Exploring media responses to terrorist attacks: A content analysis of portrayed mitigation strategies to terrorism in German and Austrian newspapers

Abstract

This study investigates the types of mitigation strategies discussed in news reports about terrorist attacks (TAs) in German and Austrian newspapers, examining the differences between security- and surveillance-related (SSR) and restrictive migration-control strategies versus community-bonding and deradicalization strategies. A content analysis of N = 1514 articles on nine TAs in Western Europe since 2016 examines which characteristics of the attacks (rightwing TAs vs. Islamist TAs; death toll; and number of injured victims), the media environment, and the article (tabloid vs. broadsheet; country of reporting; article type; time frame; and article length) predicted the mitigation strategies presented in the articles. Results revealed that media coverage of TAs disproportionately emphasizes SSR and migration-control strategies, while largely neglecting deradicalization measures. This focus may contribute to shaping negative out-group perceptions, highlighting the need for increased awareness among journalists regarding the implications of their reporting.

Keywords

Content analysis mitigation strategies news reports political violence terrorist attacks theory of intergroup conflict

Introduction

The reporting of terrorist attacks (TAs) presents a complex challenge to journalists. While the public has a natural desire to understand and receive information about the incident and its implications, journalists must keep a delicate balance between informing readers about the incident and ensuring that their coverage does not exacerbate trauma in their audience, contribute to marginalization of populations portrayed as responsible for the attack (Laido et al., 2020), strengthen nationalism and political polarization (Godefroidt, 2023), or provide a platform for terrorist organizations to propagate their goals. Indeed, research has demonstrated that media attention can be a strategic objective for terrorists (Powell, 2011), as it facilitates the advancement of their primary goal, which is to instill fear and terror in the general public by the use (and the portrayal) of violence, with the goal to influence political beliefs and positions (Moghaddam and Marsella, 2004). At the same time, TAs can be instrumentalized by political forces to advance certain political agendas (Völker, 2024). Public opinion thus plays a key role in our understanding of how terrorism works and what could be done to prevent it (Godefroidt, 2023).

It is therefore important to investigate how specifically the news discusses such incidences. Prior research on reporting about TAs has therefore examined the framing of TAs in news media (e.g. Powell, 2011), the extent to which different types of terrorism (specifically Islamist vs. rightwing terrorism) receive differential media attention or even consideration as terrorism (Chan et al., 2024; Hase, 2023), and the extent in which journalists report on such incidents (Rothenberger and Hase, 2024). Moreover, studies have examined the inclusion of various actors in public debates on terrorism (Völker, 2024).

The way a TA is portrayed in the media is crucial, as this reporting might be used to advance a range of political or social agendas, including the promotion of specific policies or laws (Völker, 2024). However, TAs can also be taken as an opportunity to leverage a public debate about the state of preventive measures in a country or to call for solidarity in the public. Consequently, the selection of a particular mitigation strategy to include in a report about an attack becomes crucial. To this end, we conducted a content analysis of reports published in Austrian and German newspapers about nine TAs since 2016 in Western Europe.

Mitigation strategies

The selection and framing of mitigation strategies in media reports following TAs play a crucial role in shaping public understanding and debate (Völker, 2024). These strategies go beyond technical policy responses as they reflect ideological choices that influence how the causes and solutions to terrorism are interpreted. In the public debate, conflict-perpetuating or conciliatory and diplomatic solutions can be emphasized (Godefroidt, 2023).

Past research points to conflict-perpetuating strategies, which put a bigger emphasis on security over civil liberties (Davis and Silver, 2004), being frequently used, especially immediately after an attack (e.g. Matthews, 2016). These include security- and surveillance-related (SSR) strategies such as increased policing, expanded surveillance, or stricter laws. Such framings, are often grounded in narratives of control and protection. Political actors may use TAs to assert leadership by invoking the rhetoric of law and order, a strategy seen as essential to restoring a sense of security and healing collective trauma (Matthews, 2016).

Closely related are restrictive migration-control (migration-control) strategies, which conflate terrorism with immigration and asylum policy and tend to incite intergroup conflict (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). This strategy may advocate border closures, expedited deportations, or the tightening of refugee admissions. As noted by Völker (2024) and Galantino (2022), TAs can magnify the salience of perceived risks, allowing political actors and media alike to frame migration and terrorism as a single threat requiring securitized solutions. This convergence might contribute to the normalization of exclusionary policies and potentially fosters group polarization (Laido et al., 2020).

In contrast, conciliatory and diplomatic strategies focus on civil liberties (Davis and Silver, 2004) by emphasizing social cohesion. Community-bonding strategies call for resilience, unity, and solidarity in response to violence. These framings promote inclusive democratic values and often highlight collective mourning and mutual support, helping to address the social wound through shared civic identity (Matthews, 2016).

Deradicalization and rehabilitation (deradicalization) strategies provide another conciliatory approach that focuses on civil liberties, which many of the common policies endorsed or promoted after a TA are actually opposed to (Godefroidt, 2023). Grounded in social work, education, and psychological support, these narratives often include the voices of former extremists, or their social network, offering hopeful alternatives to disciplinary responses. This challenge the notion that terrorism is best addressed through conservative, security-based polices alone and instead suggest that reintegration and empathy can be a relevant mitigation strategy.

It is essential to understand if there are patterns connected to the characteristics of the attack and the media in order to analyze the political and societal consequences of terrorism coverage. This is the main focus of the present paper.

Characteristics of the attack

Ideology of the attack

In recent years, numerous fatalities have resulted from TAs in Western Europe perpetrated by Islamist terrorist organizations (National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism [START], 2022). “Islamist terrorism is identified as TAs committed by groups that are primarily motivated by interpretations of Islamic political principles or by a Muslim religious and communal identity. These interpretations of principles and definitions of communal identities vary widely across Islamist groups” (Piazza, 2009: 64). Examples of Islamist terror in Western Europe include the Brussels attacks of 2016, which targeted the metro and airport and were carried out by members of the Islamic State, or the 2005 London Underground attacks, which were committed by individuals affiliated with Al-Qaida (START, 2022).

Furthermore, Western Europe has witnessed a series of domestic rightwing TAs in recent years. Rightwing terrorism is typically ideologically motivated and may embrace, but is not limited to, beliefs associated with white supremacy or Neo-Nazism. The worldview of these groups is characterized by an apocalyptic outlook and a focus on the elimination of specific racial, religious, and social groups (such as migrants, Muslims, Jews, etc.) that are perceived as threats to their in-group. Their proclivity for violence sets them apart from (nonterrorist) rightwing extremist groups (Blackbourn et al., 2019). In the context of Western Europe, rightwing terrorists are typically members of a national majority group, whereas Islamist terrorists are members of a minority group. Examples of rightwing TAs in Europe include the car bombing and subsequent shooting at a summer camp for the youth wing of the Norwegian Labor Party in 2011, and the antiimmigrant shootings in Hanau in 2020 (START, 2022).

Previous studies have found that Islamist and right-wing TAs are two distinct types of terrorism that rarely receive the same level of media coverage. According to a recent content analysis of international broadcasters, however, only 1.1% of global TAs are actually reported on. While Islamist attacks did not necessarily receive more international coverage (Rothenberger and Hase, 2024), German news media are more likely to label an attack as terrorism if the perpetrator is an Islamist, which could exaggerate the threat of Islamist terrorism (Hase, 2023). Moreover, despite the fact that the religious group of Muslims are a distinct group from Islamist terrorists, findings of previous content analyses showed that journalistic reports inadequately differentiate between the Muslim community and Islamist terrorists (Von Sikorski et al., 2022). Undifferentiated media reporting can contribute to the formation of negative perceptions and Islamophobia in the general public (Laido et al., 2020; Schmuck et al., 2022).

The reasons for biased media reporting and its effects on public perceptions are often explained with the integrative theory of intergroup conflict (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). According to this concept, people rely on in-group and out-group distinctions to navigate through everyday life (Tajfel, 1974). The criteria for defining an in-group and an out-group can vary, but factors such as skin color, religion, and nationality can play a significant role. We generally tend to evaluate members of our perceived in-group more positively and see them as a more diverse group, while we tend to be much more skeptical and negative toward out-group members, and we have a tendency to lump them all under the same category (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). This can lead to biased and unfair misconceptions of whole groups and undifferentiated reporting about entire communities (Matthes et al., 2020; Von Sikorski et al., 2022). These tendencies become more pronounced during or in the aftermath of a period of conflict, as individuals tend to identify more strongly with their in-group and exhibit a greater degree of distrust and bias toward their out-groups.

From the perspective of Western Europe, rightwing terrorists are more likely to be considered a member of a majority in-group (Godefroidt, 2023; Knupfer and Matthes, 2023). Rightwing terrorism as a result may be construed as somewhat less severe in media discourse and not even necessarily discussed in the association with the term terrorism (Chan et al., 2024; Hase, 2023). Therefore, proposed mitigation strategies to rightwing TAs are less likely to address the underlying causes of conflict, such as discussions of SSR issues or the need for systematic change, and are more often treated as individual problems, that is, by discussing it as isolated incidents perpetrated by individuals who are mentally unstable or ill (Powell, 2011). Research suggests that journalists generally tend to offer monocausal or single interpretation when discussing the motives behind an attack (Rothenberger and Hase, 2024). Due to this tendency, rightwing TAs may give rise to discussions of community-bonding and deradicalization (Godefroidt, 2023).

Islamist terrorism by comparison is much more frequently portrayed as an extensive, global threat from an out-group (Chan et al., 2024; Hase, 2023). Thus, Islamist TAs tend to be more frequently connected to discussions about SSR steps such as security politics or the discussion of migration policies (Völker, 2024). Additionally, previous studies found a rise in support for anti-Muslim policies in response to reading terrorist reports. This points to a stronger focus on SSR and migration-control strategies, politicizing the public discourse, and framing these acts much more as threats of violence than rightwing terrorist acts (Godefroidt, 2023). We assume:

H1: Media coverage of rightwing extremist TAs is more likely to refer to (a) community-bonding and (b) deradicalization strategies than coverage of Islamist TAs.

H2: Media coverage of Islamist TAs is more likely to refer to (a) SSR and (b) migration-control strategies than coverage of rightwing TAs.

Number of attack victims

The number of injured and dead victims may additionally influence the perceived severity and the nature of proposed mitigation strategies. This can be based on the terror management theory (Greenberg et al., 1990). This theory posits that, although individuals are aware of their own mortality, they may nevertheless experience a fear associated with this consciousness. To circumvent the paralysis that may result from an awareness of mortality, individuals often engage with cultural worldviews that offer a sense of immortality. This is often exemplified by Christianity or symbolic immortality, which entails the hope that one's community will remember them after death. Consequently, group-belonging is a meaningful need and can lead to feelings of in-group superiority and the devaluation of those outside of it. Aspects that elicit a heightened sense of one's own mortality may consequently give rise to more severe mitigation strategies being proposed in response to a TA. One such aspect is the number of deceased or injured victims of an attack (Von Sikorski et al., 2022). Becoming aware of a high number of dead or injured victims may serve as a catalyst for individuals to confront their own mortality and that of their loved ones (Greenberg et al., 1990). This awareness may, in turn, give rise to the pursuit of more punitive legal and policy strategies (i.e. SSR and migration-control strategies), with a corresponding decline in community-bonding and deradicalization strategies. We hypothesize:

H3: Higher numbers of deaths in a terrorist attack result in increased references to (a) SSR strategies and (b) migration-control strategies.

H4: They result in decreased references to (a) community-bonding and (b) deradicalization strategies in media coverage.

H5: Higher numbers of injuries in a terrorist attack result in increased references to (a) SSR strategies and (b) migration-control strategies.

H6: They result in decreased references to (a) community-bonding and (b) deradicalization strategies in media coverage.

Characteristics of media and article

Type of news outlet

Beyond the specifics of an attack, the mitigation strategies to TAs proposed in news articles may depend on the type of media an article is published in. The media environment, that is, whether the reports are published in a tabloid compared to a broadsheet, might be particularly worth investigating. Extant research indicates that tabloids typically try to appeal to the masses and they are thus more prone to sensationalism and personalization in reporting (Esser, 1999). In addition, tabloids compared to broadsheets are much more prone to focusing on soft news like celebrities and scandals (Arbaoui et al., 2020). As a result, reading tabloid newspapers provides only limited political knowledge to its readers (Fraile and Iyengar, 2014). Previous content analyses indicated that tabloids compared to broadsheets provide higher amounts of undifferentiated reporting about TAs. For example, tabloids tend to not sufficiently differentiate between Muslims and Islamist terrorist (Von Sikorski et al., 2022). Furthermore, they have a higher likelihood of reporting in a more negative tone about Muslims compared to broadsheets. This indicates that tabloids may be more likely to portray out-groups in a sensationalist manner than broadsheets (Arbaoui et al., 2020; Esser, 1999; Von Sikorski et al., 2022). Consequently, they might be more in line with presenting SSR and migration strategies compared to community-bonding and deradicalization strategies. Yet, the lack of reporting on political backgrounds (Fraile and Iyengar, 2014) also points to tabloids not including any substantial discussions on mitigation strategies in the articles whatsoever. We ask:

RQ1: How does the type of newspaper, tabloid versus broadsheet, differ in the prevalence of discussing (a) SSR strategies and (b) migration-control strategies versus (c) community-bonding and (d) deradicalization strategies?

Article characteristics

In addition to the news outlet, the characteristics of the individual article itself might impact what mitigation strategy is more prominently discussed. Scholars often differentiate between news articles and opinion-oriented articles. There is an expectation in Western journalism to clearly distinguish between content that presents facts versus content that focuses on opinions (Van Aelst et al., 2017). Typically, news reports follow a specific pattern, which includes presentation of information about an event, giving context on the causes of an event, providing a discussion of consequences stemming from the issue described in the article, as well as contextualizing the event itself (Thomson et al., 2008). Opinion-oriented texts, by comparison, are more explicitly ideological and offer an evaluative assessment of events (Van Aelst et al., 2017), which may or may not include discussions of consequences or mitigation strategies related to social or political issues. Thus, while news articles deliver descriptive reports on the basis of sources and facts and stays away from explicit attitudinal judgment, opinion-oriented articles provide the opportunity to present individual perspectives, opinions, and more in-depth contextualization of facts or events in the shape of opinion pieces, commentaries and editorials (Thomson et al., 2008). In their content analysis on terrorism reporting about Islamist TAs in the news, von Sikorski et al. (2022) have shown that news articles contained undifferentiated portrayals of Muslims to a lesser extend compared to opinion-oriented pieces. This points to a stronger focus on negative out-group perceptions, which might lead to more discussions about SSR and migration-control strategies in these types of articles (Godefroidt, 2023). However, as there is no clear evidence on this as of yet, we formulate the following research question:

RQ2: How does the type of article, news article versus opinion-oriented article, differ in the prevalence of discussing (a) SSR and (b) migration-control strategies versus (c) community-bonding and (d) deradicalization strategies?

Time frame

In addition, time frame of reporting was considered as important predictor for the portrayals of mitigation strategies to TAs in news articles, because ad hoc reporting immediately following a shocking incident like a TA may be more focused on portraying the event and its immediate aftermath. In contrast, news articles published a couple of days after the TA may have a stronger focus on exploring of any potential mitigation strategies to the problem of TAs. Previous research (Eriksson Krutrök and Lindgren, 2018; Hohner et al., 2022) also has shown that certain reactions and sentiments are more stable in public discourse than others. Specifically, collective reactions that align with community-bonding mitigation strategies, such as showing solidarity, are more universal and thus more persistent. We thus compare the initial three-day reporting period with the subsequent four-to-seven-day reporting period. As this examination is largely exploratory, we pose the following research question:

RQ3: How does the time frame of reporting, 0–3 days after the attack versus 4–7 days after the attack, differ in the prevalence of discussing (a) SSR and (b) migration-control strategies versus (c) community-bonding and (d) deradicalization strategies?

Method

We conducted a content analysis of media coverage of TAs in order to assess which mitigation strategies to TAs were presented in the articles. For our analysis, we considered TAs in Western Europe since 2016 based on the Global Terrorism Database (START, 2022). We included only attacks that resulted in at least three deaths to ensure sufficient media coverage and public discussion of the attack.¹ The preselection based on this criterion yielded to a total number of 24 TAs, which we included for further steps.

We included the five national daily newspapers with the widest reach in Germany and in Austria available in the Austrian Press Agency database. For details on the selection process, see the OSF repository (https://osf.io/2wn9c/overview?view_only=6222083e79054761a698d36d94df5c1f).

Coding process

Two coders were trained to sample and code the dataset. To assess the reliability of our coding scheme, we selected 5% of the final sample for intercoder reliability tests. After the reliability testing was successful (i.e. reliability was acceptable for all codes), the coders analyzed the entire final sample. We used Krippendorff's Alpha (α) to assess the reliability, which we report in the following section for each described code.

Sampling process

First, we conducted an initial analysis of coverage of the 24 TAs in the period 0–7 days² after the time of an attack with the search terms: “(‘terror’) AND (‘city’).” For the content analysis, we decided not to include all 24 TAs, but only those that evoked a certain level of coverage, to allow comparisons with sufficient frequencies for all relevant variables between media genres (tabloid vs. broadsheet media) and countries (Austria vs. Germany). Only TAs that exceed the threshold of n = 500³ articles in the initial search were included in the final analysis. This resulted in a list of nine TAs and a total of N = 7639 articles.

Second, we made a random selection of n = 15 news articles for each of the nine TAs and for both time periods (i.e. 0–3 days and 4–7 days after the attack) per news outlet (Heute, Kronenzeitung, and BILD as tabloids and Der Standard, Kurier, Die Presse, Die Welt, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Handelsblatt as broadsheets), which corresponds to a maximum of n = 270 articles per outlet. For those news outlets with less than n = 270 articles available, we included all available articles. This yielded a total sample of N = 2323 articles.

Third, the two coders involved in the process read all of these articles in full and determined if the main topic of each article was a TA (α=.96). In particular, an article was included, when (a) more than 50% of the article discussed the TA and its backgrounds, or (b) the title of the article specifically referred to the TA in the respective city or (c) the first paragraph covered the TA and was an integral part of the overall article (Matthes et al., 2020; von Sikorski et al., 2022). Furthermore, based on title, outlet, and publication style (i.e. offline vs. online), we determined whether an article was a duplicate. Articles (a) with the same title, (b) in the same outlet, and (c) with the same publication style were considered as duplicates and were deleted, that is, only one of the duplicates remained in the dataset. We found that n = 310 articles did not have the main focus on TAs and n = 96 articles where duplicates. In addition, n = 8 articles were both, not primarily about a TA and a duplicate, resulting in a sample of N = 1909 articles.

Finally, we examined whether the article actually focused on the attack in the city for which the keyword search was created. To determine this, more than 50% of the article must focus on the attack of the keyword search (α = .89). This was done to ensure that the attack-specific criteria included in the analysis actually matched the content of the article. We found that n = 395 articles either discussed many TAs at once, or briefly mentioned the TA in question, but actually focused on previous or different TAs (e.g. attacks that had previously occurred in a country). A total of N = 1514 articles remained in the final sample.

Measures

Dependent variables

Binary variables (1 = present; 0 = not present) were used to assess these mitigations strategies (Godefroidt, 2023). The first variable focused on SSR strategies, examining the article's proposed mitigation strategies to TAs based on increased surveillance or harsher penalties (α = .72). The second variable assessed the focus on migration-control, examining whether the article discussed entry bans, or migration policies (α = .87).

The third variable assessed if the articles promoted community-bonding strategies, through discussing perseverance, and solidarity as responses to TAs (α = .75). The fourth variable assessed whether articles focused on deradicalization, highlighting the need for deradicalization programs and intervention campaigns (α = .85). For an overview of the codebook and specific examples, see Appendix.

Independent variables

To assess the posed hypotheses and research questions related to the characteristics of the attack, we coded whether the attack was a rightwing or Islamist TA based on the data provided in the GTD (START, 2022). See Table 1 for more information of the descriptive data of the characteristics of the attacks.

Table 1.

Descriptive data of characteristics of the attack.^a

	Barcelona	Brussels	Berlin	Hanau	London	Manchester	Munich	Nice	Vienna
Characteristics of the Terrorist Attack (TA)
Rightwing TAs (vs. Islamist TAs)	Islamist	Islamist	Islamist	Rightwing	Islamist	Islamist	Rightwing	Islamist	Islamist
Death toll	14	17	12	5	11	23	10	87	5
Number of injured victims	101	135	48	3	48	119	27	433	22
Share of articles per attack in the analyzed sample
n	184	178	228	162	130	166	88	160	218
%	12.2%	11.8%	15.1%	10.7%	8.6%	11.0%	5.8%	10.6%	14.4%

N = 1,514

Based on the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (2022)

To assess the posed hypotheses and research questions related to the media and article characteristics, we coded whether an article was published in a tabloid versus a broadsheet (α = .99) and whether the article was fact oriented versus opinion oriented (α = .72). See Table 2 for more information of the descriptive data on media characteristics. All analyses were controlled for the length of the article, estimated in words (α = .97), and whether the article was published in a German or an Austrian newspaper (α = .96).

Table 2.

Share of articles per media in the analyzed sample.

	Heute	Kronenzeitung	Der Standard	Kurier	Die Presse	Die Welt	Süddeutsche Zeitung	Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung	BILD	Handelsblatt
Country	Austria	Austria	Austria	Austria	Austria	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany
Media type	tabloids	tabloids	broadsheets	broadsheets	broadsheets	broadsheets	broadsheets	broadsheets	tabloids	broadsheets
N	91	161	164	172	166	193	164	158	150	95
%	6.0%	10.6%	10.8%	11.4%	11.0%	12.7%	10.8%	10.4%	9.9%	6.3%

N = 1,514

Statistical model

To test the predictors for mitigation strategies, we calculated a series of logistic regression models with the four different mitigation strategy categories as dependent variables. We conducted single-level logistic regression models and adjusted for the nested data structure by using cluster-robust standard errors, clustering at the level of individual attacks. This accounts for the intracluster correlation of articles covering the same event. Attack and outlet identifiers are not included as fixed effects: attacks served solely as the clustering unit, and the media outlet variable was excluded due to collinearity.

For all models, we included characteristics of the attack (i.e. Islamist vs. rightwing TA; number of deaths; number of injured), and characteristics of media (i.e. tabloid vs. broadsheet) and article (i.e. fact vs. opinion oriented; time frame of the publication) in the model as independent variables. To adjust for country-level variation, we employed a binary indicator distinguishing between articles published in Germany and Austria and we controlled for length of the article. The dataset and analysis script is available here: https://osf.io/2wn9c/overview?view_only=6222083e79054761a698d36d94df5c1f

Results

Of the N = 1514 articles, 51.2% (n = 775) did not mention any mitigation strategies, in 17% (n = 257) of the articles more than one strategy was mentioned. Of the analyzed articles 33.8% (n = 512) presented mitigation strategies focused on SSR, 14.6% (n = 221) presented mitigation strategies focused on migration-control strategies, 14.0% (n = 212) referred to community-bonding, and merely 2.1% (n = 32) presented deradicalization strategies. This is a first crucial insight: Deradicalization is hardly ever presented as a mitigation strategy to TAs. For a descriptive overview of the independent variables see Table 3.

Table 3.

Descriptive analysis of independent variables relating to characteristics of the attack and characteristics of media and article.

	M	SD	Range	n	%
Characteristics of the terrorist attack (TA)
Rightwing TAs (vs. Islamist TAs)				250	16.5
Death toll	19.99	23.67	5–87
Number of injured victims	103.27	121.39	3–433
Characteristics of media and article
Tabloid (vs. broadsheet)				402	26.6
Articles in German media (vs. Austrian media)				754	49.8
Article type: fact oriented (vs. opinion oriented)				1003	66.2
Time frame 0–3 days (vs. 4–7 days)				910	60.1
Article length (in words per article)	497.89	383.24	16–3353

N = 1514.

Characteristics of the attack

See Table 4 for a detailed overview of the analyses. Examining whether the differences in the political background of the attack predicted the discussed mitigation strategies to TAs, we found that articles about rightwing TAs were significantly less likely to mention community-bonding as a mitigation strategy to TAs than articles about Islamist TAs, while for deradicalization we found no significant association. Thus, our H1a and b were not supported. We found no support for H2b, as there was no significant difference in the way rightwing TAs referred to migration-control strategies and security and surveillance as potential mitigation strategies, compared to articles about Islamist TAs. Regarding the assumptions related to the number of deaths and injuries predicting the discussed mitigation strategies, the results indicated that a higher number of fatalities or injuries did not relate to any of the mitigation strategies, thus lending no support to H3-H6.

Table 4.

Results of logistic regression analysis for four types of mitigation strategies.

	Mitigation strategies
	Security- and surveillance				Restrictive migration control					Community-bonding				Deradicalization and rehabilitation
	b	SE¹	OR	95% CI	b	SE	OR	95% CI		b	SE	OR	95% CI	b	SE	OR	95% CI
Characteristics of the terrorist attack (TA)
Rightwing TAs versus Islamist TAs¹	−0.47	0.34	0.63	0.3–1.2	−1.32	0.70	0.27	0.1–1.1		−1.38	0.12	0.25	0.2–0.3	−0.86	0.59	0.42	0.1–1.3
Death toll	0.84	0.81	2.33	0.5–11.4	0.64	1.42	1.90	0.1–30.8		0.65	0.67	1.92	0.5–7.1	0.50	0.78	1.64	0.4–7.6
Number of injured victims	−0.80	0.85	0.45	0.1–2.4	−0.86	1.55	0.42	0.0–8.8		−0.86	0.67	0.43	0.1–1.6	−0.60	0.83	0.55	0.1–2.8
Characteristics of the media
Tabloid versus broadsheet²	−0.29	0.10	0.75	0.6–0.9	0.06	0.14	1.06	0.8–1.4		0.24	0.18	1.27	0.9–1.8	−1.12	0.51	0.33	0.1–0.9
Characteristics of the article
Article type fact oriented versus opinion oriented¹	0.40	0.22	1.49	1.0–2.3	−0.61	0.26	0.54	0.3–0.9		−0.48	0.23	0.62	0.4–1.0	−0.42	0.60	0.66	0.2–2.1
Time frame 0–3 days versus 4–7 days¹	−0.13	0.16	0.88	0.6–1.2	−0.37	0.22	0.69	0.5–1.1		0.34	0.24	1.40	0.9–2.2	−0.39	0.45	0.68	0.3–1.6
Control variables
Country of reporting Germany versus Austria²	−0.25	0.10	0.78	0.6–1.0	0.05	0.13	1.06	0.8–1.4		−0.21	0.15	0.81	0.6–1.1	0.75	0.45	2.12	0.9–5.1
Article length	0.34	0.08	1.41	1.2–1.6	0.46	0.11	1.58	1.3–2.0		0.24	0.09	1.27	1.1–1.5	0.38	0.08	1.46	1.2–1.7
Intercept	−0.61	0.25	0.54	0.3–0.9	−1.13	0.35	0.32	0.2–0.7		−1.55	0.18	0.21	0.2–0.3	−3.57	0.57	0.03	0.0–0.1
Observations (n)	1514				1514				1514				1514

Note: Significant results (p < .05) are in bold. Continuous predictors (death toll, number of injured, article length) were standardized (z-scores) for comparability. Standard errors were cluster-adjusted at the attack level using robust variance estimators (vcovCL).

Values are cluster-robust standard errors clustered by attack.

The first named attribute of this dummy-coded variable is the baseline measurement, so it was coded as 0.

Characteristics of media

Addressing whether differences between the types of newspaper an article was published in predicted the reported mitigation strategies to TAs (RQ1a-d), we found that tabloid newspapers were less likely to report SSR strategies compared to broadsheets and were less likely to report deradicalization strategies.

Characteristics of article

With regard to RQ2a-d, we found that news articles were less likely to include reports of migration strategies compared to opinion-oriented articles. Also, news articles compared to opinion-oriented articles were less likely to include reports of community-bonding as a mitigation strategy. However, no such association was found for SSR strategies in news articles compared to opinion-oriented articles nor for deradicalization strategies. Finally, we examined whether the time of publication (RQ3a-d) predicted the discussed mitigation strategies. No strategy showed any significant association.

Of note, we found that reporting SSR strategies was less likely mentioned in German compared to Austrian newspapers. For migration-control strategies, community-bonding, and deradicalization strategies we observed no associations with country of reporting. Furthermore, longer articles were consistently positively associated with references to mentioning any of the coded mitigation strategies.

Discussion

The findings of our study show that about 50% of all news reports about the examined nine TAs referred to some kind of mitigation strategy with regard to TAs. The strategies proposed in these articles were predominantly focusing on SSR and migration-control rather than on social community-bonding and deradicalization. By far the least prominent mitigation strategy discussed was deradicalization, which may be indicative of the public discourse surrounding TAs and the perception that it is primarily an issue requiring increased policing, regulations, and legislation.

The observed tendency of a higher number of articles discussing SSR and migration-control is consistent with previous research showing that media discussions of migration-control strategies are often highlighted, particularly after Islamist TAs (Galantino, 2022). Furthermore, whereas Völker (2024) illustrated that public discourse on migration-control strategies after TAs is largely dominated by far right parties that promote an antiimmigrant agenda, it is important to note that discussions of migration-control are not inherently rightwing in nature. Rather, they represent a containment strategy that warrants consideration in public and media debates beyond partisan framing. Yet, it is important to keep in mind that the discussion of this strategy still has the potential to shape public perceptions of out-groups in a negative way. Prior research has demonstrated that journalists have frequently failed to distinguish between Islamist terrorists and the broader Muslim community (Matthes et al., 2020; Von Sikorski et al., 2022), which can contribute to the stigmatization of Muslims in general. Similarly, uncritical discussions that conflate migration and terrorism in policy responses can stigmatize entire groups by portraying them as threats. This kind of framing can exacerbate intergroup conflicts (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), influence public opinion, and fuel nationalism and political polarization (Godefroidt, 2023). Thus, the way this mitigation strategy in particular is framed appears pivotal to understanding potential effects on society. Future research efforts should therefore examine the specific framing of discussions around migration-control strategies after a TA.

In examining the characteristics of TAs, it became evident that discussions of all examined mitigation strategies were more prevalent in reporting on Islamist TAs than on rightwing TAs. This trend was significantly greater regarding the emphasis on strategies advocating for community-bonding in articles covering Islamist TAs. The greater prevalence of discussions concerning potential mitigation strategies in the context of Islamist TAs may be indicative of an intergroup conflict (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and thus of an out-group perception of Islamism within a Western European perspective (Knupfer and Matthes, 2023). In other words, Islamism is often perceived as an external threat or out-group phenomenon, whereas rightwing TAs is more commonly perceived as an in-group phenomenon (Frischlich et al., 2015). Consequently, it may be more straightforward for media outlets to propose and discuss mitigation strategies when addressing an out-group, as there is a tendency to externalize threats (Powell, 2011). In contrast, addressing issues related to in-group ideologies may require a more nuanced and self-reflective approach, which may complicate the discourse on mitigation strategies. Yet, this strategy being more pronounced in the aftermath of Islamist TAs than in the aftermath of rightwing TAs, can also be an encouraging indication. The presence of this mitigation strategy indicates that the public discourse continues to provide space for community-bonding, which might help to avoid some exclusionary and unjust policy proposals. Interestingly, our findings showed that the appeal for enhanced migration-control was accompanied by an assertion of community-bonding in 20.3% of articles. It would be beneficial for future research efforts to examine how the emphasis on community-bonding actually impacts the audience.

In terms of the terror management theory (Greenberg et al., 1990), our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that the number of deaths and injuries contribute to an enhanced awareness of SSR and migration-control strategies. It appears that awareness of death and mortality among journalists gives no significant rise to a specific focus on discussing more SSR strategies and stricter policing.

With regard to the effects of the media environment, our findings show only minimal distinction between tabloid and broadsheet media. As discussions of SSR strategies and policing are more likely to be considered hard news (Arbaoui et al., 2020), we found that a slightly higher proportion of such mitigation strategies were mentioned in broadsheets compared to tabloids. In addition, broadsheet media more frequently discussed deradicalization strategies. These are intriguing findings, given that tabloids are typically associated with sensationalistic, out-group portrayals (Arbaoui et al., 2020). This might have led to readers of tabloids having a limited understanding of security- and surveillance strategies and social prevention strategies such as deradicalization and rehabilitation, which might contribute to a stronger feeling of fear and hopelessness.

It is relevant to note that individual patterns in media consumption, that is, what type of articles readers consume, may be a relevant factor in determining what mitigation strategies they are exposed to. Lengthy articles are more likely to discuss mitigation strategies compared to shorter articles. Furthermore, our findings indicate that opinion-oriented articles are more likely to advocate migration-control and greater community-bonding. Thus, no discernible pattern emerges regarding the prevalence of specific mitigation strategies within either category. Further research should investigate whether the type of newspaper and the article style as well as tonality and sentiment influence the impact of the reporting of specific mitigation strategies on readers.

Limitations

This study has several limitations. First, the findings pertain to two countries with high similarities in media and political systems. Consequently, the results may not be readily transferable to other countries. The framing of rightwing vs. Islamist TAs, however, may be indicative of a Western perspective on this issue (Powell, 2011). Similarly, our analysis is shaped by a Western lens, which affects the categorization of an attacker's ideology as in-group or out-group (Frischlich et al., 2015). This aspect must be considered when contextualizing our findings.

Second, the analysis also only covers a specific number of TAs over a limited time frame (until 2021), depending on the availability of data on the GTD database. More recent incidents were therefore not included. Additionally, the number of rightwing TAs was substantially lower during the study period than the number of Islamist TAs, which could potentially bias our comparison. Of further note, in the public debate, the term terrorism is used more readily for TAs by Islamists than for TAs by rightwing attackers (Chan et al., 2024; Hase, 2023). Due to the search terms used, this may have led to the exclusion of some articles on the attacks in Munich and Hanau, because journalists did not always refer to these incidents as TAs. Furthermore, this study does neither provide a more general assessment of how terrorism as a concept is reported in the media, nor does it capture the extent to which the term “terrorism” is applied to different types of events.

Third, due to the low number of articles reporting on deradicalization (n = 32), results for this outcome should be interpreted with caution. While rare events logistic regression is theoretically suitable, it is not easily compatible with our use of cluster-robust standard errors and the nested data structure.

Conclusion

While attack, media and article factors do play a role in shaping the presentation of mitigation strategies, the results reveal a complex pattern that requires further investigation. The extant evidence consistently indicates a strong focus on migration-control policies and SSR strategies in public discourse, which suggests that media reporting may contribute to the formation of negative perceptions of out-groups. In contrast, there is a notable absence of discourse surrounding deradicalization. It is crucial to enhance journalists’ awareness of the potential implications of the mitigation strategies they advocate in public discourse and to further investigate the reasons for the inadequate attention devoted to deradicalization.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-ejc-10.1177_02673231251394707 - Supplemental material for Exploring media responses to terrorist attacks: A content analysis of portrayed mitigation strategies to terrorism in German and Austrian newspapers

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-ejc-10.1177_02673231251394707 for Exploring media responses to terrorist attacks: A content analysis of portrayed mitigation strategies to terrorism in German and Austrian newspapers by Brigitte Naderer, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and Benedikt Till in European Journal of Communication

Footnotes

ORCID iDs

Brigitte Naderer

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler

Benedikt Till

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded in whole by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [Grant-DOI: 10.55776/P36029]. For open access purposes, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

AI disclosure

DeepL was used to correct spelling and grammar. Chat GPT was used to clean up the analysis script on R to ensure that the script was comprehensible to third parties.

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

Notes

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