Examining Myths of the Mad, Bad, and Sad British Veteran in Today’s Media

Abstract

Previous research on British public perceptions of UK veterans has focused mainly on opinion polls and survey data. This is problematic, as the broader scope of public dialogue and discourse that informs and influences public perceptions of veterans remains largely unaddressed. To evaluate how the media frames British veterans, this study systematically assesses media discourse regarding veterans of the British Armed Forces. An inductively driven thematic content analysis of 335 newspaper articles indicates that the media frames veterans in predominantly heroic ways: veterans are heroized by their actions during deployment, the actions of their present lives, or the growth they have experienced from their status as victims. Representations of veterans in such victimized contexts include their suffering from the costs of war, from institutional injustices, from social callousness, and from their desperation for assistance from charitable organizations. We find that UK veterans are framed by the media in overly positive or negative terms and that factual information on them remains largely ignored. Such depictions may have negative consequences for veterans’ reintegration into civilian society.