Discursive constructions of terrorism in Spain: Anglophone and Spanish media representations of Eta

Abstract

This paper studies the use of the terms ‘separatist’ and ‘terrorist’ in the aftermath of Madrid's 3/11 attacks and their discursive implications from a critical perspective, and attempts to throw some light on whether there are sufficient grounds to substantiate the voices against ‘separatist’ when reporting on attacks carried out by the militant group Eta that involved killings. The study is divided into three sections, which examine, first, the choice(s) made by Spanish news websites and the intratextual cohesion devices used by the authors, and, secondly, the terms and devices used in British and American news websites. Finally, we shall discuss the ideological implications that might lie beneath the preference for ‘separatist’ in Anglophone media, and comment on the problems derived from it.