Media and mediation in the ‘war on terror’: issues and challenges

Abstract

These research notes offer some reflections on media and the ‘war on terror’ drawn from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research seminar series titled ‘Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism and Media’. The points cover the relationship of media to questions of security in the ‘war on terror’, and distinctions between old and new media.

Keywords:

• ‘war on terror’
• media
• mediation
• old media
• new media
• security

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to the Editors for their comments on an earlier draft of this article and for their helpful and encouraging suggestions.

Notes

1. ESRC Research Seminar Series (RES-451-25-4188) ‘Ethics and the War on Terror: Politics, Multiculturalism, and Media’, coordinated by Gillian Youngs, University of Leicester, with Simon Caney, University of Oxford, and Heather Widdows, University of Birmingham. The comments in these research notes are my own individual reflections and assessments and in no way are intended to be representative of those of the organisers or participants.

2. Publications from the series already in press containing a media focus include Youngs and Widdows (2009) and Youngs (2009).

3. See, for example, the Research Councils UK comments on multidisciplinary research in its six priority areas including ‘Global Uncertainties: Security For All in a Changing World’ (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/ccprog/default.htm).