User-generated content as war and peace journalism in the wake of terror

Abstract

This framing analysis explores how broadcast news networks with a large international audience incorporate user-generated content (UGC) in reports immediately following a terrorist attack and how these reports contribute to war/violence journalism or peace journalism. This analysis of CNN and Al Jazeera English coverage of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack using peace journalism theory, as defined by researcher Johan Galtung, found that while both CNN and Al Jazeera English are more likely to use war journalism frames when reporting on terrorism, there are a number of peace journalism frames also used. Further research in this area should look at when war journalism is being used in breaking news scenarios and formulate guidelines of when war journalism is a more beneficial form of journalism than peace journalism.