...News Media and Terrorism: Changing Relationship, Changing Definitions Zohar Kampf Department of Communication Hebrew University In this article I discuss two aspects that are important for understanding the relationship between Western news media and terrorism: the changing representation of terrorists and terrorist attacks in the media, and with it, the changing definition of terrorism. By calling attention to evolving news media practices in times of terrorism, I argue that advanced communication technologies and the emergence of global media ecology since the 1990s has made terrorism more visible in both national and international media landscapes. One consequence is that the more the news media expose terrorism to global audiences via the "front-door", the more controversial the use of the terms terrorism and terrorist become in social, political, and scholarly discourse. The paper addresses the new journalistic practices and their consequences as documented in previous studies on media reporting of terrorism in several national contexts, mostly the UK, the US and Israel. Terrorism, media, and the nation (or, reading about terrorists in the next day's newspaper) Classic definitions of terrorism evolved in a world in which a modernist view reigned supreme. Despite constant debates about how to define the term (Schmid 1983; Schlesinger 1981; Gibbs 1989; Nacos 2007), one conventional definition, at least under U.S. law, characterizing a nationalistic perception...
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...Case Study 1: Terrorism and the Media Due Week 4 and worth 100 points On April 15, 2013, two (2) bombs were set off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three (3) people were killed and over 260 were injured. The initial investigation and manhunt spanned several days after the bombing. The media covered these events live as they occurred and in great detail. Use the Internet or Strayer databases to research the bombing incident, emergency response to the incident, media coverage, and the investigation post incident. In context of the incident, also research the debate between the public’s right to know versus operational security. Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you: 1.Summarize the attack, the initial investigation, and the manhunt for the suspects. 2.Describe the media coverage of these events, and assess the degree to which the media affected the public’s perception of the attack. 3.Evaluate the extent to which the media helped or hindered each of the following: a.The immediate emergency response at the scene of the bombing b.The investigation of the incident c.The manhunt for the suspects 4.Assess the importance of the media’s role as a force multiplier for terrorists. 5.Take a position on the debate between the public’s right to know versus operational security. 6.Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. Your assignment must...
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...Butts SOS-440 Terrorism and Media Recent history, specifically the past decade, has provided plenty of examples of the mutually beneficial relationship between terrorist organizations and the media. As some remarkable terrorist attacks in history indicate, whether it is in the United States (US), Europe, or the Middle East, it is by and large the case that the architects of terrorism exploit the media for the benefit of their operational efficiency, information gathering, recruitment, fund raising, and propaganda schemes (Nacos 2006). In the words of Nacos (2002), whether it is the relatively inconsequential arson by an amateurish environmental group or mass destruction by a network of terrorists, the perpetrators’ media-related goals are the same: attention, recognition, and perhaps even a degree of respectability and legitimacy in their various publics (Nacos 2002). Media, in return, receives the attention of the public that is vital for its existence and benefits from record sales and huge audiences. To put it briefly, just as terrorism has to be communicated to have effect, the media has to cover the incidents in such a way to benefit from the public’s eagerness to obtain information about terrorist attacks. It is, therefore, fair to argue that there is a mutually beneficial relationship between terrorism and today’s media. Indeed, the goals of terrorists are not solely confined to winning the attention of the masses. In addition to that, through the media, they aim to...
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...Terrorism and the Media, Core Assessment Terrorism is defined as; "The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons". (Barnett and Reynolds, 2009, p. 13). There is no official definition of terrorism agreed on throughout the world. Even when the common elements of terrorism are spelled-out for us; "Small units, small weapons, usually don't wear uniforms, targets are state symbols, political opponents and public at large and the action is not recognized as a legal act”. (Barnett and Reynolds, slide-8). It seems that when a bombing, a mass shooting, or a suspected terrorist event happens and American leadership have agreed on the common elements of the terrorist event, a good number of American citizens are more concerned with the ethnic background of the alleged perpetrator and more specifically if they have a Muslim sounding name. So even though we know the general definition of "Terrorism", sometimes those elements are not the immediate focus and the actual definition varies even at the highest levels. Was the Boston marathon a terrorist action? According to the President of the United States it was. However, according to the agreed on definition as outlined by (Barnett and Reynolds, slide-8), the jury is still out. Another publically recognized domestic terrorism event was the 1995...
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...actual terror plot. Her case is a shocking example of how easy it can be to find jihadi content on-line and make operational connections with others who speak aspirationally about violent acts of terror against the homeland. The Jihad Jane case is not the only one. Only a few weeks ago, Jose Pimentel was arrested for preparing bombs to use in attacking targets in New York City. Before his arrest, Mr. Pimentel had been active on-line. He ran a blog, held two YouTube accounts, and operated a Facebook profile, all dedicated to jihadi propaganda. ------------------------------------------------- Social media is the No. 1 activity on the world wide web, we know that, accounting for over 22 percent of all time spent on-line in the United States. For instance, Twitter averages about 200 million tweets per day, Facebook boasts about 800 million active users throughout the world. Social media spreading messages to many users at one time is commonplace and their power has proven to be remarkable. Al-Qaeda forum users are usually anonymous. The links between them are unknown, and the administrators heavily moderate the discussions. There are only a handful of these fora and the most prominent of them only numbers 50,000 members, many of whom have multiple accounts or, like Aaron and I, are researchers, passively watching. Participating on the forums may harden the views of al-Qaeda supporters and it may push them to take action, but no one is being radicalized on them. They are already...
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...the Sicarii and the Zealots. Sympathizers of the Romans slowly disappear and their voices vanish from Jerusalem. The fear of terrorism grows and Roman repression grows along with it, this in turn leads to the people of Jerusalem to revolt in 70 AD (Miller V). If this attack had been made in some dark alley with no spectators would the people react the way they did? The marketplace of old Jerusalem, can be compared to the media of today. What better place to get the public informed about your reasons and purpose for attacks than the news. Albert gave a good definition of terrorist's objectives when he stated: "Terrorists try to exercise influence over targeted officials on nations through intimidation of the public and arousal of sympathy for the social and political causes they espouse. Without widespread publicity, terrorist acts can achieve neither of these effects" (Bandura, Albert qtd. In Nacos 1). Terrorists need the news media to get the publicity, and the media is a willing accomplice. The news media is an accessory to terrorism, and as such they should develop a set of standards that will limit the terrorist ability to get their message out to a large audience during terrorist situations; Also the media should also point out police mistakes without over emphasizing them, giving equal coverage to both sides of the issue. Terrorism is the use of violence against...
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...How Mass Media Supports Terrorism Terrorism has been a part of our current events for some time now and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. I believe that terrorism is both a social issue as well as a political issue, and while it can be steered by both social and political influences, the influence of the media has been and will remain the largest source of fuel for terrorism. The goal of terrorism is to further an idea by radical means, spreading propaganda through media coverage of violent events. I propose that without the media’s constant and pitiless coverage of these events, terrorism would essentially lose its appeal as a means of spreading ideas, and become less prevalent in societies around the world. After beginning my research into this topic, I quickly found that there is a large amount of scholarly articles and books that support my position. I chose two of these articles for their reliability and I judged this reliability on the basis that each author is an authority on the subject, with no apparent motives other than to inform. My first choice is an article published by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. This article was written by a specialist in International Affairs, and it outlines the different perspectives of terrorists, governments and media during a terrorism event. This article also explains how the competitive nature of media networks creates an interdependent relationship between the media and terrorist organizations...
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...Are the media the “terrorists’ best friends”? (Laqueur, 1976) This essay will propose that the media coverage of acts of terror occurs for the main purpose of reporting on the news, it heightens the public’s awareness of such incidents and aids in counterterrorism, thus having a detrimental effect on the terrorists and their cause. Laqueur’s statement that the media are the terrorists’ best friends implies that their coverage of terrorism aids the terrorists. We will examine and disprove the hypotheses that coverage of terrorism in the media, and the publicity and attention terrorists gain through media reporting of their acts of terror are beneficial to their cause. For the purposes of this essay media will be used as a “…generic term meaning all the methods or channels of information and entertainment” (P.Wilkinson, 1997:51) and as found within majority of the theories and concepts discussed, the term terrorism, and therefore terrorist, is used to describe violence carried out in the name of a political, ideological or racial cause by a person who wishes to influence the government and, or, intimidate the public. (www.mi5.gov.uk) Terrorism is a psychological weapon (P.Wilkinson, 1997:54), which is dependent upon communication of its threat. The easiest way terrorists can disseminate their messages of threat is through the manipulation of the media. When using the media, the terrorists’ have four core objectives; communicate propaganda; mobilise support from the public...
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...Terrorism Scapegoating Islam for Terrorism Name: Maryam Khalil Class: Social Science HSP3U1 Date: May 30, 2014 Essay Most of the westerners today see Islam as a religion of hate and violence. This is due to the events of the terrorist attacks that have been happening around the world. Islam has been associated with terrorism more and more often due to few extremists who are doing terrible crimes in the name of Islam (Islam Way). The whole world knows what has been happening to Muslims in America after 9/11, but blaming 1.6 billion Muslims for the crimes of less than 10,000 people is not ethical. Those people who have never read the Quran and know nothing about Islam says that Islam teaches to kill people and to commit act of terrorism. The purpose of this essay is to resolve the misconception that Islam teaches terrorism. Islam teaches us to practice peace in every area of our daily life. The real reason why people really become terrorists is hidden from most of the people in world. Today’s media is also misrepresenting Islam and Muslims. Tragic events such as attack on World Trade Centre in New York and bombing of London and Madrid are supposed to be justified by Islam in the minds of some people (Islam Way). The actual origin of terrorism was from the Cold War between Russia and America and the place of its origin was Afghanistan. Islam is a religion of peace. To understand Islam’s point of view on terrorism one must refer to its original source which is definitely...
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...privacy. However, there are individuals who cause deliberate attacks on the information systems of organizations and governments in order to unlawfully access information or distort the meaning of such data. The intention of cyber attacks has led to the classification of these attacks into particular classes. For example, we have cyber bullying and cyber terrorism. Under cyber bullying, the attackers use technology to abuse and intimidate their targets. Cyber bullying has been common through the presence of the social media where an individual will use pseudo-accounts to publish half truths about others with a bid to embarrass them. On the other hand, cyber terrorism involves the use of technology to access vital government sites in order to cause harm and fear in the society through terrorism activities. Brunst (2010) indicates that cyber terrorist activities are in most cases politically motivated and the main of these secret operatives is to cause physical or psychological fear among the members of the public who are not armed. Problem definition There have been a lot of arguments concerning the presence of cyber terrorism and if these computer attacks are worth to be considered as terrorist attacks. Weimann (2004) indicates that cyber...
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...Student ID:5145400 SY3 CASE STUDY - True Crime or Moral Panic Crime and deviance is present is all societies and has been throughout generations, and there are differing explanations for their existence through the various sociological approaches. Functionalism views society as a system of connected parts. Emile Durkheim (1982) saw crime in society as a stable system based on value consensus, norms and values which a society has established. Durkheim saw the need for some crime as an inevitable, normal and even necessary part of that system, and although it can disrupt social stability, it also performs some positive functions. One of these positives is boundary maintenance, and how crime produces a reaction from society against the wrong-doer which in turn reinforces their commitment to the value consensus (historylearningsite.co.uk, 2009). Criticisms of Durkheim's view on crime is how he failed to explain how much deviance is needed for society to function, and that just because crime has a function, it doesn't mean society is creating crime for the purpose of that function. Even how this 'necessity' doesn’t feel right for the victims (Jones, 2014). Conflict theories such as Marxism disagree with functionalism about crime being necessary, but instead suggest it is an inequality between the ruling and working class. Although Marx did not talk at length about crime, he did believe that laws were codified. Where one class kept the other classes in check through policing...
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...alternative view of security studies by responding to the traditional approach of forming a clear sense of ‘what is security’. This approach is defined in three mechanisms: development of sectors approach to security, developing a regional focus on security and critically engendering a social constructivist theory of security through securitization studies. This theory will be the main focus of this discussion. To achieve a critical discussion of what securitization really entails, this paper will use the case study of USA’s war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The approach used by the US government to fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq can be considered as a securitization approach which has led to a resulted in security problems in the two countries rather than solving the issue. Securitization of USA’s war on Afghanistan can be viewed in three perspectives: securitization by the president and the government, securitization by the media and securitization by the society. In this case, the paper will attempt to explain how sectors such as political, social and economic sectors influence or result in securitization. This will be done with a...
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...Lee 1 Corey Lee College Comp 2 Professor Gordon October 7, 2010 Terrorism in America On September 11, 2001, Americans began their day as any other. This day started as an ordinary business day in the United States. However, on this day a deadly fate was placed on many American lives. At about 8:45am the World Trade Center was struck by a 747 commercial aircraft. At about 9:03am another plane was reported to have struck the south tower. The towers fell approximately an hour after the planes crashed into them. An estimation of approximately 3,000 lives was taken that day. This was labeled as a freak accident at first, but later relabeled as an act of terrorism. Terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. This act of terrorism has been the largest attack since Pearl Harbor. Many individuals can remember what they were doing when this tragedy took place. This disastrous event was just the beginning affects of terrorism on America. Terrorism has reached the top of the list on issues discussed amongst the news, radio, internet and even the ordinary citizens of America. The media especially, thrives on terrorism as if it is the only news available. The media’s focus on terrorism ranges from the Iraq bombing to new captures of Al Qaeda members. Individuals’ fear of terrorism draws their attention towards these topics. However, attention and focus on terrorism was not the only outcome of this event. The loss of revenue in...
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...popularized by the mass media. Theories The contagion theories have been rejected and forwarded in matters pertaining to terrorism and the effects of mass media. Some scholars have denied a relationship that could be termed as cause-effect. There has been literature that has implicated the media as responsible for the effect of contagion when it has come to terrorism violence but these claims have proved to be unsubstantiated. However it is to be pointed out that the media’s reporting or non-reporting of terrorism does show evidence of contagion effect that is brought about by the coverage. To be more specific, there was shorter lag time emulation for example in the cases of hijackings, kidnapping, assassinations and bombings when it came to television coverage. This was realized by scholars (Weimann and Winn) The pros and cons with regards to the contagion effects are that the media on one hand can help to curb terrorism by showing the world how terrorism destroys and the international community can respond strongly against the terrorists. The downside is that terrorists through the media have a platform to air their propaganda to other likeminded individuals in the society. To some extent, the terrorist’s tactics are effective and the media deals with this by not highlighting their propaganda in the news. The U.S being a leading super power can without doubt tackle this strongly emerging issue by it having laws that govern the extent to which the media reports on some sensitive...
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...The Broadcasting Effects of Terrorist Attacks Vernon T. Branson HSM435: Psychology of Disaster Instructor: Sandra Rebeor February 20, 2012 Over the years terrorism and homeland security represent a challenge to American journalism. Broadcast journalism bears and extra burden because it is on the front lines of all breaking news and plays a special real-time role in informing the public during a crisis. Since September 11th, new grim realities have confronted the media and redefined the responsibilities of the media as providers of information and holders of public interest. Reporting in an emergency is not merely a matter of getting the story right or beating the competition, it is a matter of saving lives, conveying vital information and contributing to an orderly response. Those who work in and with the media must understand and navigate in an uncertain landscape (Kamien, D. 2006) In today’s current society the new methods of technology can also affect the way the information is disseminated to the public. This technology intensifies immediacy and emotion as disturbing events can hit airwaves before official news media sites even get a hold of the information. Cell phones, PDA’s, camcorders all make the many citizens potential news reporters now. Eyewitness accounts and “man on the street” interviews can give voice to fears and cause more chaos before news officials are given a chance to assess the situation. The most important goal of any news agency...
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