Chapter 4: (Self)Radicalisation and the Media: Contemporary Theories of Contagion

This chapter brings to the fore the relationship between the (counter)radicalisation dispositif and the media by exploring the ways in which (counter)radicalisation theories have re-signified previous conceptions on the link between the media and terrorism. The beginning of the chapter examines so-called contagion theories developed in the 1970s and 1980s, which emphasise the interdependence between terrorism and the media. It then analyses the 1988 Broadcasting Ban and Margaret Thatcher’s (1985) famous discourse on terrorism and the media. The second part of the chapter examines recent policies and expert discourses on the relationship between terrorism and the media, which stress the media’s capacity to self-radicalise individuals. The final part of the chapter examines the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act (2019), which, it is argued, reproduces (self)radicalisation theories and contagion premises. This historical analysis is crucial to understanding how contemporary debates on (counter)terrorism and the media revive old contagion hypotheses that pose serious threats to individuals’ civil rights and liberties.