When Shepherds Argue, the Wolf Has Won: Exploring Media Representations of Abortion-Related Lone Wolf Terror

• In Event: Lone Wolf Terrorism and Beyond

Abstract

Jihadist-based terror dominates terrorism-related discussion, but is it the most salient risk? Media has an enormous impact on how Lone Wolf terrorism is constructed, and how that social construction has the ability to influence individual behavior and social policy. This understanding can lead to more responsible journalistic practices and risk prevention policy, which in turn can help to reduce the fear of, and media spectacle that surrounds, Lone Wolf terrorist events. Employing a dataset of American Lone Wolf terror acts and utilizing ethnographic content analysis of media sources (print news and Twitter), this study explores what effect, if any, the social construction of abortion-related Lone Wolf terrorism in the media has on the understanding of abortion-related Lone Wolf terrorism as a crime risk. Further, we explore what that framing implies for the (mis)understanding of risk of abortion-related Lone Wolf terror attacks in the United States.

Author

• Estee Marchi, Rutgers University