(Self)radicalisation and the media: The dissemination of new “contagion theories” and ways forward

For the past ten years, it has become habitual to read news stories about how someone became radicalised by watching online videos or how new media content controls have been introduced to prevent terrorism in the UK. Although theories and measures that address the relationship between terrorism and the media are not new, this paper argues that over the last decade, due to the influence of radicalisation theories (which point to the media as a key radicalising factor), there has been a significant transformation in the ways of thinking about political violence and the media’s role in it. In other words, this paper shows that widespread theories of radicalisation, which have similarities to so-called “contagion theories” developed during the 1970s and 1980s, have established new frames to understand the relationship between terrorism and the media in the British context. As a consequence, despite a lack of empirical evidence, political debates limit their focus to the media’s power to (self)radicalise individuals and draw them into terrorist activity. This has serious effects on the regulation of the media, as it is exemplified with the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which poses important threats to civil liberties and human rights. In summary, the aim of this paper is, first, to explore the profound transformation of the imaginaries of the media and political violence driven by radicalisation discourses; secondly, to discuss some of the consequences including (self)censorship and the criminalisation of speech; and, finally, to propose steps to move forward in critical research on the complex relationship between the media and political violence.