The Terrorism Information Environment: Analysing Terrorists’ Selection of Ideological and Facilitative Media

This article studies media material which individuals who planned or carried out acts of terrorism in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2017 collected before their involvement in these activities concluded. It explores the nature and type of content found, the “levels” of extremities that can be detected in these narratives as well as their source. It identifies repetitions in selection and differences in selection between lone actors and those who operated together in a group. Finally, it traces any temporal changes that emerged over the period under examination.The article presents the subjects’ collection of ideological and facilitative media as reflections of the information environment which was available to them that helped to shape their perspective. It argues that subjects’ selections and choices from a much wider pool of available sources of information represent actions or behaviours that are observable. Moreover, it argues that studying these patterns and dynamics should form an essential part of our understanding of the way in which terrorism features and unfolds in different contexts.