The Reporting of the Murder and the Invariant Civil Concern of Legitimacy

The analysis engages with how the news reported and engaged with the invariant civil concern of identity and what kind of civil and anti-civil judgements were made. The main finding presented is that identity was reported in terms of (1) an idealised ‘we’—the English middle class and its life and norms as well as its natural entitlements (symbolised by the murdered Thomas Briggs) and (2) a stigmatised ‘them’—anyone not belonging to that middle class, in particular the mob, the lower (often criminal) classes and foreigners (represented by the German murderer of Briggs). The press endorsed constant watchfulness for signs of mob and lower-class anti-civil activities and emphasised the need to protect the public spaces of the middle class.