Mundane Witness

Ellis, John

doi:10.1057/9780230235762_4

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…With regard to the work of Ellis (2000Ellis ( , 2009, Howie (2012, 26) highlights how the "the most common type of witnessed mediated event sees journalists deploy particular reporting strategies which are pieced together and displayed in aesthetically clean and spectacular forms that can be easily and unproblematically consumed". However, what became apparent from newspaper coverage of the London Bridge attack was that this reporting followed a "carefully cultivated sense of shock" (Taylor 2010, 127).…”

Section: Subjective Violence In Newspaper Coverage: a "Terrifying Sprmentioning

confidence: 99%

The subjective and objective violence of terrorism: analysing “British values” in newspaper coverage of the 2017 London Bridge attack

Black

2018

Critical Studies on Terrorism

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This article examines howŽižek's analysis of "subjective" violence can be used to explore the ways in which media coverage of a terrorist attack is contoured and shaped by less noticeable forms of "objective" (symbolic and systemic) violence. Drawing upon newspaper coverage of the 2017 London Bridge attack, it is noted how examples of "subjective" violence were grounded in the externalization of a clearly identifiable "other", which symbolically framed the terrorists and the attack as tied to and representative of the UK Muslim community. Examples of "systematic" violence were most notable in the ideological edifice that underpinned this framing but also in the ways in which newspaper reports served to draw upon British values in the aftermath of the attack. This directed attention away from the contradictions within the UK, towards narratives that sought to "fix" these contradictions through eradicating the problem of "the other" and/or by violently protecting the British values "they" seek to undermine. As a consequence, newspaper coverage worked to uphold the illusion that "peace" could be achieved by eradicating terrorism through further forms of objective violence, including, internment without trial; the "ripping up" of human rights; and, closer surveillance of Muslim communities. Indeed, it was this unacknowledged violence that worked to maintain British values in the press' coverage. KeywordsŽižek, London Bridge, British values, Muslim/Islam, media analysis Analysing the London Bridge attack: aims, purposes and methodological concernsIn May and June 2017, the United Kingdom (UK) was subject to two terrorist attacks, the second of which took place in London on June 3. 1 While driving in a rented van, the three 3 attackers: Khuram Shazad Butt; Rachid Redouane; and, Youssef Zaghba, mounted the pavement along London Bridge, driving into pedestrians, before exiting the van and proceeding to Borough Market, where they stabbed four people. 2 Eventually, the attackers were shot dead by police. In total eight people were killed and 48 injured.While not deferring from the severity of the atrocity, this article will critically examine UK (London-based) newspaper coverage of the London Bridge attack. 3 Informed by SlavojŽižek's conceptualization of violence, it highlights how Žižek's (2010) analysis of "subjective" violence can be used to explore the extent to which media coverage of a terrorist attack is contoured and shaped by forms of "objective" violence (Žižek 2013). In particular, it is this paper's contention that examples of objective violence were most noticeable in the media's demarcation of certain outsider groups, in this instance, the UK Muslim community. Implicit in this process, is the way in which newspaper representations of British values were symbolically used in newspaper coverage of the attack and how these representations can be examined and challenged in order "to uncover their latent significance" (Taylor 2010, 92).Methodologically, this analysis is drawn from an initial sample of 359 newspape...

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Section: Subjective Violence In Newspaper Coverage: a "Terrifying Sprmentioning

confidence: 99%

The subjective and objective violence of terrorism: analysing “British values” in newspaper coverage of the 2017 London Bridge attack

Black

2018

Critical Studies on Terrorism

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“…Additionally, it highlights that this problem transcends the specific ambit in which the violence takes place and becomes a universal problem that might be considered in any context of violence. All of this brings into question the idea of a vision of desensitised violence and points to the conclusions of Ellis (2009) and Albero (2011) in that the media increases the social representation of the 'other' in increasingly varied situations. They raise awareness of aspects of reality that are increasingly detailed and distant, which forces viewers to be more aware of the 'other' as well as provoking self-awareness.…”

Section: Ethical Implication / Moral Identificationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Amongst the most important of these is a witnessing function that impels the audience to become involved as witnesses to real-life events, and by consequence to become implicated in actions that derive from this knowledge. Although the images don't implicate the viewer as a witness in a judicial sense, neither can they completely distance themselves from responsibility by arguing that they "didn't know them" or "didn't know anything about it" (Ellis, 2000(Ellis, , 2009Frosh & Pinchevski, 2009;Rentschler, 2004;Dayan, 2006;Peters, 2001). In much the same way, the identifying function fosters a connection between people that live in different places.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Distant” beings or “human” beings: real images of violence and strategies of implication or distancing from victims

Villanueva

2016

Communication & Society

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This work is situated in recent research on the utility or unsuitability of broadcasting factual violence in TV news programmes, as well as the diverse ways of presenting it. Its aim is to discover and make explicit the evaluative-moral mechanisms that sustain the basis of the attitudes of distance vs. implication of audiences to diverse types of factual violence broadcasted in the mass media. On the basis of a discourse analysis of 16 focus groups that were shown violent scenes with diverse degrees of gravity, in a close vs. distant (to participants) geographic context, we describe the discursive strategies that participants use to feel involved in the suffering of the victims of violence or, on the contrary, to detach or estrange themselves. The results show a spontaneous identification and an ethical identification that is related to emotional and moral implication. Additionally, diverse mechanisms of estrangement are evident, such as denying the facts presented in the images and attributing responsibility to the victims. The implications that these strategies have in the moral debate on violence are discussed.

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“…Characteristic of mediating martyrdom in digital media is that the act of witnessing the suffering occurs on and via the Internet. This is termed media witnessing (Ellis, 2009;Frosh and Pinchevski, 2009;Peters, 20091). [AQ1] It requires an agent who witnesses, a witnessing representation, and an audience who receives and/or accepts the witness.…”

Section: Media Witnessingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediated Muslim martyrdom: Rethinking digital solidarity in the “Arab Spring”

Sumiala

Korpiola

2016

New Media & Society

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Mundane Witness

Cited by 25 publications

References 6 publications

The subjective and objective violence of terrorism: analysing “British values” in newspaper coverage of the 2017 London Bridge attack

The subjective and objective violence of terrorism: analysing “British values” in newspaper coverage of the 2017 London Bridge attack

“Distant” beings or “human” beings: real images of violence and strategies of implication or distancing from victims

Mediated Muslim martyrdom: Rethinking digital solidarity in the “Arab Spring”

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