Citation

Thielen A, Sivertun, Hyllengren P, Alvinius A. Int. J. Emerg. Manage. 2019; 15(3): 205-220.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

10.1504/IJEM.2019.102309

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

On 7 April, 2017 a terrorist attack occurred, in central Stockholm. A hijacked lorry was intentionally driven into crowds along a pedestrian street. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore how media framed this terrorist attack. The data collection approach was inductive and explorative mainly involving searching electronic media databases. The qualitative analysis of 1294 articles resulted in four overarching themes describing how the terrorist attack was framed in the media. These frames are as follows: the incident, framed as confirmed, unconfirmed and denied information; the perception of leadership and authorities as trustworthy; the site perceived as a place of sorrow; and crisis management framed as the initial and sequential framing of the professionals, the heroes and the villains. The primary conclusion is that true as well as fake news affects crisis management and public opinion, which may create challenges for the entire society within the crisis management area.

Keywords: terrorist attack; media; fake news; Sweden; crisis management.

Language: en