News narratives of terrorism: Assessing source diversity and source use in UK news coverage of alleged Islamist plots

Abstract

During the later years of Tony Blair’s premiership it was suggested that information provided by ‘well-placed sources’ to journalists concerning a series of alleged Islamist plots was unreliable, with this material leaked to the media in an attempt to maintain or accentuate public awareness of terrorism. This article seeks to assess these claims by identifying the prominence and role of official sources and elucidating the characteristics of source use in news reporting on alleged terrorist plots. Through a content analysis of UK national newspaper coverage, the article presents a complex picture of source use and influence. The findings reveal that anonymous sources and veiled references to public institutions were predominant within coverage. Contrary to ideological theories of political discourse, however, government sources were not influential in presenting details about a specific threat. The analysis shows that journalists’ use of sources was pragmatic and that source use was indicative of a broader shift in the media discourse of terrorism during the period of study, with more recent coverage addressing public concerns over the way official or government sources communicated information about the threat from terrorism.