Terrorism and the Politics of Fear

Abstract

This article examines how news reports about terrorism in five nationally prominent U.S. newspapers reflect the terms and discourse associated with the politics of fear, or decision makers' promotion and use of audience beliefs and assumptions about danger, risk, and fear, to achieve certain goals. Qualitative data analysis of the prevalence and meaning of the words fear, victim, terrorism, and crime 18 months before and after the attacks of September 11, 2001, shows that terrorism and crime are now linked very closely with the expanding use of fear, there was a dramatic increase in linking terrorism to fear, coverage of crime and fear persisted but at a very low rate, and there was a large increase in news reports linking terrorism to victim. The implications for the social constructionist approach to social problems and social control are discussed.