The Sun, a total five terrorists were
mainly responsible for the attack with three of them dying in the suicide mission while The
New York Time has mentioned that eight after the explosion, a new agency affiliated with
the Islamic State claiming the responsibility by referring Belgium a nation taking part in the
coalition against the Islamic State (Birchall 2018). The news also added the fact that suspect
Salah Abdeslam is known to be the major survivor of the 10 men who were directly engaged
in Paris attacks. The New York Times has also mentioned the fact that apart from being the
seat of European Union Governments and the capital of Belgium, Brussels’ been the
fundamental focus of counter-terrorism probing, particularly since the attack in Paris
(Shannon 2018).
The above paragraph presents a set of differences in the pieces of information
provided by The Sun, The Guardian and The New York Time. In such growing controversy
revolving around news media’s presentation of attacks, Al-Samman (2017) mentioned that
mass media channels play an extended role in presenting the stories and mass media channels
are altering the coverage. However, apart from the mass media channels, the criticism is also
found about how the international television channels like The Guardian, The New York
Time, and The Sun due to their biased portrayal of the attacks, religion and terrorists groups.
Carli et al. (2017) particularly mentioned the fact that the framing of national sponsored
global news agencies such The Guardian, The New York Time and several others have
introduced an emerging consideration when it is required to prioritize and make headlines. It
is worth mentioning for example, these agencies predictably prioritize and highlight the news
featuring their sponsor nations.
A study performed by Beckmann, Dewenter and Thomas (2017), the coverage of
television of Brussels and Paris attacks leads to “heightened media cynicism” in the Middle
East and the author has mentioned that the skewed and uneven reporting on significant stories

23PROJECT DISSERTATION
results in increasing apathy towards the conventional media. This statement can be supported
with the fact that the debate about the disproportionate air-time provided to Beirut Twin Blast
in Lebanon over the Paris attack raised the serious questions. Here, the debate appears to be
geographically divided between the Globe South and North. Nonetheless, two significant
questions in this controversy are being avoided (Library 2018). The focus should not be much
on how these stories were covered; rather, it should be on why there were covered.
Furthermore, Estrada and Koutronas (2016) mentioned that almost two third of the front was
given over to the coverage of Paris Attack along with three different prominent photography
as well as three separate stories on the attack. The author has also mentioned the fact that
Paris attack received a similar emphasis in the international media channels like The
Guardian and The New York Time. It is particularly, identified that front page of the
Washington Post covered the news of terrorists attacks in a world capital ; however, the ISIS
linked bombings in Beirut, Labanon killing almost 43 people were not prominently covered
as the attack took place in Paris (Washington Post 2018).
There is one more incident which shows the biasness of the media, for example, it is
found in the Guardian News that Islamic leaders and the Muslim population seems to be
quick to demonstrate the solidarity with France as well as condemn the terror attack. In the
social media channels, people used the hashtag #IamMuslim and #payfor Paris in show of
unity; however, the question is what effect have the attacks had on Muslims? (Phipps et al.
2018 ). Likewise, there are many more facts showing the major role of media in exaggerating
the attacks and presenting a different perspectives to the world audience. Particularly, the
incident of Taliban Attack in 2015 spread a new form of hatred among people through the
international media. The New York Time made the headline that “Taliban Besides Pakistan,
leaving 145 dead” and the front page coverage of The New York Time

24PROJECT DISSERTATION
“With its chilling echoes of a school in Beslan, Russia, where 186 children were massacred
in 2004, the terrorist attack in Peshawar traumatized a scarred city that has suffered intense
Taliban violence since the insurgency erupted seven years ago. By evening, mosques were
filled with mourners carrying small wooden coffins, and residents cried openly in the streets”
(Walsh 2018).
Nonetheless, the according to Al-Samman (2017), an attack had been the retaliation
for continuing for keeping the persistency of military operation against the group in the North
Waziristan tribal regions. Even though, early assessments indicate that the gunman was the
intent on mounting a long seigo –some of them were carrying stores of food and it was later
found that a senior security officials insisted on the anonymity. On the contrary, Bakker and
Roy (2015) the fighting made more than a million civilians fleeing in a nation already awash
with internally displaced citizens. The New York Time has also presented the fact that
militant cells are known to have merely moved to neighbour districts and the other side of the
border with Afghanistan and citizens have offered some relief that Pakistan Taliban, to a high
extent had failed to provide the revenge.
This incident clarifies the fact that the media is no doubt remains at the heart of such
issue and they are often referred to as the “oxygen of terrorism” (Melki and Jabado (2016).
Beckmann, Dewenter and Thomas (2017) argued that characteristics of the media does not
indicate actual sympathy displayed for the terrorist groups; rather refers to an amount of
publicity that they provide them. In this context, Nacos (2016) mentioned that it is not that
terror attacks presented by the media are fake or tempered but
“Such attacks are often carefully choreographed to attack the attention of the electronic
media and the international press. Terrorism aims at the actual victims” (Gerhards and
Schäfer 2014)

25PROJECT DISSERTATION
In addition, the author has also mentioned that the terrorists tend rely on traditional
journalistic form of drama, violence, surprise, particularly for television. Nonetheless, with
the exceptional enhancement of the intent and social networks and the fight of image and
word has been considered on an unprecedented scale. It is identified that despite the emerging
online news channels, the conventional media remains as the fundamental stakeholders, as
the information and the analysis they deliver remains in most nations the foundation for a
large proportion of public opinion. It is particularly identified that that conventional media
have not been always taken the measure of their responsibility in such a growing propaganda.
2.5 Media’s role in spreading Islamophobia
A study conducted by Gerhards and Schäfer (2014), raises the question about does the
media inform people about policy and the author suggest that readers or the audience are
largely influenced by the media. On the other side, it is also identified that in the case of
America’s attitude towards Muslims, Graber and Dunaway (2017) revealed the fact that
exposures to negative representation of religion such as Muslims in the media increases the
negative attitudes towards Muslims and it also support for the policies that harm Muslims
globally as well as domestically. Even though, the above mentioned policies are hypothetical,
they are quite similar to those are considered presently by American government. Oh the
other side, (Pfefferbaum et al. (2014) provided the fact that even though similar orders are
met by nationwide protests and oppositions, public opinion polls disclosed that the public is
divided about this policy with 47% in favour. Another study, performed by Sela-Shayovitz
(2015), reveal the fact that large proportion of the support for the ban is associated with the
negative attitude towards Muslims. The author has also stated the fact that even though the
overall attitude towards Muslims have increased since 2014, the large nation like America
tend to report colder toward Muslims apart from other religious groups. When it comes to
Islamophobia, Klausen (2015) mentioned that before delving into how media fuels

26PROJECT DISSERTATION
Islamophobia, it is important to clarify what people man by the term. According to this author
Islamophobia has been considered as the fear, hostility, prejudice and differences directed at
Islam and Muslims.
Gates and Podder (2015) argued that Islamophobia remains as the phobia and believe
that the term is often misused in the pursuit of silencing criticism regarding Islam. In this
context, Ayalon, Popovich and Yarchi (2016) commented that the media tend to use bold and
harsh language to spread and promote a sort of fear, as bad news sell. It is also identified that
the media contribute to the issue of xenophobia by spreading and strengthening negative
stereotypes of Muslims. This could divisiveness, tensions and conflict when it is not required
to exist. It might encourage a terrible view of a whole group of people which is not justified.
In this context, Gerhards and Schäfer (2014) commented that Islamophobia in the media
could seriously influence the well-being of Muslims and it can make peaceful, law-abiding
people and peaceful in place that is meant to be their homes.
It is particularly identified that after the attack took place in Paris, the Guardian News
came up with the headline that “Paris terror attacks performed by three coordinated teams of
gunmen” (Phipps et al. 2018). This short piece of news did not directly indicate any
particular groups, agencies, religions while The New York Time made the headline “Three
teams of coordinated Attackers carried out Assaults on Paris”. Now, both of these new media
do not directly imply any particular religion involved in the case. However, The Time.com
came up with the headline “ISIS Claims responsibility for Paris Attacks”; now the reader,
when go through the news, usually consider that Muslims communities are involved in the
attacks and they end up creating a perspective that Islam spreads violence and terror.
Likewise, there is another incident of Mumbai attacks, in which the Herald News mentions
that “Islamic terrorists stormed a number of high-end hotels as well as restaurants using
Kalashinkovs with the inclusion of suicide explosive vests.” Such news may create a state of

27PROJECT DISSERTATION
negativity or hatred towards the Muslims due to the word “Islamic Terrorist” and this further
lead to Islamophobia. According to Vandentorren et al. (2016), media should follow the
policy of making an unbiased news without hurting the sentiment of people or without
hurting any particular religion. The media vastly misjudge the number of Muslims living
within their nation’s border (Carli et al. 2017).
In the context presented by The Guardian New of Islamophobia, Bruns and Hanusch
(2017) mentioned that anti-Muslims sentiment was not much of an issue in the mainstream
media. In addition, the editor of Daily Express recognized that many of stories presented in
the paper earlier revolves around an “Islamophobia sentiment” in the media. Even though,
Bakker and Roy (2015) mentioned about Islamophobia is not an issue in the mainstream
media, () highlighted the fact that more than 40 stories on issues related to Islam and Muslims
have been rectified in mainstream national newspapers receiving the complaints from other
parties. The incident of Somalia bombing in 2017 generated a clear fact that The Guardian
took the credit of presenting the stories, the commenters on social media lamented how
limited attention the bombing received. Due to overestimation and miss presentation of the
incident, the tragedy is failed to obtain any traction on social media with the stories
apparently not resonating enough to trend. The intensity of media coverage was also
criticized. As mentioned by Georgiou and Zaborowski (2017), there is no any slogans
claiming “We are Mogadishu” and attractive image flouting around social media showing
solidarity. Shamefully, there is a little mainstream media attention recording unreasonable
death and destruction in Somalia’s capital and it is very certain that no television species or
emergency fundraisers providing the medical and financial support.
On the other side, it has also been identified that western media has the tendency to
sell their news by overestimating the facts which indirectly creates hatred among people. For
example, the media coverage of Somalia’s attack by The Guardian presented the fact that the

28PROJECT DISSERTATION
blast is carried out by the Shabab Militant as their response against the government but later it
was discovered that an unknown pirate group was involved in the attack. Even though, it was
later found out but the initial coverage of international media is enough to spread hatred
towards the religion. In this context, Simons (2016) also mentioned that Western nations like
United State always has the tendency to take credit against the killing of terrorist but in most
of the cases, stories are later changed. Here, Georgiou and Zaborowski (2017) arguably
mentioned that as Western media channels are often sponsored by the nations itself, thereby,
media purchase the right to alter the news with the purpose of creating a sensation among
people. It is also identified that it is not just misleading stories which are the issues, there are
many articles that conflating the faith of Islam, for example, “Muslims sex grooming” and
“Imam beaten to death in sex grooming town”. In this context, Mair (2017) commented that
sensationalism and scaremongering regarding the threat presented by Muslims is also
widespread; for example, “BBC puts Muslims before” by Daily Star, “Halal Secrete of Pizza
Express” by The Sun. It is particularly mentioned by Gerhards and Schäfer (2014), the
developing nations that cherishes the freedom of the press and it is not unreasonable for the
newspaper to consume the sensational headlines to sell the papers. In this context, Patrick,
(2014) particularly motioned that there is an undeniable as well as serious threats from
several groups recognizing Muslims that spread terror into the mass audience. On the other
side, a study performed by Patrick (2014) Cambridge has demonstrated that mainstream
media reporting regarding Muslim communities contribute to an environment of increasing
hostility and hatred towards Muslims in Britain. The author also mentioned the fact that
validating the findings of an Islamophobia cannot be considered as a tenable position.
Furthermore, it is also identified that more than half of Britons observe Islam as the
significant threat to Western nations.

29PROJECT DISSERTATION
A study performed by Estrada and Koutronas (2016) mentioned the fact that almost
30% of young children have the belief that Muslims are “taking over England’ as well as they
hate the crime against Muslims, which could further continue to increase up to 70% in the
last year. In this context, Bakker and Roy (2015) commented that the governments need to
consider the issues of Islamophobia on a serious account and the civilians need to hold the
media to account effectively by reporting the mistakes as well as inaccuracies. Furthermore, a
research carried out by Beckmann, Dewenter, and Thomas (2017) there have been an
improvement in the language that is being used; however, the religious literacy remains
widespread within the part of the newspaper elite. The scholars of this paper insisted on the
fact that special training for journalists working in the field of Islamic faith and culture and
guidelines for the sensitive topic now becomes a “must-have” for the serious paper. Another
study performed by Melki and Jabado (2016) reveal the fact that western media have a huge
under-representation of Muslims in the media and the author also provided the fact that only
0.5% of journalist in UK are Muslims which is compared to almost 5% of total population.

30PROJECT DISSERTATION
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The issue of terrorism and the fighting against it have become one of the major
elements of the international and domestic politics, with the media being firm on the front
lines, particularly the time they attack the target civilian population. In all its contemporary
attributes, terrorism has double potential (Bowen, Fidgeon and Page 2014). The very first is
that it represents global threat and secondly, it affects the process of transformation of the
contemporary societies. The challenges and the dilemmas that results are instantly clear. With
the increasing domain of operations of the media (including paper, television, radio and other
means), especially with the widespread usage of internet across the globe, it has become
immensely easy for people sitting in one corner of the world to know about the phenomena
and happenings all over the world. It is the responsibility of the media to report unbiased and
fair news stories (Keene 2011). Citizens always expect the media to let them know of the
things as completely as they are possible without resorting to sensationalism or going
overboard. The authorities demand restraint by invoking the challenges of immoderate
coverage for the uprightness and honesty of the operations or the peace of the population. The
allegations of being the bullhorn of terrorism in order to attract the audiences contemplate
constantly on the media, who are always been operating on the over-drive. It is to note that
despite the importance and the recurrence of terrorist actions, the media is often seen are
struggling hard to find its footing (Powell 2011). According to Christophe Ayad, one of the
Middle East specialist at Le Monde- “Often questions are asked and matters settled only in an
emergency, at the risk of incoherence and blunder/ “Everyone fumbles around, advancing on
a case-by-case basis.”

31PROJECT DISSERTATION
The quality of the terrorism coverage is generally based on several different factors. It
is adamant by the level of freedom of the press in each and every nation, the economic
resources that are available for the media, the singular concept of ethics, the cultural factors
as well as the social role of media. This issue is very significant as because of the fact that the
coverage of terrorism is said to reveal the position of media within a particular society. As
per Browne and Silke (2011), the ability of a reporter to practice responsible reporting and
due-diligence along with the speed that is necessary in this digital age is very critical for
fulfilling or achieving the civic duties that the journalists maintain in this world.
It is to note that the reaction of the media also plays a major role in determining the
influence of terrorism on a society. It has been said by Jamail (2011), that the media is been
caught in an infernal dilemma. On one hand, the media echo is possibly to make the victims
the unintentional messengers of the search for fame and prestige of their executioners, while
on the other hand, self-censorship can be elucidated as a surrender (Eid 2014). Fear could
also result in reclamation of the hardly won freedoms and could gradually decrease the
prevailing difference in between the authoritarian regimes and democratic states- that is what
terrorists seek for.
The evolution of mass communication has gradually changed the scene of terrorisms as well
as the way the terrorists could conduct their affairs in the present days. The terrorist attack in
Washington D.C in the 19th century would have become known to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem only after few days of its occurrence. Today, the terrorists are well aware of power
that media holds (Weimann 2012). They are well known of the fact that media has the power
of manipulating them to their very own need and advantage. Through giving the unusual
events some extensive coverage, media has succeeded in evoking the notion- “you cannot be
revolutionary without a colour TV: it's as necessary as a gun” (Gershenfeld 2012) There is a
significant relationship in between media and the terrorists and this has been one of the

32PROJECT DISSERTATION
central questions that the terrorism research has been struggled with. The basic instruments of
every democracy- the free media and the free speech, provide the terrorists the publicity that
they need in order to inform the general public about their goals and operations.
After each and every attacks, the expert questions the tone and extent of the media coverage.
They juxtapose the deaths caused because of terrorism to the total number of victims of the
road accidents, natural disasters and wars, calling for more control on the media. However, it
is also to note that this comparison is often specious due to the eminently social and political
nature of the attacks. In the year 2014, the average number of the existing homicide all
around the globe was about 6.24 death per 1 lakh inhabitants, while the number of deaths
caused by terrorism was just 0.47 per 1 lakh people. These figures are seemingly relatively
low as compared to the other different reasons of deaths. The results of terrorism are way far
from measuring (Van Dongen 2011). Although, it is note the life-threatening threat of 21st
century, still it has unquestionably changed the entire world. Yet, despite this fact, the amount
of terrorism coverage in media is disproportionate.
The main purpose of this paper is to review these challenges and considerations. This
paper is based on the important and universal principles- independence, the search of truth as
well as the sense of responsibility, through placing all of them in a complex context of
interconnected and pluralistic world. It shall also shed light on the relationship between the
media, terrorist and the government. It is ambitious about placing the assisting the media for
finding out the balance in between the responsibility and the freedom to inform; along with
the balance in between the duty to protect and the right to know, while taking into
consideration the key values and norms of journalism.

33PROJECT DISSERTATION
3.2 Methodology
For conducting this research paper in a systematic manner, it is very important to plan a well-
defined idea about the approach that is to be considered for the making of the research, along
with the method of data collection and analysis. Research methodology assists in providing a
theoretical framework of the research methods that are being used for conducting the study
(Gale et al. 2013). This chapter would critically discuss the methods that are been involved in
research process as well as explain it for data collection and would enhance the prevailing
knowledge about the subject for the research purpose. As the present research paper is
intended at investigating the way Media represents terrorism in global context, this chapter
would explain the methods or the processes that would be used for information and data
collection for verifying the hypothesis as well as for establishing a valid conclusion (Palinkas
et al. 2015). There are many research techniques that are been used for the extraction of the
variety of data and information and the limitations that are encountered in conducting this
research study and all of them are been discussed in detailed manner here.
3.3 Research onion
It is one of the essential elements of academic and scientific researches. It was
developed by Sauders. The research onion illustrates the different stages that are to be
covered while developing any research strategy (Toloie-Eshlaghy et al. 2011). While
observing externally, every layer of the research onion illustrates and describes a more
detailed stage of research process. The research onion of this study would provide an
effective and efficient progression by which one can design a research methodology.

34PROJECT DISSERTATION
Figure 2: Research Onion
From the above discussion it is evident that the first layer of the onion, which is the research
philosophy, is followed by the research approach, the strategy, the choices, time horizons and
then the techniques that presents and very clear framework for appropriate methods and
strategies that are to be used for addressing the research.
3.4 Research philosophy
Research philosophy plays a very important part in the determination of the ways in
which the research shall be conducted (Ormston et al. 2014). It helps in explaining the
methods by means of which the research data are to be gathered, analysed, assessed and are
used in the process of research. Generally, there are four types of research philosophy and
they are- pragmatism, interpretivism, positivism and finally, objectivism. The system of
research is very helpful in conducting a research as because of the fact that it provides a
system of theories that are important for the development of the research knowledge and for
the conduction of the research in effective manner. It explains the underlying research

35PROJECT DISSERTATION
philosophic approaches that are been considered for addressing the research problem. The
present research study employs the use of interpretivism as the research philosophy. Using
this method, the researcher has interpreted the elements of this research study as
interpretivism is known for integrating human interest into the study.
Justification for choosing interpretivism
The main reason for choosing interpretivism for the research study are that it gives
primacy for an intelligible and in-depth understanding of the meaningful social action about
the context. It also recognises the impact of the value choices and commitments on the
findings and research process (Goldkuhl 2012). Furthermore, the research findings are
generally judged against the criteria of the casual adequacy and meaning, transferability and
contextual sensitivity and these are helpful in conducting this research study of the media
representation of terrorism.
3.5 Research approach
Research approach helps in offering an idea regarding the concepts of procedures and
plans for the research which span the steps from the broad assumptions to the detailed
methods of analysis, interpretation and data collection. It is also to be noted that there are a
total of two types of research approach and they are Inductive Research Approach and
Deductive Research Approach. On one hand, in inductive research approach, a research
moves towards general style from specific one. It is also referred to as the bottom top
approach. On the other hand, in case of deductive research approach, the research mover
towards the specific style from the general one. It is just the opposite of inductive research
approach. It is also known as top-down method. For this research study, inductive research
approach shall be taken into consideration.

36PROJECT DISSERTATION
Figure 3: Two Kinds of Research Approach
Justification for choosing inductive research approach
The primary reason behind choosing inductive research approach is that it begins with
a detailed analysis and observations of the world that moves towards more ideas and more
abstract generalisations. It is also to note that the inductive approach is linked with qualitative
methods and this paper too has made use of qualitative data analysis method to analyse the
data and other information (Gioia, Corley and Hamilton 2013). Furthermore, the main
objective of this research study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of an event and hence,
inductive approach would be best to use. With the same, by making use of this approach a
researcher could make more new theories relevant to his research study.
3.6 Research design
Research design can be defined as the overall strategy which has been chosen for
integrating several different elements of the research in logical and coherent ways. It
comprise of the blueprint for the measurement, collection and the analysis of the information
and data. Its importance lies on the fact that research design just not only assist in the process
of accomplishment of the research, but also contributes in the process of development of

37PROJECT DISSERTATION
comprehensive idea about each and every step of the research process. It is also to mention
that there are many kind of research design and they are descriptive research design,
experimental research design, observational research design and exploratory research design.
This research study would have been employed with the use of exploratory design.
It has used this research design due to the fact that exploratory design in one of the
widely used research design methods, when the research is intended for gaining familiarity
with an event or for acquiring a whole new insight into the existing research problem. With
the same, as the present research study has explored the inherent link in between the media
and terrorism in global context, making use of exploratory research design is assumed to be
of much helpful. Also, the exploratory research design is meant for helping in gaining
important insight into the different in which media represents terrorism in front of the world.
This research design helps in answering the questions that would start with “why”, “when”
and “what” and therefore, this research study has made use of secondary research in the form
of reviewing the various literary articles and the has made use of the qualitative research
analysis methods in the form of some in-depth interview sessions.
3.7 Data collection and analysis
Like the above, the data collection method too is an essential part of a research
process. It is a methodological approach of collecting data and information from different
sources. It is also to be noted that it is the data that actually acts a great source of knowledge
and information in a research process and therefore, it becomes indispensable to choose the
most suitable and the most effective method of data collection. It is to state that there are a
total of two kind of data collection methods and they are- primary data collection and
secondary data collection. The primary data collection method refers to the use of first hand
data and information in a research study. On the other hand, the secondary data are been
extracted from the already existing researchers of the past. It is to note that the present

38PROJECT DISSERTATION
research study employs secondary data collection method for gathering case-specific
information and knowledge and for verifying the validity of the hypothesis based on different
theories. For this type of research, the researcher has used the facts and figures available from
the various sources such as articles of the newspaper or writings from the authenticated
journals. Furthermore, the present research study has also reviews the secondary data and
information that are found different business magazines, research articles, business journals
and different academic reports.
3.8 Reliability and validity
Reliability and Validity is also regarded to be one of the critical subject that need to be
addressed in a research study. The term reliability in a research study refers to the extent to
which same answers could be obtained by making use of same type of instruments more than
a single time. In other words, it can be said that if a research of the researcher is linked with
some really high level of reliability, then the other different researchers are required to be
capable enough of generating the same and exact result in the same research topic by making
use of the same research methods as well and that too under same or similar circumstances. It
is also to note that the reliability problem of a research paper crop up in several different
forms. It is a concern during the time when a single observes is the major source of the data
as because of the fact that none of us has certain guard in opposition of the influence of the
subjectivity of the observer. As it is stated by Homburg et al. (2012) the issue of reliability
are mainly linked with the subjectivity. When a researcher adopts any kind of subjective
approach towards the study, the level of reliability of the work is then compromised.
Furthermore, the validity of the research could be explained as the extent to which the
requirements of the scientific research method are been followed at the time of generating the
findings of the research study. Ejaz et al. (2011) have considered the validity of a research to
be a compulsory requirement that should be taken into consideration in each and every type

39PROJECT DISSERTATION
of studies. It is to note that there are different types of research validity and the major ones
are specified by Oh, Wang and Mount (2011) as internal validity, content validity, construct
validity, criterion-related validity, face validity, external validity and concurrent validity. In
order to ensure the validity of this research, the following measures are been taken:
 Proper time scale for the research study has been chosen
 Proper methodology has been selected by taking into consideration the characteristics
and nature of the study
 The respondents and the interviewees were not forced in any ways for choosing the
specific choices among the set of answers.
Hence, validity determines how true the results of the result are. Some of the researchers
believe that validity is not at all applicable to the qualitative research as because of the fact
the qualitative research is more subjective and abstract instead of quantitative one. However,
at the same time there is also the need of quality check in both type of researches. Like the
validity, the reliability of any research is also linked with the quantitative research. In this
research, the concept of triangulation could be used for checking the reliability and the
validity of it. It is to note that Triangulation is “a validity procedure where researchers search
for convergence among multiple and different sources of information to form themes or
categories in a study”. In other words, the term triangulation means the usage of different
methods in the research for verifying the data and to reach the best possible reliability and
validity.
For this research study, using one research method was enough as because the results of the
study were achieved very easily and they were clear but not contradictory in nature. Hence,
triangulation was not applied.

40PROJECT DISSERTATION
3.9 Ethical considerations
It is very crucial to ensure that all the ethical standards of conducting any research are
taken into consideration, they are been followed and are been well maintained in order to
make sure that the study does not harm any of the individuals who are involved in the very
research. With the same, it is also important to ensure that they does not violate any of the
codes for conducting a research. This research study has been conducted under very strict
ethical guidance. The researcher has made use of no such actions that could harm any of the
legal proceedings of conducting this research in any way. It is also to note that the present
research study is conducted on the basis of the independent efforts of each and every
individuals and also the content of the research cannot be accused of copy or plagiarism.
Also, the interviews are been organised after taking the consent of each and every
interviewees or the respondents and that no one has been forced to take part in the interview
process against their wish. It is also to mention that apart from the voluntary participation of
the respondents, each of the participants were been made well aware of the main purpose, the
scope and the benefits of the study before it has been undertaken.
Furthermore, this research study is also not experimental and it has nether harmed
any dead or living individual nor have damaged any natural product. Moreover the research
has maintained anonymity and confidentiality of each and every respondents. Their responses
that were gathered and were recorded from the interviews are all kept confidential and the all
the basic details of them are not been revealed to any third person. Also, the participants were
given full freedom to quit the interview session as well as to withdraw from the entire
research process whenever they want to. They were also informed about the fact that in order
to avoid the altered behaviour, there were some information that has been withdrawn from
the respondents or participants. Finally, this research has been conducted with a purpose of
serving this society as well as contributing to the knowledge of prevailing database about

41PROJECT DISSERTATION
how media represents terrorism and whether it is always an honest representation or not.
Hence, it is to say that this research aids to the betterment of the society and the people along
with the general ethical principles such as honesty, objectivity, respect for intellectual
property and integrity have been maintained in the research.
3.10 Research limitations
Although this research study has been carried out in a systematic manner, there were
certain limitations in the process of making it reliable to that extent. Firstly, it has not made
use of primary data analysis method which would be of much beneficial for making this
research more reliable. As because of financial constraints the researcher has made use of
secondary data analysis. Making use of primary data collection method would have given the
research an original research quality and it would have not carried opinions and bias of the
third parties. Secondly, the researcher has made use of only four newspapers for the research.
Although all of them are reliable and relevant, still making use of more articles would have
make the research more satisfactory and less questionable. Therefore, owing to the lack of
resources, information and data the depth of this academic research has been, to some extent,
compromised in this research study.

42PROJECT DISSERTATION
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the data findings, analysis and its outcome. The data, which has been
collected from books, journals, newspaper articles, have been analysed using a thematic
analysis process. The analysis and discussion have been performed considering three
significant factors the role of media in representing terrorism, media’s biasness towards a
particular party and unclear role of western media in spreading islamophobia. The analysis
has been performed including eight different themes and each of the themes provides an
unclear fact which requires explanation. Thus, the discussion is carried out with proper
evidences like the quotes from newspaper articles and front page coverage of some particular
newspaper.
4.1 Findings and Analysis
Theme 1: Islamophobia: “A symptom or a cause”
Migration is one of the most phenomenon all over the world and many immigrants
have crossed the Mediterranean Sea in act of survival. The majority of the countries in
Europe and America had opened up to the Muslim immigrants decades ago. This is a reason a
major amount of immigrant all developed nations consists of people that have an Islamic
background (MÜHE 2016). The Syrian war is one of the major reasons that refugees fled
form their countries so that they can be free of persecution. Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are
countries still struggling for the countries survival. The largest immigrants or minorities in
foreign countries are represented by Muslims. As stated Ali and Khattab (2017), the attack of
9/11 was one of the most devastating events which not only caused harm to those twin towers
but at the same time left a deep impact into the minds of the general population. This has
been the stepping stone in developing Islamophobia into the minds of the general people.

43PROJECT DISSERTATION
Autochthonous groups exists all over the world and lack of knowledge of the common people
has been capitalized by the media. Racism towards Muslims have started just after the attack
on the twin towers where hate crimes became a common phenomenon. There are several
innocent families and Muslims, and even non-Muslims that were assumed to be of Islam faith
had been put experiences which will leave everyone in two minds (MÜHE 2016).
The statistics suggest that since 2001, there has been significant rise in Islamophobia.
As stated by Bazian (2015), media has been a major cause for developing the phobia towards
a particular race and generalizing them. On the contrary, Ali and Khattab (2017) suggested
that media is only a symptom and not the cause, media only intensifies the Islamophobia by
persistent negative representation of the Muslim community. However, the political and the
economic elites in the western countries are responsible for creating this phobia into the
minds of the general population. The priorities set by the elites are followed by the media
where many have been victimized as the number 1 enemy and when we check the long list
starting from native Americans, black Americans’, Chinese, Italians, Mormons, Vietnamese,
Catholics, Latinos and the Japanese, all have experienced the same thing. Bigotry and
reluctance are two major aspects which has to be taken into account while dealing with
Islamophobia. History suggests that white people have always been racist and orthodox
towards people that are different from them and are not able to accept those people.
According to Ali and Khattab (2017), the attack on the World trade centre and Pentagon were
a boomerang as they have been instrumental in encouraging and supporting the Islamic
Fundamentalists against the country of USSR in the year of 1980.
However, the civil society elites have given too much freedom to the media and the
ignorance of the media can be seen from the following instance:

44PROJECT DISSERTATION
“”“Why is it that no one within the Muslim community there in France knew what these guys
were up to?” CNN anchor John Vause asked Yasser Louati, a French anti-Islamophobia
activist.”~ (Arana 2015)
Even though, the media is following the civil elites, their ignorance and bigotry has
led to this behaviour towards the Muslim community. The answer given by the anti-
islamophobic activities shows that 1.6 billion Muslims all over the world should not be
questioned or hated due to the act of few extremists. This is an instance after the attack on
Paris (Arana 2015). There were multiple claims made by the news reporter regarding
condemning a homicide and terrorist activity of such magnitude by the people of Muslim
origin. However, none of the reporters were even bothered to validate the fact by searching
on the internet whether actually people from Muslim origin have condemned the terrorist act
or not. The most shocking fact is that news reporters are able to get away with casual bigotry
by giving an excuse that it was just a journalistic inquiry (Arana 2015). As stated by
Trousdale (2017), Muslims have been the target so that elite in political and economic fields
can use them as an instrument to shape through the disparities in power between where
majority of the modalities in the western countries have been an utter failure.
This somehow holds true as the governments in most developed countries are using
the common innocent people as a means to hide their own failures and incapabilities. The
western countries are themselves fighting a war on the ideological level and innocent
Muslims have been used so that a proxy culture, economy, ideology and religion is developed
which will lead to an era of war among powers with difference in opinions (Trousdale 2017).
The media at large is responsible for developing a prejudices in the minds of the common
people that do not have any knowledge about the religion and the common people belonging
to that religion. The media has exploited the terrorists’ attacks as a medium to fuel hostility
towards the Muslim community with utmost consistency. Islamophobia has developed due to

45PROJECT DISSERTATION
the media on the online platform but television has had the major contribution towards this
development of Islamophobia in all countries (Chaudhry 2016).
The television channels like Fox CNN had featured debates on sensitive issues such
as whether Islam is a violent religion or not. Many may feel that they are just asking a
relevant question but prejudices is being perpetuated by this people and new channels
(Chaudhry 2016). The role of the media is dispel the fear within the minds of the general
population but majority of them are doing the exact opposite. The media is legitimizing the
myths of the general population by spreading absurd rumours and portraying a religion which
talks only of violence. These debates on television shows are nothing but a means of fuelling
bigotry. The media follows a predictable cycle where any act of violence from any person
with scarce information uses it and links it to Islamic connections. The basic problem is that
every new channel end up running a segment which is ludicrous and one such instance is the
possibility of ISIS to plot a terror attack using a PlayStation 4 (Arana 2015).
The basic problem is that that news channels have to come out and condemn this
homicide and acts of terrorism even if the other religious groups are not expected to do so.
There are organizations like CAIR and other countless organizations that condemn the act
committed by these terrorists (Machtans 2016). However, the portrayal is fairly different
from the sides of the new channels that only aim to impose their own sense of bigotry onto
the viewers.

46PROJECT DISSERTATION
Figure 4: View of different people regarding ISIS in Muslim nations
(Source: Arana 2015)
The above graphs show that majority of the population in most of the countries have
provided negative views against the ISIS. The good of the Muslim world are being
overpowered by the act of violence done by few specific barbaric Muslims. The media has
created such an image that there is no distinction between non terrorists and terrorists. This
cat of the media was questioned that the fact whether the Syrian refugees should be allowed
to enter into different countries (Machtans, K. 2016). The investigation on Paris attack shows
that half a dozen of the suspects in the Paris attack were raised and born in Europe. But, the

47PROJECT DISSERTATION
issue that was represented by the media was that the fact that one Syrian passport was found
near the body of the suicide bombers. Therefore, it is totally unjustified that tens of
thousands of Syrians will be turned back because one of them could be a potential terrorists.
In such matters, instead of relying on relevant information, the media takes opinions form
experts that have little information. A published report in 2015 by the MPI suggests that the
settlement programs of the refugees are the least likely area that a terrorist will choose to get
into a country (Arana 2015). This is because of the fact that they have to get in direct contact
with the FBI which will take several years for them to get a status of immigrants.
Islamophobia is something that is being spread by the media, some may say that it is
symptom but there is strong conclusion that media has the option of seeking out the truth
instead of spreading prejudices and their bigotry and misleading the viewers. A fundamental
shift to Islamic phobia has to be made and general population have to be educated about their
fears. Majority of them are having the wrong notion and none of them are even aware that
Christianity and Islam spread the same message (Górak-Sosnowska 2016). The bible, Quran,
Old Testament, New Testament, Hadith and Surah all say the something where all normal
people want to live a peaceful life in harmony. However, the media has played an important
role in clouding the minds of the common people and none of them have to the idea that
Islamophobia is a means of global racial stratification. Therefore, media has to be condemned
and changed drastically to change the perception of the people in various countries like UK,
USA and other European countries.
Theme 2: “Coverage of attacks by Muslim perpetrators only”
After the ascension to president ship Donald Trump had alleged the US media do not
have an active role in representation of the potential terroristic activities that have been
reverberating resonantly. News Papers like NY Times are more synced in critical analysis of

48PROJECT DISSERTATION
the motives that lead to terrorism and exposing the reasons of the terroristic attacks. In fact
Ahmed and Matthes (2017), professes that detailed studied by the various American
universities regarding the role of media evidently shows that the alleged specs of judgement
used by the president is justified. The label of terrorism stuck by the media only when the
Muslim perpetrator is an acclaimed terrorist. Analogously, Auer, Sutcliffe and Lee (2018),
also opines that there is a propensity of systemic bias among the media.
An analysis of the media coverage of the various terrorism activities by the
exponential media houses like Washington Post, The Guardian, and The New York Times,
Telegraph and the Sunday Mail, it can be highlighted that the lime light is about 5 times more
if the concerned terroristic activity is being led by Muslim leader rather than a non-Muslim
one. Recent post from an issue of the Guardian have not given significant words to the death
caused by 7 infant with a total of 14 casualties in an American pub owing to a sleeper cell
attack. On the contrary, the same issue have poured the limelight on the identification of the
secret hideout of a named Muslim terrorist some her in the Asian soil. However Bartlett and
Reynolds (2015), opines that the general audience of the American media would not find this
surprising or unprecedented. On the contrary the disturbing implications that have been
contoured in the heads of the Americans regarding the Islamise, they would automatically be
more alarmed and agitated with the second revelations rather than the first one (Zelizer,
2018).
Theme 3: “Terrorism: a major component for news feeds”
One popular representation of violence by media is that violence begets violence.
Media alarms that reporting about violence can turn up to become the cause of further deadly
violence. According to the data provided by Beckmann, Dewenter and Thomas (2017),
reportedly about 60000 terror attacks have been exposed by the media within 1970 to 2012.

49PROJECT DISSERTATION
According to a recent study by the team of New York Rimes, it is evident that information
about the success of the ongoing terror activities make the other terrorist groups initiated and
confident about launching similar attacks with success. The data of the Global database of
terrorism records also professes that in 1998, the number of reported terror attacks were 1395.
Since 2000, there have been a boon in media coverage (Conroy-Krutz and Moehler, 2015).
The steady rise of the number of listed attacks in the database have been a common factor
since then. These information makes Dugan and Distler, (2016), opine that the link of media
expose to successful launch of terror attacks and the consequent rise of the number of attacks
are not apparent. In fact Ewart, Cherney and Murphy (2017), opines that the in the past
fifteen years, the terrorist groups have resorted to using the media itself in order to promote
their plans and agendas.
The pictures released by the Islamic state showing open guillotine of hostages have
received huge publicity in print media. The organisation have become a face of fear today
and major amount of accountability for that goes to the media which has contributed to the
growth and emergence of this image. In this context, Graber and Dunaway (2017), raises a
major question, should media give unshackled publicity to such gruesome incidents that
quenches the liberty of man. In fact if terror groups like Taliban, Boko Haram or Al-Qaida
had not received publicity from the frontline news agencies like The Telegraph, The guardian
or the NY Times, they could not have proclaimed themselves as a major terror group so fast
in all major parts of the world.
The empirical findings that interprets the impact of active media coverage have been
analysed here in detail. The “Bigger Story” of the Telegraph have always incorporated
terrorist attacks as headline grabbing stuff. The importance attacked to such incidents are
unprecedented and are almost equal to any natural calamity and its deadly consequences.
According to the opinion of Gruenewald and Allison (2018), after the multitudinous publicity

50PROJECT DISSERTATION
of a big terror event in 2011 by the leading news agencies like Telegraph, and Washington
Post, the ensuing terror attacks in close succession increased by 11 to 15%. In the same lines,
Jetter (2017), have put forward that an in depth study of the patterns of terror attacks have
revealed that suicide attacks have been dragged much more in to the limelight by the media
houses in the last ten years or so. As an outcome, the propensity among terror groups to
launch such suicide attacks have increased about 30 to 35%. Suicide attacks have become a
major vehicle of mass killing by most dreaded terrorism agencies like Islamic State and Al
Qaida. The same has happened with “Sleeper Cell” attacks also.
The computed blasts that took lives of many in the terror prone countries of Asia in
the 1990s have received a digital up gradation in the new age. Again the media accreditation
of such terror strikes have made them a prevalent fashion among the terrorist groups. Besides,
the empirical findings from Jetter (2017), suggest that the amount of media attention that was
devoted to covering the terror activities in the countries other than the US is negligible in
comparison. In this context, Kearns, Betus and Lemieux (2018), opines in turn that the
massive attention to the terror attacks in America is always predictive of the major propensity
of a huge terror strike in another country within a reduced interval. This conclusively
supports the fact that media activities regarding the terror attacks are being promptly traced
by institutions that spread terror and builds coherent strategy so that the media publicity can
be used to their advantage.
A survey in the US points out that on average about 42 person die out of terror
activators in sharp contrast with a death toll of 7123 children who embrace death out of
impoverishment and malnutrition. Hence, Kelsey (2015), have commented rightly that it is
high time that the media powerhouses think humanely and reconsider their sensationalist
coverage of the dreadful terrorism activities and better stop acting as free media coverage
platform for the terrorists. More harm being caused to humanity at the cost of media tycoons

51PROJECT DISSERTATION
engaging in scrutinising the cruelties that terrorists indulge into should not be underestimated
or neglected.
Theme 4: “Terrorist or psychopath? Who Cares?”
Media reports of the massive massacre that took place in Las Vegas and the active
criticism that was put up are commendable. However, the dramatic and sarcastic linkage to
terrorism that was established with this incident by the proactive western media powerhouses
seems quite superlative. Stephen Paddock, the aged psychopath who was associated with the
attack has been made infamous as an ISIS personnel. In fact, the media went to the extent of
preaching that he had been an undercover terrorist who has been groomed for this project by
a celebrated terrorist organisation (Lakshmanan, 2018). Incomplete chunks of information
have been knitted through subtle thread to make the audience come to a conception that not
only this exclusive incident, rather this whole stereotype of attacks have the brains of the
Muslim led terror houses behind them. In case if a sequel of the same incident occurred in a
while, the media releases need not justify that this is a terrorist activity over again. Here,
Lehman (2017), have raised a major question. Are reputed media houses to act as modifiers
or mirror to the society reflecting the good and the bad with equal appreciation?
The media reports turned that 59 casualties occurred in the incident with 500 people
being severely injured. In fact the former president of the Native American Association of
journalists is also of the opinion that his colleagues on to journalism should indulge in some
more basic checking of the facts in order to make their news more authentic, unbiased and
spoof free. This is the same with the other mass attacks that have taken place frequently in
history also. In 1921 Tulsa, the massive intended racial attacks that took away the lives of one
hundred African Americans destroying a wealthy neighbourhood (Mahoney, 2017). Lineage
of media records shows ample bifurcation of media’s interpretation of the events. The Black

52PROJECT DISSERTATION
as well as the Hispanic journalist have attempted to build a conception that the event was a
despicable move by the racially biased contemporary American outlaws. However the white
segment of the media, attempted to subtly fame the incidents as a terrorist tragedy that
represented a major form of domestic terrorism.
Theme 5: “Media Biasness and anti-Islamic Message”
Theme 5: “Framing Terrorism: Interpretive structures of Journalists in narrow
contexts”
The western news media do not interpret the incidents they present in their news with
an open face. The news media often presents moulded news instead of giving an exact layout
of the incidents as they have occurred. Again, the media often frames the news as per the
priority of the specialist groups like the influential politicians or business owners and often
under force of pressure groups with individual and secluded interests. The public figures who
gives proximity or more priority to an emotion or are ideologically biased and their choices
are given preferences by the editors in presentation of the news (Niculae et al. 2015). Such
biased publications have direct negative impact upon the public. In the words of famous
author Amy Reynolds, the reply to the 9/11 attacks in the form of news articles published by
the western influential media houses was actually a form of decisive retaliation. Media have
high potential in framing the opinion of the public by in-surging any predominant sentiment
which might be biased or unbiased. However, after 11th September when the majority of the
western media were busy in victimising the Muslim as a terror loving community, a small
section of the media started publishing positive aspects about the Arabian Americans. The
media house had preferred to prevent spreading negative sentiments against the small Muslim
community in America, rather appreciate them as American citizens and flaunt their
association with the national sentiments and their regards against terrorism or the community

53PROJECT DISSERTATION
that spreads terrorism regardless of their religious faces (Winter, Metzger and Flanagin,
2016). Rather, the community insisted on accepting the challenge of AL Qaida and prove that
fragmentation of communities from the heart of the American civilisation is not so easy
(Peters, 2017). Coherence and not fragmentation was chosen as the possible solution by the
community. Hence this shows that media journalists can expand their realm and surpass their
gregarious reflexes prevalently used in journalism and think beyond printing only pre-
established consequences. They have the strength to integrate the society and represent the
underlying strength of nationality, so that the terror groups understand that few abstract blast
and mass killings cannot help them achieve domination over the common people.
Theme 6: “Framing Terrorism: Interpretive structures of Journalists in narrow
contexts”
The choices promoted by the mainstream western media are not the ideal choices
definitely. Often the news agencies buffered up by their responsibilities of providing quality
content in their news feeds often choose the way of representing the biased news frames that
have been developed by the others like the authorities or the public figures who gives
proximity or more priority to an emotion or are ideologically biased (Niculae et al. 2015).
Such biased publications have direct negative impact upon the public. In the words of famous
author Amy Reynolds, the reply to the 9/11 attacks on the part of the US media was actually
a form of decisive retaliation. The radically different ways in which media can express
opinions and in convergence shape the opinion of the public are unprecedented and epoch
making. After 11th September when the majority of the western media were busy in
victimising the Muslim as a terror loving community, a small section of the media started
publishing positive aspects about the Arabian Americans. The thought frame was avoiding
retaliation against a micro American community consisting of Muslims and thereby
contributing to the cause of leading to the terror attacks (Winter, Metzger and Flanagin,

54PROJECT DISSERTATION
2016). Rather, the community insisted on accepting the challenge of AL Qaida and prove that
fragmentation of communities from the heart of the American civilisation is not so easy
(Peters, 2017). Coherence and not fragmentation was chosen as the possible solution by the
community. Hence this shows that media journalist can expand their realm and surpass their
gregarious reflexes prevalently used in journalism and think beyond printing only pre-
established consequences.
Theme 7: “War against terror or concern with own safety?”
The war of words is what the modern potential media houses are into and the chief weapon in
their hands is biasness. However in the same squabble over the semantics, the media is left to
do anything other than with parsing out exact reasons that lead to the spread of terror in the
western communities. Media footage had been allotted much more to the acts of terrorism
that have been taking place in the European or the American communities (West and Lloyd,
2017). Major western news bodies resonated alarms at the outcome of the 13th November
attacks in Paris or that on 22nd of March in Brussels. On the contrary little attention was given
to the mass killings that was committed in Turkey, Lebanon as also in Africa. In the same
year, the Boko Haram terrorist group committed a severe mass killing in Nigeria causing 65
casualties. In the opinion of Saleem et al. (2017), the media follows double standard in
evaluating human life. The western communities exposed to threat of terrorism are
highlighted in major amount in comparison to the non-European countries where terrorism is
an equally stark reality. When Paris and Brussels gets struck, the media in other countries
imagine that they are the next target. They terror is not the primacy. On the contrary the
organisation that could be a threat for the concerned civilisations are under focus only. Sadly
the biased western media do not project that what happened in Paris was actually dramatic
and unusual and incidents like that and even more vulgar happen on regular basis in countries
like Israel and Syria. In fact in a column in The Guardian, it was published that:

55PROJECT DISSERTATION
“Ideally we should care about all deaths equally, but its human nature that we do not. Not
out of some crass disregard for the lives of others, but the simple limitations of what we
can care about, its proximity to home, and how it grabs our attention.”
In the words of Sela-Shayovitz, (2015), if the media gave more detailed coverage regarding
what happens in places like Syria on regular basis, the complacency of the civil communities
that contemplates with terrorism would be shattered. Another critical example might be cited
in this context. About 300 girls were being kidnapped from Nigeria by a group of extremist.
The popular community of western media did not take in to account the necessity of releasing
press articles demanding the release of the girls (Sultan, 2016). In fact no major western
media house expressed the concern to know which terror group had caused the nuisance.
After some minor movements the media lost interest in the case and nobody ever took
concern to find out if the hostages were ever released or not.
Theme 8: The face of media bias: Paris versus Beirut”
In the wake of the Paris terrorist attack, 4 million people marked them safe in Facebook.
People also showed support towards devastated France by using the colour f the French flag
as their background on their Facebook profile pictures.

56PROJECT DISSERTATION
Middle East Africa Asia Eastern Europe Western Europe USA
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Terrorism Death Coverag per region
Terrorism Death Coverag per region
Graph 1: terrorism Death Coverage according to region as per the western Media
(Source: Sultan, 2016)
The news media overflowed with articles that shoved sympathy and placed a call to end
global terrorism by uprooting it from the root. The headline of The Guardian on the next day
stated:
“Paris attacks kills more than 120 on Champs Elysses”
The double standards in media biasness became more prominent in this case.
Reportedly, only a day ago more than a dozen of people lost their lives of terrorist attacks.
Again, in the same year April, about 150 people died of terrorist attacks in Garissa situated in
Kenya. Half of the world is not aware of these attacks that took place in the African
countries. What could be the possible reasons? Shohat and Stam (2014), argues that the lives
of the Africans are not significant enough to be covered in the front page. In other case, there
is a distance in the two realms: the western world and the African world. The objectives of
the terror groups operating in Africa or insignificant nation states of Asia are not so

57PROJECT DISSERTATION
significant that requires the attention of the western community. The lives that are lost in the
Middle East are laid in silence also. In fact the journalists that made the reports on the attacks
in Middle East or Africa were mediated by the popular media houses. The articles invited
attacks from the other press releases who called the claims of those news releases as “unfair
accusations”. These articles were also alleged to use divisive terminologies as well as
xenophobic reactions. ISIL in Africa operated with the objectives of sowing discord as well
as provoking repression. Hence, Stroud (2017), raises the question in this context, did the
media also shared the same demands if they supressed the voice of the newspapers that
wanted to expose the activities of the terror groups in Africa?
Middle East Africa Asia Eastern
Europe Western
Europe Non US
America US
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Actual terrorism Rate by region
Graph 2: Actual terrorism rate by region
(Source: Lehman, 2017)
The reports of Beirut were considered with dire importance latter in the trail. Hence, it was
evident that politics had a key role to play in the powerhouses of media taking active interest
in expressing disgust at the attacks that took place there.

58PROJECT DISSERTATION
4.2 Discussion
The above discussion presents the fact that not all the time news media fuses the
information or alter the fact, which means there could be come situations where the media
plays their own role for their own interest but other remains neutral. Even though, due to the
never ending hatred towards religion, some paper media prints and spread negativity but the
real fact is that such coverage should not always be covered as negativity or partiality
because it is a political strategy performed many parties or agencies involved. On the other
side, terrorist agencies uses or targets the media to accomplish their actions. So, media
becomes the pathway of terrorist agencies to target the mass audience. In addition, the news
articles of New York Tim and The Guardian were assessed, demonstrated the traits of passing
an agenda. Nonetheless, where some articles or coverage was more than of a subtle tentative
of smoothening out the relation bee religious motives and the attacks in Paris. The article on
Paris attack by New York Time, staying true to the message in its headline –that of not
spreading the fear of terrorist used mainly collectivization as the means of determining a
group and the threat the pose. When focussing on the overall portrayal of the Guardian and
The New York Time, it demonstrates the traits of a heavy application of strategies in passing
the agenda of their articles onto the reader. It is identified that both the newspaper have
unfolded argumentation that have been legitimize with the help of some particular techniques
recognized through the analytical framework. However, a further analysis might prove the
beneficial before deriving any particular concision to the agenda of newspaper as a whole.
This remains as the market of a proper inadequacy of such form of subjective analysis in the
field of study.

59PROJECT DISSERTATION
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion
Even though, it is difficult to derive any particular conclusion on the direct relation between
media coverage, its biasness as well as the psychological action of stereotypes of the
prejudice, this study gives an in-depth insight into how vastly, the news article could differ on
a semantic plane. In the conclusion of the research work, it is worth mentioning that the
information revolution which observes a rapid growth in the 21st century can influence the all
scope of the global society and lead their transformation. It is true that media has changed
people’s lifestyle in communication, business activities and different other aspects of
everyday life. One of the outcome of society, therefore, transformed is its openness and
greater availability of information. Thereby, one may conclude that today’s social movements
are to a substantial extent under the influence of information that is incorporating new
meanings. A direct result of such processes are the likelihoods that media offer in their global
spreading. In the introductory chapter of the dissertation, it is found mentioned that media’s
role is questionable in representing terrorism and in the literature review, it was found that as
media is a free medium, terrorist organizations can use news media to spread their messages.
There was a state of confusion in the literature that whether terrorist organizations are
exploiting the media to convey their actions. However, the data findings indicate that
possibilities are visa-vis, which means to some extent, the terrorist organizations use the
media to convey their message, while some media channels manipulates the audiences- the
readers for their own interest. Particularly, the western news media such as The Washington
Post, The Guardian News, The New York Time are leaning towards the interest of the
nation. According to the media coverage, America has the tendency to take the credit of
killing the terrorist who belong to Muslim community but not all attacks caused by Muslims.

60PROJECT DISSERTATION
It is also found that if the terrorist groups do not involve media in their actions,
terrorist rhetoric could influence only those in the immediate locality of terrorist attacks. On
the other side, wt. the help of media, terrorist groups reaches a large broader and the global
audience. It is true that most people get their political information from media and so in that
way media’s depiction of terrorism can have a profound influence upon the way people think
about as well as involve in discourse regarding terrorism.
Furthermore, it is also identified that it is undisputable that terrorism as well as media
are interrelated in a particular way. Nonetheless, the major question is not the relationship
bout the fact if it has impact on public opinion and the governmental decision making that
could be in favour of terrorist.
The findings and analysis indicate that while it is unpleasant to rank the bombing as well as
shooting in Paris that increased the death toll to 130 people against other terror attack. The
findings of the research creates a consciousness that it is devastating and challenging for any
news organizations to give full and proper coverage to acts. For example, for the incident of
9/11 and 7/7 in United Kingdom seems to exceed beyond the physical blows to several other
parts of the country’s life. It is worth mentioning that there is an aspect of substantial
coverage provided by The Guardian to the attacks that probably demonstrates an ironic shift
in the journalism as well as it has been received by readers.
At the heart of the online coverage is the live blog, a process of conveying a story that
tempers the original story, aggregated news and combat and comment, which could further
appear breathless if it is not presented with restraint. In addition, a rage of regular blogs are
revolving around The Guardian in UK, New York and Sydney. So, a significant aspect of the
way they were approached was a clear description between what was actually known as well
as what was being presented in the news but unverified.

61PROJECT DISSERTATION
In addition, it has also been identified the time the news dedicate to covering
radicalisation as well as terrorism could be the most significant overlooked factor which
contributes to the increase of Islamophobia in the United State. Besides, the known attack
such as Paris and Beruit, the recent senseless shooting at the regional Centre in San
Bernardino, California is a case in point. Besides the identities of the attackers and their
victims and the type of weapons they used and hid in their place of residence, people simply
do not have any relevant facts to report. This could be an expected aspect of how an
appropriate police investigation unveils in its early stage, with the facts gathering to form and
present a clear image of the motives, plans and the greater context of why and how this attack
occurred but such logic never works for a mainstream news media that remains on the rating.
The major difference is: a police investigation waits for facts to form the narrative, the
mainstream news media channels form multiple narratives from a speculation on the basis of
scarcity of facts.
In the findings, Islamophobia is often discussed in the context of the discourse of how
Muslims and Islam are presented in the media. Its major emphasis on deconstructing the
headlines and the prejudiced implication being made by broadcasting. Nonetheless, there is a
simple matter of how much time the news media delicate to this context. For example, if the
news media, like the context of terrorism, spends the same amount of time on covering the
story of teachers are unpaid, healthcare system, gun control and economic disparities that
western nations face, these could be a different nation than it is today. There is another
incident that CNN dedicates to cover violence obligated by Muslims, it is relevant to focus on
some statistics to observe the discrepancies. In accordance to the debates made by FBI, all
terrorist attacks taking place on United State during the period from 1985 to 2005, attacks by
Islamic extremists present only six percent of the total. It is also identified that almost 350
mass shootings so far in US in which only two were perform by Muslims which provides an

62PROJECT DISSERTATION
enormous 0.57 of all mass shooting in US. Such scenario clarifies the fact that media can be
biased in some context due to nation’s interest and media’s own and but it is also certain that
to some extent, terrorist organizations are manipulating and exploiting the news media to
facilitate their actions.
5.2 Future Scope of the study
This research work can be further extended by including a news media channel which
is in the limelight. A primary research can be conducted by performing interview and survey
among the journalists and news editors. In order to gain a derived result from the study, a
hypothesis testing should be included in the research work. Media’s biasness is dependent
factor; researchers should also look up to the press releases of small independent media
houses that strives towards making unbiased and authentic news about terrorism that is
affecting not only the waster communities but Syria, Nigeria, Somalia and other terror torn
places as well.

63PROJECT DISSERTATION
References
Ahmed, S. and Matthes, J., 2017. Media representation of Muslims and Islam from 2000 to
2015: A meta-analysis. International Communication Gazette, 79(3), pp.219-244.
Ali, S. and Khattab, U. 2017, "East–west trans-mediatisation of terrorism and Islamophobia:
Sydney siege and Peshawar massacre", International Communication Gazette, vol. 79, no. 8,
pp. 722-745.
Al-Samman, H., 2017. Invading Muslim Bodies in the Era of Trump. Journal of Middle East
Women's Studies, 13(3), pp.483-485.
Arana, G. 2015. Islamophobic Media Coverage Is Out Of Control. It Needs To Stop.. [online]
HuffPost India. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/islamophobia-mainstream-
media-paris-terrorist-attacks_us_564cb277e4b08c74b7339984 [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Auer, M., Sutcliffe, J. and Lee, M., 2018. Framing the ‘White Widow’: Using
intersectionality to uncover complex representations of female terrorism in news
media. Media, War & Conflict, p.1750635218769931.
Ayalon, A., Popovich, E. and Yarchi, M., 2016. From warfare to imagefare: How states
should manage asymmetric conflicts with extensive media coverage. Terrorism and Political
violence, 28(2), pp.254-273.
Ayele, F., 2017. Somalias turbulent path to peace and stability. International Journal of
Peace and Development Studies, 8(4), pp.47-54.
Bakker, E. and Roy, V.Z.J.D., 2015. Jihadist Foreign Fighter Phenomenon in Western
Europe: A Low-Probability, High-Impact Threat. ICCT-Research papers, 2015, p.22.

64PROJECT DISSERTATION
Barnard, A. (2018). Beirut, Also the Site of Deadly Attacks, Feels Forgotten. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/world/middleeast/beirut-
lebanon-attacks-paris.html [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Bartlett, J. and Reynolds, L., 2015. The State of the Art 2015: a literature review of social
media intelligence capabilities for counter-terrorism. London: Demos.
Bazian, H. 2015. Islamophobia: Media coverage is a symptom not a cause. [online]
DailySabah. Available at:
https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/hatem-bazian/2015/12/31/islamophobia-media-
coverage-is-a-symptom-not-a-cause [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Beckmann, K.B., Dewenter, R. and Thomas, T., 2017. Can news draw blood? The impact of
media coverage on the number and severity of terror attacks. Peace Economics, Peace
Science and Public Policy, 23(1).
Beckmann, K.B., Dewenter, R. and Thomas, T., 2017. Can news draw blood? The impact of
media coverage on the number and severity of terror attacks. Peace Economics, Peace
Science and Public Policy, 23(1).
Besteman, C., 2017. Experimenting in Somalia: The new security empire. Anthropological
Theory, 17(3), pp.404-420.
Birchall, G. (2018). What was the 2016 Brussels terror attack, where did the bombings take
place and how many people were killed?. [online] The Sun. Available at:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3147591/what-was-the-2016-brussels-terror-attack-where-
did-the-bombings-take-place-and-how-many-people-were-killed/ [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].

65PROJECT DISSERTATION
Bowen, C., Fidgeon, P. and Page, S.J., 2014. Maritime tourism and terrorism: customer
perceptions of the potential terrorist threat to cruise shipping. Current Issues in
Tourism, 17(7), pp.610-639.
Browne, D. and Silke, A., 2011. The impact of the media on terrorism and
counterterrorism. The psychology of counter-terrorism, pp.89-110.
Bruns, A. and Hanusch, F., 2017. Conflict imagery in a connective environment: audiovisual
content on Twitter following the 2015/2016 terror attacks in Paris and Brussels. Media,
Culture & Society, 39(8), pp.1122-1141.
Burke, J. (2018). Somalia bombing may have been revenge for botched US-led operation.
[online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/17/somalia-bomber-was-ex-solider-whose-
town-was-raided-by-us-forces [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Burke, J. and Traynor, I. (2018). Brussels 'very dangerous' as several terror suspects remain
at large. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/22/brussels-lockdown-terror-threat-paris-
attacks [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Carli, P., Pons, F., Levraut, J., Millet, B., Tourtier, J.P., Ludes, B., Lafont, A. and Riou, B.,
2017. The French emergency medical services after the Paris and Nice terrorist attacks: what
have we learnt?. The Lancet, 390(10113), pp.2735-2738.
Chaudhry, A. 2016. How do the media fuel Islamophobia?. [online] Waccglobal.org.
Available at: http://www.waccglobal.org/articles/how-do-the-media-fuel-islamophobia
[Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].

66PROJECT DISSERTATION
Conroy-Krutz, J. and Moehler, D.C., 2015. Moderation from bias: A field experiment on
partisan media in a new democracy. The Journal of Politics, 77(2), pp.575-587.
Cragin, R.K., 2017. The November 2015 Paris Attacks: The Impact of Foreign Fighter
Returnees. Orbis, 61(2), pp.212-226.
Doward, J., 2015. Media coverage of terrorism ‘leads to further violence’. The Guardian, 1.
Dugan, L. and Distler, M., 2016. Measuring terrorism. The Handbook of the Criminology of
Terrorism, p.189.
Eid, M. ed., 2014. Exchanging terrorism oxygen for media airwaves: The age of terroredia:
The age of terroredia. IGI Global.
Eid, M., 2014. Terroredia: Exchanging terrorism oxygen for media airwaves. In Exchanging
terrorism oxygen for media airwaves: The age of terroredia (pp. 1-12). IGI Global.
Ejaz, K., Shamim, M.S., Shamim, M.S. and Hussain, S.A., 2011. Involvement of medical
students and fresh medical graduates of Karachi, Pakistan in research. Journal of the
Pakistan Medical Association, 61(2), p.115.
Estrada, M.A.R. and Koutronas, E., 2016. Terrorist attack assessment: Paris November 2015
and Brussels March 2016. Journal of Policy Modeling, 38(3), pp.553-571.
Ewart, J., Cherney, A. and Murphy, K., 2017. News Media Coverage of Islam and Muslims
in Australia: An Opinion Survey among Australian Muslims. Journal of Muslim Minority
Affairs, 37(2), pp.147-163.
Gale, N.K., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S. and Redwood, S., 2013. Using the framework
method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC
medical research methodology, 13(1), p.117.

67PROJECT DISSERTATION
Gates, S. and Podder, S., 2015. Social media, recruitment, allegiance and the Islamic
State. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(4), pp.107-116.
Georgiou, M. and Zaborowski, R., 2017. Media coverage of the “refugee crisis”: A cross-
European perspective. Council of Europe.
Gerhards, J. and Schäfer, M.S., 2014. International terrorism, domestic coverage? How
terrorist attacks are presented in the news of CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and
ARD. International Communication Gazette, 76(1), pp.3-26.
Gerhards, J. and Schäfer, M.S., 2014. International terrorism, domestic coverage? How
terrorist attacks are presented in the news of CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and
ARD. International Communication Gazette, 76(1), pp.3-26.
Gershenfeld, N., 2012. How to make almost anything: The digital fabrication
revolution. Foreign Aff., 91, p.43.
Gettleman, J. (2018). Somali Pirates Attack, Raising Fears That a Menace Is Back. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/africa/somalia-
pirates.html [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Gioia, D.A., Corley, K.G. and Hamilton, A.L., 2013. Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive
research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational research methods, 16(1), pp.15-
31.
Giroux, H.A., 2016. Beyond the spectacle of terrorism: Global uncertainty and the challenge
of the new media. Routledge.
Giroux, H.A., 2016. Beyond the spectacle of terrorism: Global uncertainty and the challenge
of the new media. Routledge.

68PROJECT DISSERTATION
Goldkuhl, G., 2012. Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems
research. European journal of information systems, 21(2), pp.135-146.
Górak-Sosnowska, K. 2016, "Islamophobia without Muslims? the Case of Poland", Journal
of Muslims in Europe, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 190-204.
Graber, D.A. and Dunaway, J., 2017. Mass media and American politics. Cq Press.
Graber, D.A. and Dunaway, J., 2017. Mass media and American politics. Cq Press.
Gruenewald, J. and Allison, K., 2018. Examining differences in bias homicide across victim
groups. Crime & Delinquency, 64(3), pp.316-341.
Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., Reimann, M. and Schilke, O., 2012. What drives key informant
accuracy?. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(4), pp.594-608.
Huey, L., 2015. This is not your mother’s terrorism: Social media, online radicalization and
the practice of political jamming. Journal of Terrorism Research.
Jamail, D., 2011. Media myth and ground reality in reporting from Iraq. Media & terrorism,
pp.289-305.
Jetter, M., 2017. Terrorism and the media: The effect of US television coverage on al-Qaeda
attacks.
Jetter, M., 2017. The effect of media attention on terrorism. Journal of Public
Economics, 153, pp.32-48.
Kaplan, A., 2017. The counter-terrorism puzzle: A guide for decision makers. Routledge.
Kearns, E., Betus, A. and Lemieux, A., 2018. Why do some terrorist attacks receive more
media attention than others?.

69PROJECT DISSERTATION
Keene, S.D., 2011. Terrorism and the internet: a double-edged sword. Journal of Money
Laundering Control, 14(4), pp.359-370.
Kelsey, D., 2015. Media, Myth and Terrorism: A discourse-mythological analysis of the'Blitz
Spirit'in British Newspaper Responses to the July 7th Bombings. Springer.
Klausen, J., 2015. Tweeting the Jihad: Social media networks of Western foreign fighters in
Syria and Iraq. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38(1), pp.1-22.
Lakshmanan, I. (2018). 'Lone wolf' or 'terrorist'? How bias can shape news coverage. [online]
Poynter. Available at: https://www.poynter.org/news/lone-wolf-or-terrorist-how-bias-can-
shape-news-coverage [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Lehman, B., 2017. How do Acts of Terror Affect Public Discourse Concerning Immigration?
A Media Analysis Surrounding the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.
Library, C. (2018). 2015 Paris Terror Attacks Fast Facts. [online] CNN. Available at:
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/08/europe/2015-paris-terror-attacks-fast-facts/index.html
[Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Lind, J., Mutahi, P. and Oosterom, M., 2017. ‘Killing a mosquito with a hammer’: Al-
Shabaab violence and state security responses in Kenya. Peacebuilding, 5(2), pp.118-135.
Machtans, K. 2016, ""RACISM IS NOT AN OPINION" 1/Muslim Responses to Pegida and
Islamophobia in Germany", German Politics and Society, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 87.
Mahoney, C.W., 2017. More Data, New Problems: Audiences, Ahistoricity, and Selection
Bias in Terrorism and Insurgency Research. International Studies Review.
Mair, D., 2017. # Westgate: A Case Study: How al-Shabaab used Twitter during an Ongoing
Attack. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 40(1), pp.24-43.

70PROJECT DISSERTATION
Melki, J. and Jabado, M., 2016. Mediated public diplomacy of the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria: The synergistic use of terrorism, social media and branding. Media and
Communication, 4(2), pp.92-103.
Meltzer, C.E., Schemer, C., Boomgaarden, H.G., Strömbäck, J., Jacob-Moritz, E., Theorin,
N. and Heidenreich, T., 2017. Media Effects on Attitudes toward Migration and Mobility in
the EU. Compas/Reminder.
Mohamed, H.S., 2017. The print media in Kenya: representation of ethnic Somalis in the age
of terrorism. Journal of Somali Studies, 4(1-2), pp.193-218.
MÜHE, N. 2016, "Managing the Stigma: Islamophobia in German Schools", Insight
Turkey, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 77-95.
Nacos, B.L., 2016. Terrorism and counterterrorism. Routledge.
Niculae, V., Suen, C., Zhang, J., Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, C. and Leskovec, J., 2015, May.
Quotus: The structure of political media coverage as revealed by quoting patterns.
In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on World Wide Web (pp. 798-808).
International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee.
Obordo, R. (2018). Beirut bombings: what's the mood in Lebanon?. [online] the Guardian.
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/beirut-bombings-whats-the-
mood-in-lebanon [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Oh, I.S., Wang, G. and Mount, M.K., 2011. Validity of observer ratings of the five-factor
model of personality traits: a meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), p.762.
Ormston, R., Spencer, L., Barnard, M. and Snape, D., 2014. The foundations of qualitative
research. Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and
researchers, 2, pp.52-55.

71PROJECT DISSERTATION
P. Seeing the present, remembering the past: Terror’s representation as an exercise in
collective memory. Television & New Media, 19(2), pp.136-145.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. and Hoagwood, K.,
2015. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health
Services Research, 42(5), pp.533-544.
Patrick, S.M., 2014. Framing terrorism: geography-based media coverage variations of the
2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid and the 2009 twin suicide car bombings in
Baghdad. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 7(3), pp.379-393.
Patrick, S.M., 2014. Framing terrorism: geography-based media coverage variations of the
2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid and the 2009 twin suicide car bombings in
Baghdad. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 7(3), pp.379-393.
Peters, J. ed., 2017. Critical Perspectives on Media Bias. Enslow Publishing, LLC.
Pfefferbaum, B., Newman, E., Nelson, S.D., Nitiéma, P., Pfefferbaum, R.L. and Rahman, A.,
2014. Disaster media coverage and psychological outcomes: Descriptive findings in the
extant research. Current psychiatry reports, 16(9), p.464.
Pfefferbaum, B., Newman, E., Nelson, S.D., Nitiéma, P., Pfefferbaum, R.L. and Rahman, A.,
2014. Disaster media coverage and psychological outcomes: Descriptive findings in the
extant research. Current psychiatry reports, 16(9), p.464.
Phipps, C., Rawlinson, K., Woolf, N., Chrisafis, A., Watt, N., Reed, J., Roberts, D. and
Jalabi, R. (2018). Paris attacks kill more than 120 people – as it happened. [online] the
Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/nov/13/shootings-
reported-in-eastern-paris-live [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].

72PROJECT DISSERTATION
Powell, K.A., 2011. Framing Islam: An analysis of US media coverage of terrorism since
9/11. Communication Studies, 62(1), pp.90-112.
Saleem, M., Prot, S., Anderson, C.A. and Lemieux, A.F., 2017. Exposure to Muslims in
media and support for public policies harming Muslims. Communication research, 44(6),
pp.841-869.
Sela-Shayovitz, R., 2015. Police legitimacy under the spotlight: media coverage of police
performance in the face of a high terrorism threat. Journal of Experimental
Criminology, 11(1), pp.117-139.
Sela-Shayovitz, R., 2015. Police legitimacy under the spotlight: media coverage of police
performance in the face of a high terrorism threat. Journal of Experimental
Criminology, 11(1), pp.117-139.
Shannon, V. (2018). Brussels Attacks: What We Know and Don’t Know. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/world/europe/brussels-
attacks-what-we-know-and-dont-know.html [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Shannon, V. (2018). Paris Attacks: What We Know and Don’t Know. [online] Nytimes.com.
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/world/europe/paris-attacks-what-we-
know-and-dont-know.html [Accessed 24 Jul. 2018].
Shohat, E. and Stam, R., 2014. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media.
Routledge.
Simons, G., 2016. Mass media and modern warfare: reporting on the Russian war on
terrorism. Routledge.
Stroud, N.J., 2017. Selective exposure theories. In The Oxford Handbook of Political
Communication.

73PROJECT DISSERTATION
Sultan, K., 2016. Linking Islam with Terrorism: A Review of the Media Framing since
9/11. Global Media Journal: Pakistan Edition, 9(2), pp.1-10.
Toloie-Eshlaghy, A., Chitsaz, S., Karimian, L. and Charkhchi, R., 2011. A classification of
qualitative research methods. Research Journal of International Studies, 20(20), pp.106-123.
Trousdale, R. 2017, "Salman Rushdie and Islamophobia", The Journal of Commonwealth
Literature, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 439-454.
Van Dongen, T.W., 2011. Break it down: An alternative approach to measuring effectiveness
in counterterrorism. Journal of Applied Security Research, 6(3), pp.357-371.
Vandentorren, S., Paty, A.C., Baffert, E., Chansard, P. and Caserio-Schönemann, C., 2016.
Syndromic surveillance during the Paris terrorist attacks. The Lancet, 387(10021), pp.846-
847.
Vasterman, P., Yzermans, C.J. and Dirkzwager, A.J., 2005. The role of the media and media
hypes in the aftermath of disasters. Epidemiologic reviews, 27(1), pp.107-114.
Walsh, D. (2018). Taliban Besiege Pakistan School, Leaving 145 Dead. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/world/asia/taliban-attack-
pakistani-school.html [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Washington Post. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/paris-rocked-by-explosions-and-shootouts-
leaving-dozens-dead/2015/11/13/133f5bc2-8a50-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html
[Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
Website
Weimann, G., 2012. The role of the media in propagating terrorism. Countering Terrorism:
Psychosocial Strategies, pp.182-200.

74PROJECT DISSERTATION
West, K. and Lloyd, J., 2017. The Role of Labeling and Bias in the Portrayals of Acts of
“Terrorism”: Media Representations of Muslims vs. Non-Muslims. Journal of Muslim
Minority Affairs, 37(2), pp.211-222.
Williams, P.D., 2018. Joining AMISOM: why six African states contributed troops to the
African Union Mission in Somalia. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 12(1), pp.172-192.
Williams, P.D., 2018. Fighting for Peace in Somalia: A History and Analysis of the African
Union Mission (AMISOM), 2007-2017. Oxford University Press.
Winter, S., Metzger, M.J. and Flanagin, A.J., 2016. Selective use of news cues: A multiple-
motive perspective on information selection in social media environments. Journal of
Communication, 66(4), pp.669-693
Zelizer, B., 2018. Seeing the present, remembering the past: Terror’s representation as an
exercise in collective memory. Television & New Media, 19(2), pp.136-14