Counter-Terrorism Strategic Communication Campaigns and the Generative Nature of Trust

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12800607
AutoresCharis Rice (0000-0003-2094-4597, Coventry University), Matthew Innes (0000-0002-8950-8147, Cardiff University)
Año2025
Volumen19
Número5
Páginas624-650
Fecha de publicación2025-05-31
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Strategic Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1553-118X • E-ISSN: 1553-1198
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1553118x.2025.2501558
OpenAlexW4410915953
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas87

This article examines how public-facing counterterrorism campaigns are strategically constructed and communicated, to try to signal trust, as part of their wider agenda to deter terrorist risks and threats. The empirical evidence includes frame analysis of the main messaging assets across three UK campaigns, in-depth practitioner interviews, and public focus groups across different parts of the UK. Building on sensemaking theory (Weick, 1995) we present insights into sensemaking, sensegiving and sensebreaking around trust in this form of messaging, and introduce the concept of ‘sensebridging’ as a theoretical extension useful in understanding how trust deficits are negotiated by publics and tackled by practitioners through particular public relations strategies and mediums. We demonstrate how specific trust elements are ‘designed in’ to campaign assets, and how these are (re-)interpreted by publics through the lens of distant and recent histories, as well as hyperlocal presents. Viewed in this way, the article moves beyond the idea of bifurcated trust that either is or is not present, instead arguing that trust is ‘generative,’ and as such more complex, situated, and mobile. In doing so, it makes several interdisciplinary contributions together with practical recommendations that centre on appreciating the generative nature of trust in strategic communication

Crisis communication · Generative grammar · Health communication · Political communication · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Strategic Communication · Terrorism · Computer Science · Law · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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