The Human Bombs Next Door : Finnish Media Portrayals of Homegrown Terrorism's Causal Dynamics 2005-2011

The present study examines Finnish media portrayals of homegrown terrorism’s causal dynamics between 2005 and 2011. Taken into focus are the attacks in London (2005), Stockholm (2010) and Norway (2011). The study investigates the journalistic treatment of elements seen as key to homegrown terrorism’s functioning and elucidates on the influences that have conditioned the media’s take on the phenomenon. Constructing a comprehensive image of the explanatory narratives employed necessitates that causality be examined from all angles, however, and the work therefore also includes descriptions of the factors construed as bearing an inverse relationship with homegrown terrorism – the elements portrayed as non-related or a hindrance to political violence. The study’s methodological approach is historical-qualitative. The initial phase of analysis examines the narratives fielded to explain homegrown terrorism while the latter concentrates upon factors that have conditioned such portrayals. The first tier of investigation sees each incident assessed as a separate chapter while the second part contextualizes every causal narrative as an independent segment. The study’s empirical core encompasses a total of 294 items from the publications Helsingin Sanomat, Iltalehti and Suomen Kuvalehti. Included are news articles, editorials, columns and commentaries. The process of contextualization meanwhile utilizes research literature on socio-historical and journalistic phenomena pertaining to 21st century Finland in particular. Certain causal narratives emerge as significant to individual incidents. The psychopathological underpinnings of homegrown terrorism, as an example, form a key facet of coverage on the Norway attacks. Corresponding speculation is meanwhile less central to reporting on Salafi-jihadist violence. Other factors such as ideological motivations conversely figure as crucial to the portrayal of all three incidents. Case-specific variation can nonetheless be discerned in the way that such shared elements are handled. While ideological motivations form a recurring element of coverage on the London, Stockholm and Norway attacks, the actual content of ideology is subjected to extensive scrutiny only in 2011. Although the London and Stockholm bombers are, more precisely, frequently characterized as representing an ideological inclination such as Islamic extremism, discussion on the very substance of Islamic extremism remains thin. The emphases and particularities of various narratives have been conditioned by a combination of case-specific, socio-historical and journalistic influences. The scant attention accorded to Salafi-jihadism’s religious rationale is indicative of the secularized media’s inability to fully appreciate religion’s function as an element of terrorism’s dynamics, while the strong emphasis on the Iraq war’s radicalizing potential in 2005 is meanwhile tied to the conflict’s negative image in Finland. Speculation on psychopathological factors in 2011 meanwhile signifies a tendency of interpreting the Norwegian assailant as partially akin to the perpetrators of domestic school shooting incidents in Jokela (2007) and Kauhajoki (2008). Coverage of mental health issues emerged as significant to the Finnish events as well. Discussion on firearms legislation, also an element of coverage in 2011, might furthermore be considered as a continuation of domestic debate that commenced after the school shooting incidents. Finnish media narratives on homegrown terrorism’s causal dynamics are varied and bear the influence of myriad factors ranging from wider socio-historical matters to journalistic conventions. Given that full certainty on terrorism’s causes is difficult to establish especially in the aftermath of any particular incident, such factors are of key significance to determining the causal dynamics that journalists and news outlets decide to focus on. Domestic matters in particular influence the emphases of coverage in a marked fashion. Historical precedents such as earlier school shooting incidents have, indeed, left their imprint on the narratives discussed. Factors construed as relevant to terrorism incidents abroad have during 2005–2011 also grown more topical to Finnish domestic affairs. Socio-historical matters alone, however, fail to explain everything. The overall stance that different publications maintain on social matters and the role that their journalists perform in determining the content of reporting are an additional influence on the news coverage of homegrown terrorism