The Medias Role in Terrorism - Research Paper Example

The Media’s Role in Terrorism Introduction Terrorism is defined by the UN General Assembly as any criminal act or acts carried out for the purpose of provoking a “state of terror in the general public” or specific groups of individuals “for political purposes” and usually justified on ideological grounds (Biernatzki, 2002, p. 2). The media’s role in terrorism is complex. On the one hand, it is said that terrorists exploit and manipulate the media in an attempt to wage “a propaganda war” (Wilkinson, 1997, p. 51). On the other hand, it is said that the media frequently “promotes terrorism” by its deliberate coverage of the horrific aftermath of terrorist attacks and emphasizes “fear and an uncertain future” (Altheide, 2007, p. 287). It would therefore appear that the media is willingly complicit in terrorists exploitation of the media. This research examines this claim by analyzing both the role of the media from the terrorist’s perspective and the media’s use of terrorism. Terrorists’ Use of the Media World renown terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri have been known to be particularly obsessed with the media (Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law, 2008). According to Hoffman (2006), terrorists’ obsession with the media predicated on the belief that fear is only generated when the media publicizes the terrorist attacks. Without the media coverage, the terrorist attack can only spread limited fear (Hoffman, 2006). Terrorists typically attempt to generate public resentment of government oppression and fear from the government and the public that the terrorist group is powerful. The media is an important vehicle for delivering this type of fear (Walsh, 2010). Media coverage of a terrorist attack can overplay the damages which could lead to government action that represses human rights and potentially result in public disapproval of government responses. Similarly, media coverage of terrorist attacks, often with graphic images and prolonged coverage can overplay the damages and thus invoke fear of a powerful and dangerous terrorist faction. According to Bockstette (2008) the Jihadist terrorist groups maintains a strategic communication system which is propagated via the media. The communication goals are three-fold. The first of the communication goals is to spread information about Islam to Muslims with a view to establishing and propagating a fixed idea about what it means to be a Muslim. The second communication goal is also directed toward Muslims and those who might question acts of violence on religious grounds. The communication in this regard is to justify terrorist acts and to blame governments or opponents for forcing the terrorist group to resort to violence. The final communication goal is to reach the enemy and in doing so to intimidate and instill fear in the enemy (Bockstette, 2008). During the 1990s and until 1998, the Jihadist terrorist group communicated via the media through interviews, faxes and in some cases press conferences. However in 1998, with the introduction of the Al-Jazeera television network, Jihadist terrorist communicate with this network who in turn releases tape recordings of the messages to the international media. Many of these messages are heavily themed with commands for a holy war against Israel and the West, for the withdrawal of security troops from Palestine and the withdrawal of US occupation from Iraq and Afghanistan (Bockstette, 2008). Conway (2006), argues that the Internet has also emerged as a powerful communication medium for terrorists. The Internet is used as a media source for spreading propaganda through the distribution of images associated with terrorist attacks and threats which can reach millions of members of the public all over the world instantaneously (Conway, 2006). Thus terrorist not only make use of the mainstream media for communicating its goals and obtaining its objectives of fear, but also create their own media communications via the Internet for the same purposes. The Media’s Use of Terrorism Altheide (2004) conducted a content analysis of media coverage of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. The results demonstrate that the media played a dual role in the terrorist attacks. On the one hand, the over-coverage and graphic images of the attack appear to have promoted the terrorists’ goals of communicating fear of their power. On the other hand, the very same depictions appears to promote a strong sense of patriotism and support for the US government’s plans to retaliate against the terrorists attacks (Altheide, 2004). Weimann (2005), argues that the media may be singlehandedly responsible for creating the terrorists’ mass media communications objectives. This was accomplished by the media’s persistent coverage of terrorist attacks and in doing so created “theater-like” arena for terrorists and their activities (Weimann, 2005, p. 379). The obvious result was that terrorists recognized a potential for reaching a mass audience simultaneously and this arguably increased the motivation for terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks that are devastating enough to garner media attention (Weinmann, 2005). It can therefore be argued that the media’s attention to terrorist attacks may play a direct role in the intensity and frequency of terrorist attacks. According to Altheide (2006), the media’s deliberate role in terrorism however is more one-sided. The media consciously attempts to influence public perceptions of crime in general and in the meantime makes a conscious decision to portray crime and particularly acts of terrorism as a means of either supporting or justifying government retaliation or criticizing it (Altheide, 2006). Thus, while the media’s coverage may be supportive of or promotes terrorists activities, it is merely co-incidental and far from intentional. Indeed the media’s extensive and graphic coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US support the assumption made by Altheide (2006) of the media’s agenda. A study conducted by Bligh, Kohles, and Meindl (2004) demonstrates that President George W. Bush’s approval rating improved significantly immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This approval rating improvement could only be attributed to the rhetorical speeches that Bush was observed giving at the ruins of the World Trade Center and the continuous coverage of the attacks. The only activities by the Bush administration had been in connection with promises made during that particular speech (Bligh, et al., 2006). In this regard, the media’s role was therefore to mediate between the government’s response to the terrorist attacks and the public’s acceptance of those responses regardless of its actual legitimacy. Conclusion A review of literature demonstrates that the media plays a dual and contradictory role in terrorism. On the one hand, the media mediates between the government and the public in communicating the terrorist attacks in such a way as to justify governmental responses or to condemn it. An unintentional outcome is that the media is at the same time promoting terrorism by representing the message of fear and power intended by the terrorists. In this regard, the media coverage of terrorist attacks is a double-edged sword that usually serves both the government and the terrorists’ goals. Terrorists also consciously use the mainstream media and the Internet to communicate their goals and at the same time to obtain support and promotion of their activities and their ideologies. 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