From Minutes to Months

Governments and police forces around the world need to give greater consideration to the potential harm caused by mass and social media following terror events, a report concludes. Academics at Cardiff University's Crime and Security Research Institute (CSRI) lead an international team of analysts from the University of New South Wales, Michigan State University and the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing to learn the lessons from researching recent terror attacks in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. By reviewing all the published research on the role of media and social media in the wake of terror attacks, together with detailed case studies of specific incidents, the study has produced new evidence and insights about how media and social media coverage can increase the public harms of terrorism, and what works in mitigating such effects. The research team found such attacks continue to have an adverse impact long after the initial incident, as a wide range of voices compete through mainstream and social media. Led by Professor Martin Innes Director of the CSRI, the team of academics have developed a Minutes to Months (M2M) framework, to help authorities formulate robust strategies for managing the resulting online reactions after a major incident. The work was commissioned by the Five Country Ministerial (FCM) Countering Extremism Working Group - which includes the governments of the UK, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand. after a terrorist incident often lead to a spike in hate crimes, incite and fuel extremism and prompt damaging disinformation and rumours.