The BBC, The 'War on Terror' and the Discursive Construction of Terrorism

Representing al-Qaeda

Author: Jared Ahmad

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : New Security Challenges

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Table of Contents

About this book

In the years since the September 11th 2001 attacks, the al-Qaeda phenomenon has become one of the most written about, yet crucially misunderstood, threats of the 21st century. But despite the sheer volume of literature produced during the ‘war on terror’ period, few studies have sought to consider the way this entity has been represented within the news media. The BBC, the War on Terror and the Discursive Construction of Al-Qaeda addresses this significant gap in knowledge by providing an original and much needed assessment of the various strategies used to depict ‘al-Qaeda’, and thus make it meaningful for British television audiences. Drawing on the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault, and focusing on Britain’s most watched and trusted news programme, the BBC’s flagship ‘News at Ten’ bulletin, the book provides insight into both the visual and verbal nature of these representations and the way they have shifted over the course of a ten-year period, while also shedding light upon the broader political and social consequences of the BBC’s portrayals. In doing so, the book not only helps to develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of the BBC’s representations, and their various shifts and transformations, but also details the process through which ‘al-Qaeda’ has been pieced together from a range of cultural parts. And how, ultimately, the dominant mode of representation used to portray this entity is one that closely resembles Britain’s own, diverse multicultural ‘self’.

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction: The BBC, The ‘War on Terror’ and ‘Al-Qaeda’

Abstract

The introduction provides an overview to the book, its central focus and argument, and the overall structure and organisation of each chapter. To help situate the book and justify its focus, the introduction also poses a number of important questions, such as ‘what is al-Qaeda’, ‘why study the BBC’s “News at Ten’s” representations’.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 2. Understanding Al-Qaeda as a Discursive Phenomenon

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is twofold. It first seeks to review the existing literature focusing on the dynamics of the media-state-terrorism relationship and, in particular, the few studies that have sought to consider media representations of the al-Qaeda phenomenon. In doing so, the first part of the chapter establishes the core rationale of the book. Second, the chapter then moves to develop an original conceptual and analytical framework through which to consider the BBC’s representations of al-Qaeda. Drawing on the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault, this framework focuses, first, on the manifest visual and verbal content of these portrayals, and in particular how they shift over the period under analysis, and, second, on the political functions and outcomes of such representations. The chapter ends by outlining the methods required for studying mediated representations of terrorism and introduces the key case studies covered in the analysis.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 3. The September 11th 2001 Attacks

Abstract

This chapter begins the empirical investigation and focuses on the representations that emerged in the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks. Centring on two weeks’ worth of BBC ‘News at Ten’ bulletins (September 11th–24th 2001), the chapter shows how, in the absence of any stable ontological or epistemological frameworks of knowledge, the BBC’s representations function as a dynamic and continually shifting site upon which a range of fears, identities, discourses and forms of knowledge and power manifest themselves. Three shifting modes of representation are identified within the analysis (the ‘Islamic’ mode, the ‘Personalised’ mode and the ‘Elusive’ mode) which each give rise to a different understanding of ‘al-Qaeda’. Specifically, the chapter argues that rather than simply serve as a vehicle for Orientalist-inspired discourses the BBC’s representations both draw upon and challenge the dominant discourses surrounding Islam, non-state terrorism, and the identities of al-Qaeda suspects, providing audiences with a variety of, often conflicting, ways of seeing and speaking about this entity.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 4. The January 5th 2003 Wood Green Ricin Plot

Abstract

This chapter concerns the alleged discovery of the biological agent ricin in a flat in Wood Green, North London in January 2003. In particular, it seeks to consider the extent to which the BBC’s representations are mobilised for political purposes during this event. Drawing on the Foucauldian concept of the dispositif, the analysis shows how rather than function in the interests of a single group, the BBC’s representations inadvertently work in favour of a range of competing groups; with both al-Qaeda and the British state, in particular, gaining political advantage through the existence of other. Two weeks of coverage are analysed (January 5th–18th 2003), alongside speeches and press releases issued by the Prime Minister and propaganda statements distributed by al-Qaeda’s senior command during the same period.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 5. The July 7th 2005 Transport Bombings

Abstract

Chapter 5 focuses on the coverage of the July 7th 2005 transport bombings (July 7th–20th 2005). It seeks to consider the broader social, political and discursive consequences that can be said to arise from the BBC’s representations. In particular, the chapter shows how the Corporation’s representations systematically form the very thing they seek to depict; namely, the al-Qaeda phenomenon. But, rather than engender a single ‘al-Qaeda’, and thus a single set of consequences, the concept of ‘truth regime’ is employed to show how the two dominant modes of representation emerging during this period (the ‘Islamic’ mode and the ‘Elusive’ mode) form the conditions of possibility for very different policy and audience-related outcomes. Thus, while the initial coverage gives rise to a reductive, Orientalist-inspired ‘Islamic’ mode of representation, something which, moreover, can be said to produce policies that disproportionately impact upon Britain’s various Muslim communities, the appearance of a series of prosaic visual representations of the four bombers provides the conditions in which a more negotiated, albeit pervasive, understanding of this phenomenon can be developed.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 6. The May 2nd 2011 Killing of Osama bin Laden

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the BBC’s coverage of the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The analysis draws upon two weeks’ worth of ‘News at Ten’ bulletins that emerge in the aftermath of this event (May 2nd–15th 2011), and shows how ‘al-Qaeda’ is made simultaneously visible and invisible for the BBC’s audiences in the days and weeks after this event. While efforts are made to highlight the threat posed by al-Qaeda’s British and European ‘followers’, the BBC’s foregrounding of the ‘Personalised’ and ‘Islamic’ modes of representation, at the expense of the ‘Elusive’ mode, functions to powerfully distance the threat posed by al-Qaeda to British citizens, thus repairing the damage done to the social order in the years after the July 7th 2005 attacks. Indeed, in playing down the ‘Elusive’ category, however, it is suggested that the process of making al-Qaeda seen in certain ways serves, implicitly, to contain the threat and therefore minimise the levels of fear and anxiety that can be said to circulate in the aftermath of this event.

Jared Ahmad

Chapter 7. Conclusion: A Shifting Enemy

Abstract

The Conclusion returns to the book’s main argument and draws together the overall findings, linking these back to the core research questions and the dominant themes highlighted in the literature on media representations of al-Qaeda and the media-state-terrorism relationship, more broadly. It moves on to reflect upon the BBC’s overall performance when representing al-Qaeda across the first stage of the ‘war on terror’ period. Here the discussion draws upon interview material with several current and former BBC journalists, editors and documentary film-makers, who each reflect on the various challenges faced when covering ‘al-Qaeda’-related events. The final section also addresses some of the book’s methodological limitations, and ends by reflecting on how the main findings might inform future research on these issues.

Jared Ahmad

Backmatter

Title: The BBC, The 'War on Terror' and the Discursive Construction of Terrorism
Author: Jared Ahmad
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-76608-9
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76607-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76608-9