“This is not the kindness that transforms”: Terrorism, national identity and news coverage of the 2019 Christchurch attacks

This thesis provides the first comprehensive news framing analysis of the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks in New Zealand. It analyses how the news media both mobilised and contributed to discourses of terrorism and national identity following the attacks, shaping broader news frames of terrorism. Furthermore, the thesis employs interviews with journalists and editors who reported on the attacks to illustrate the tensions, challenges and limitations of reporting on right-wing extremism. More broadly, this research reveals how the politics of belonging and Otherness are mediated through news coverage of terrorism and how national tragedies illuminate tensions between journalistic discourse and practice.