Semi-Reality of Threat: Media Coverage of Drones in Europe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2522-1272.2026.88.14Keywords:
media, journalism, news discourse, drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, securitization, text corpus, geopolitics, securityAbstract
Objective. This article examines how European news media represent the emergence and use of drones within security discourse. It hypothesizes that news coverage of drones shapes perceptions of potential threats even under conditions of epistemic uncertainty, activating a politics of fear and legitimizing defensive responses. Participants (Data Corpus). The study uses the PressReader news archive. Searches were conducted using the keywords “drones,” “unmanned aerial vehicles,” and “fighter jets.” Data were collected from 10 September to 10 October 2025, yielding a sample of 150 news articles. This corpus includes 72 English-language newspapers from the UK and Ireland (e.g., The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian), the USA (The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times), Canada (Toronto Sun, Montreal Gazette), and the European Union (Deutsche Welle, EuroNews). Methodology. A corpus-assisted discourse analysis was employed, combining quantitative corpus linguistics methods (collocation and frequency analysis) with qualitative interpretation of lexico-discursive patterns. The study analyzed mechanisms of nomination, predication, and argumentation, alongside the use of metaphors, conceptual frames, and markers of uncertainty. Results. Findings indicate that drones are depicted as threat agents controlled by institutions and objects of expert knowledge. Coverage features epistemic (observation), emotional (anxiety), and political (defense legitimization) strategies of representation. Conclusions and Practical Implications. The study demonstrates how news media shape security discourse by transforming technological incidents into symbols of political threat. The findings are relevant for journalists, editors, and security professionals seeking to understand how news framing influences public risk perception and informs communication strategies in technological and information security contexts.
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