Who is to blame? A newspaper discourse analysis on who the news media held responsible for the causation and aftermath of the Grenfell Tower Fire

On 14 June 2017 a fire erupted in Grenfell Tower a social council housing flat in west London. The fire was the deadliest fire since WWI, killing at least 72 people. To prevent future disasters, domestically and internationally it is important to assess responsibility. Past scholarly articles have suggested several societal factors that may have caused the Grenfell Tower fire; social murder, austerity, and racism/colonialism however a gap in research lies in the understanding of the general public and who they hold accountable. This thesis provides a news framing discourse analysis of the Grenfell Tower fire. The analysis focuses on how newspapers shape the discourse surrounding the responsibility of the fire. It then examines the difference between British newspapers and the scholarly literature regarding who is held responsible, revealing a striking difference in how the causation and who is held responsible are presented. While the scholarly literature engages more in systemic...Show moreOn 14 June 2017 a fire erupted in Grenfell Tower a social council housing flat in west London. The fire was the deadliest fire since WWI, killing at least 72 people. To prevent future disasters, domestically and internationally it is important to assess responsibility. Past scholarly articles have suggested several societal factors that may have caused the Grenfell Tower fire; social murder, austerity, and racism/colonialism however a gap in research lies in the understanding of the general public and who they hold accountable. This thesis provides a news framing discourse analysis of the Grenfell Tower fire. The analysis focuses on how newspapers shape the discourse surrounding the responsibility of the fire. It then examines the difference between British newspapers and the scholarly literature regarding who is held responsible, revealing a striking difference in how the causation and who is held responsible are presented. While the scholarly literature engages more in systemic issues the newspapers held more surface-level ideas. The implications of this study show that the general public will have an insufficient understanding of what caused the Grenfell Tower fire and what social issues need to be addressed to resolve the aftermath and prevent future disasters of the same nature.Show less

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Who is to blame? A newspaper discourse analysis on who the news media held responsible for the causation and aftermath of the Grenfell Tower Fire