From Minutes to Months: A rapid evidence assessment of the impact of media and social media during and after terror events

Project Title

Role of Media in CRV/CVE - Five Country Ministerial Working Paper

Lead / Author

Martin Innes; Cardiff University

Relevant Dates

Complete draft submitted July 2018.

Description

This study examines how communication occurs across mainstream and social media during and after terrorist events, and how government, law enforcement, journalism and other key actors can better respond to reduce harm. The research was led by Cardiff University (United Kingdom), with support from scholars in Canada, the United States and Australia, with expertise in communications and conflict studies. Together, this group collaborated to identify and interpret relevant information. The ‘rapid evidence review’ method used involves systematically searching for studies, assessing their quality, and then drawing out key findings with the aim to support more informed policy and practice.

‘From Minutes to Months’ covers a range of issues and trends in the contemporary international media and social environment. These include the diversity and volume of communications involved; the competition among actors to define terrorist attacks and related events; the use of bots – automated accounts posing as real people – and other tactics to sow political discord and distort debate on the internet; and how such dynamics affect and amplify harm on communities and the general public.

The report uses an event-based approach, starting with specific incidents and drawing out the patterns that follow. To better understand the causes and consequences of media communications during such times, the report gathers evidence about four key communication ‘logics,’ and how they interact across the minutes, hours, days and months after an event:

Select Findings

The authors argue that questions about how to effectively manage public communications after terrorist events have been relatively neglected in recent years. In this context, the report identifies key areas of concern, and makes recommendations for reducing impact and public harm. For example, in the period immediately following an event, a vacuum of official information can permit wide circulation of misinformation, including errors by credible sources. Absent corrections, such misinformation can then serve as basis for more active disinformation campaigns by malicious actors. For example, in the hours after the murder of UK soldier Lee Rigby, a number of organizations flocked to digital platforms to encourage hateful activities against Muslim communities.

Accordingly, ‘From Minutes to Months’ recommends government and law enforcement actors quickly establish strategic communications and social listening capabilities in the period immediately after a terror event. Further, the authors identify a number of objectives for such response, including: 1) if an event is ongoing, warn that social media use could inadvertently provide situational awareness to perpetrators; 2) address misinformation and discrepancies that can later function as ‘seeds’ for disinformation campaigns; 3) watch for harmful rumours, conspiracy theories and even foreign influence activities, and  implement ‘rapid rebuttals’ where relevant; 4) establish a network of trusted journalists for regular briefing, including about circulating disinformation; 5) work to quell dynamics of anger and scapegoating; and 6) demonstrate concern about affected communities.

Further Information

From Minutes to Months: A rapid evidence assessment of the impact of media and social media during and after terror events

Related Initiatives

Jamie Bartlett and Louis Reynolds, “The state of the art 2015: a literature review of social media intelligence capabilities,” Demos, 2015.

Susan Benesch and Derek Ruths, “Considerations for Successful Counterspeech,” Dangerous Speech Project, 2016.

National Institute for Justice, “Radicalization and Violent Extremism: Lessons Learned from Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.,” 2015.

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