Mitigating the Impact of Media Reporting of Terrorism - Case Study of Government Communication during Westgate and DusitD2 Attacks

This research report looks at the responses from the government and media houses in Kenya in response to two major terrorist attacks, namely the Westgate mall attack of September 2013, and the DusitD2 hotel attack of January 2019. The report examines the evolution of media reporting on terrorist attacks by closely examining the coverage and broadcast material published throughout these events, and is supplemented through interviews with media and security professionals.

This report is part of a wider project, led by the International Centre for Counter- Terrorism (ICCT) – the Hague, and funded by the EU Devco on “Mitigating the Impact of Media Reporting of Terrorism”. This project aims to produce evidence-based guidance and capacity building outputs based on original, context-sensitive research into the risks and opportunities in media reporting of terrorism and terrorist incidents. The role of media reporting on terrorism has been under investigated and is an underutilised dimension of a holistic counter-terrorism strategy. How the media reports on terrorism has the potential to impact counter-terrorism (CT) perspective positively or negatively.