Why are some suicide terror attacks more newsworthy than others?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Given their deeply deviant nature, suicide terror attacks are highly newsworthy events and in theory, should attract high levels of media coverage. However, this is not the case and some suicide bombings tend to be covered more extensively than others. Through a detailed case study of Boko Haram, this research delineates the conditions under which suicide attacks are more likely to be covered across national, regional and international media outlets. The analysis relied on a dataset of 473 suicide attacks carried out by Boko Haram since 2011. Drawing on a news media distortion analysis, this study finds multiple attributes of suicide terrorism can entice heightened levels of reporting. Suicide attacks entailing higher fatalities, female perpetrators and civilian targets all lead to greater media attention while ambiguity in terms of perpetrator gender identity significantly diminishes coverage. Moreover, all of these factors are robust across national, regional and international media outlets, though the effect of gender is strongest for international media sources. Suicide attacks on Nigerian soil are generally more likely to be covered compared to attacks elsewhere in West Africa where Boko Haram is also active and this effect is especially strong for international media coverage.