Media lack sense of responsibility when covering terrorism

A research team in the field of public mental health is investigating how the media report on terrorist acts, how this affects the public, and whether attentiveness to wording can contribute to prevention. An initial finding of the ongoing study: established recommendations on the sensitive presentation of such events are virtually never applied.

Biology and Medicine

by Astrid Kuffner

June 8, 2026

After a terrorist attack, journalists are confronted with an extreme challenge. An unpredictable event meets with overwhelming demand for rapid, comprehensive and accurate information and analysis. When it comes to crime scenes in Austria, one thinks particularly of the school shooting in Graz in June 2025 and the terrorist attack in the center of Vienna in November 2020. Such events also wreak havoc on the plans, procedures, resources and responsibilities of editorial offices. Unfortunately, diligence and prudence often take a backseat to speed and the urge for reach.

However, it must be noted that scientifically sound recommendations for reporting on acts of terrorism are available to media workers, similar to the recommendations for the media portrayal of suicides – a first commonality between two acts that have different effects. The requirement for restrained reporting on suicide is also enshrined in the Press Council’s “Code of Ethics for the Austrian Press”. The media guidelines on suicide reporting are designed to prevent imitation, the well-documented “Werther effect.”

Most terrorist acts today are “staged” on social media for maximum public impact. In the race for “breaking news”, the media potentially allow themselves to be instrumentalised, thereby giving scope to the attackers’ desire for maximum reach. While it is other content on platforms that can radicalise young people beforehand, reporting on attacks is nonetheless part of this overall cluster. Radical groups see their enemy stereotypes and prevailing narratives confirmed.

About the project

How does the way terrorist attacks are reported in the media affect the public? The first study of its kind in the German-speaking world examines whether media coverage can fuel radicalization and how well established media guidelines are followed.

Across from a school building, members of the media are waiting with cameras and video equipment to broadcast live — International media reported directly from Graz on the worst shooting rampage in Austrian history. In situations like these, the demand for real-time coverage and emotionally charged reporting can endanger journalistic standards like objectivity and the protection of victims’ identities. © APA-Images / Expa / Pixsell

Impact on public mental health

Research shows that sensationalised reports, graphic descriptions of the crime and crude assumptions about motives have a threefold harmful effect. Media psychologist Benedikt Till from the Medical University of Vienna thinks that the media have a clear responsibility: “This type of reporting can traumatise people and thus promote anxiety and depression; it can stigmatise people, for example when Muslims are lumped together with Islamism; and it can encourage copycat crimes.”

In a multi-year research FWF-supported project, Till and communication scientist Brigitte Naderer are currently investigating for the first time the effect of terrorism reporting on the public, specifically as a function of the way it is presented. In order to do this, they analyzed how Austrian and German newspapers reported on terrorist attacks in recent years. They are also examining how these articles and the way they are “packaged” affect readers. The researchers categorised the coverage into three groups: first, sensationalist articles; secondly, those designed in line with the recommendations; and thirdly, articles that focus on positive examples through stories about people who have de-radicalised.

Debriefing and media analysis

In the international “Global Terrorism Database”, terrorist acts are documented in sober terms. For the content analysis, the researchers selected nine terrorist acts with the highest number of victims in Western Europe over the past ten years, including both right-wing extremist and Islamist-motivated attacks. “We collected, analysed and coded the coverage in the five highest-circulation daily newspapers in Germany and Austria, respectively, up to seven days after the event. A total of 1,909 articles were included in this content analysis,” explains Brigitte Naderer.

The first conclusion of the content analysis: the recommendations are not (yet) being followed: “In general, the media do a lot of what the recommendations advise precisely not to do . Tabloid newspapers more frequently publish the names and photos of terrorists or use stigmatising language in relation to mental health aspects. Quality media provide more background information in longer articles, thereby addressing details of the attacks. Only 0.6 per cent of all newspaper reports refer to support services, whilst preventive reports featuring examples of successful deradicalisation are rare,” notes Naderer.

The study also reveals that Islamist and far-right extremist acts are reported differently, yet according to a set pattern, as project leader Benedikt Till adds. In the case of Islamist perpetrators, the focus is on the act itself and on characteristics such as origin, appearance, previous militant experience, and background networks. The perpetrators (only male in the sample) are simply described as “radicalised”. In the case of far-right attacks, the assumption is usually that of a lone perpetrator; explanations for the act are sought and found in bad experiences, the individual’s background and mental health issues. This can reinforce established enemy stereotypes and feeds into clichés and prevailing narratives.

What interviews with those affected reveal

In order to investigate the impact of media coverage, the team conducted qualitative interviews with eleven young men and women engaged in deradicalisation programmes, i.e. individuals who had already come to the attention of the authorities. The conversations revealed a further link between terrorism and suicide. All respondents reported that they had experienced a mental health crisis prior to their radicalisation – involving things such as loneliness, marginalisation, bullying or a lack of direction.

For the implementation of public mental health programmes, this means focusing on prevention and rapid intervention in crisis situations. For, personal crises could lead to suicidal thoughts or, in some cases, to becoming involved in radical communities. The respondents assessed the impact of the article series differently depending on their own personal development. They noted that sensationalist reports would have reinforced their views at the height of their radicalisation. Reports featuring examples of successful deradicalisation fell on more fertile ground only in their current situation; during their radicalised phase, they would probably have perceived such narratives “as a betrayal”.

Gathering the public’s views

The researchers have also conducted a quantitative online survey on the impact of media coverage of terrorist acts on a representative cross-section of the population (n=700). Following a baseline assessment, the impact of specifically composed sets of articles on parameters such as anxiety, depression, Islamophobia and negative stereotypes was measured across several waves. Analysis of this data is still ongoing. The researchers also plan an analysis of public discourse, involving the evaluation of the comments sections of such reports on social media using computational methods.

The entire team feels that the nature of the research topic is a personal challenge. “Sometimes you lose faith in humanity,” says Brigitte Naderer. In order to ensure their mental wellbeing they engage in regular debriefings, supervision and intensive exchanges within the team (and the occasional chocolate). For the media, the initial research findings suggest that it indeed makes a difference how terrorist acts are presented, what explanatory frameworks are provided, and whether the reporting style is constructive. And reports on how to get support during personal crises and mental health are not merely a “nice to have”, but an essential tool for media professionals, which, in the best-case scenario, can help prevent terrorist acts such as the one in Graz in June 2025.

About the reseracher

Psychologist Benedikt Till works in the fields of public mental health, suicide prevention, health communication and media psychology at the Medical University of Vienna. His research focuses on the role of the mass media in conveying content that is potentially distressing and its possible effects, including reporting on suicide and terrorism. The research project “Media reports on terrorism and their impact on audiences” (2023–2029) receives roughly EUR 396,000 in funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF.