Terrorism, Counterterrorism And The Media

Attacks receive more coverage when they harm or kill victims, involve hijackings or aircraft, have known perpetrators, and select targets associated with Western countries. A study of transnational terrorism shows that attacks that inflict injuries are twice as likely to attract media attention as those that do not. The attacks in which the perpetrator can be identified are four times as likely to be reported in a newspaper and ten times as likely to be reported on television (The Media’s Role in International Terrorsim). Attacks in the Middle East or Europe are twice as likely to receive media attention as attacks perpetrated in Latin America (The Media’s Role in International Terrorism). There are very similar factors that influence media coverage of attacks that take place within the United States.

Tactics to induce terror in pursuit of a political goal have been utilized by a multitude of organizations across the globe. This method of power control is known as terrorism, and due to its impact and unpredictability, it is highly feared and monitored today in the 21st century. Attacks of this nature stem from radical beliefs of religion, ethics, or other politics, and have been carried out globally, ranging from the 9/11 attack in New York City to the 2015 shooting in Paris, France. Terrorism over recent years has grown despite an abundance of efforts by many nations and international organisations to stop development of such groups. This growth is partially attributed to advances in digital technology and the furtherment of communication techniques, such as social media and web-based content, which has allowed for the spread of these radical ideas across the planet making it difficult to control the advancement of these beliefs (Council on Foreign Relations, 2009). Terrorism will never be able to be fully stopped due to the abstract nature and ideology from which terrorism originates.

Arguably the most famous event that made people aware of the terrorism acts emerging from the Middle East was the infamous 9/11 terrorists attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, which included over 3000 people killed in New York City and Washington D.C. That attracted a substantial amount of media coverage and stimulated the war on terrorism regarding the U.S. and Middle Eastern threats. In late March of last year, ISIS supporters released a list of about 100 names and pictures of U.S. military personnel, and their goal was to kill them and their families. News outlets immediately jumped on the story, even though the author of the list was anonymous. When writing about the threat, news stations informed readers about the common goals of an ultra terrorist group, not knowing that they may have accidentally fueled a “propaganda campaign” help ISIS further carry out their mission of recruitment. Fathali Moghaddam, a terrorism expert and professor of psychology at Georgetown University supports the idea that the coverage of the media has aided in the evolution of ISIS’ “Hollywoody” image (Fryer-Biggs). ISIS isn’t necessarily complaining about the amount of exposure they receive because the media’s news could be considered “add on” almost to their own forms of propaganda in which they are highly skilled with. “It has its own 24-hour channel [with attractive special

An excerpt from the article “Think Before You Tweet in the Wake of an Attack” has written about the correlation between mainstream media coverage and the likelihood of attacks that are caused by the media coverage. “Terrorists have always craved media attention; in April, researcher Michael Jetter, of the University of Western Australia, found that increases in mainstream media coverage of al Qaeda correlated with the likelihood of attacks the following week. And in the age of Facebook and Twitter, everyone's the media. It's not just journalists who must learn to responsibly cover these attention-seeking atrocities but anyone with a Twitter handle.” As the article discusses, social media platforms have now created ways for terrorist to show their atrocities to the world. Which will leads to anyone seeing their acts as others will share the videos that these terrorist have freely posted on site such as twitter and facebook. Speaking of Facebook, the social platform now allows live streaming, which has lead to made it easier for executions, suicides, and other morbid acts to be readily available for anyone. Regardless if they want to see

Some terrorism videos are of the terrorists attacking civilians, burning down buildings, shootings or bomb explosions. (Zero Censorship, 2014-2016) These videos can be viewed from most electronic devices and are uncensored. This material inspires, disgust, and frightens people all in one. Terrorists also use digital media to find potential recruits ready to join the life of terrorism. In recruitment videos terrorists put into the minds of their viewers that what they’re doing is good, and whatever they are going against is bad. They spread their ideology and ask people work with them to get a certain point across or just the feeling of accomplishing something. People who watch these videos and feel like it’s their duty to stand up for the movement are willing to die for the cause, join. Mass media capitalizes from terrorists attacks, this kind of news draws the attention of viewers and readers. Terrorists on the other hand use the mass media coverage to send messages to people world wide, showing they’re a force to be reckoned with and taken seriously. Osama bin Laden was the first terrorists that understood the power of media. With the 9/11 attacks Osama captured the undivided attention of people everywhere. He was the first terrorist to do so. Now ISIS has the power of mass media and use it the same way, to send a message to people everywhere. Communicating

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses,” were the words of Malcolm X during his famed 1963 speech. Many believe this quote has lost relevance in our contemporary society. However, on the contrary, it rings more true than ever. One popular topic that has had an extreme influence on our society due to the way the media portrays it is terrorism. Whether it is a tragic event such as 9/11 or simply the way it portrays Muslims, the media tends to sensationalize the fear and tragedy of such events to increase publicity while also depicting all terrorists as Muslim

Their whole purpose is to scare people, and the media is fueling that fear. They are feeding off of our media-driven society, using it to their advantage in order to scare an increasing number of people. This leads you to realize that the media’s over-reporting of terrorist attacks just drives on the terrorists, making them realize that their tactics are working, so they’ll continue doing it. The Editorial Board calls these terrorist attacks “cowardly,” reemphasizing that although they believe that the media overcovers terrorism, they still don’t agree with the terrorists themselves. They don’t agree with the attacks, but simply think that it is given more attention than it’s

September 11th changed the lives of many Americans, irrevocably. The horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon altered the way American’s viewed their positions within the world, not to mention their lives and their safety. The attacks brought terrorism to the forefront of national attention, in every aspect. The government became immediately immersed in an effort to understand and defeat terrorism, and simultaneously, the media, with its perverse fascination with violence and profit-driven espousal to round-the-clock, up-to-the-minute coverage, demonstrated an obsession with the attacks, by broadcasting almost nothing but the latest developments in the search and rescue efforts and investigations

That call to action can come in many forms of media and to a global audience. “Terrorist recruitment videos, often released online, have been tailored to appeal to various audiences. A propaganda video, which can still be watched on YouTube of captured U.S. soldier, Bowe R. Bergdahl, compares what seems to be his good treatment under al-Qaeda, to those of U.S.-run prisoner of war camps” (Philipp).

Domestic Terrorism; Homegrown Violent Extremists: When it comes to domestic terrorism, social media seems to also play a role in it. Many attacks the United States gave faced are usually bought by homegrown extremists. Homegrown extremists are “American or American residents who adopt the jihadist’s philosophy” (White, 2014 p.323). The internet is a driver that acts as an enabler, where terrorist’s organizations can share plans, information, targets, weapons, and recruit individuals. Another, propaganda found in the web is the Inspire online English language magazine, published by Al-Qaeda. This magazine is one if the many ways this organization uses the internet to reach an audience. This magazine has also even showed how to make bombs,

I would say that the media plays the stronger role in the public’s perception of terrorism, because they give them all the attention they desire and a huge platform whenever an attack occurs. This motivate them to continue to engage in more terrorist events. John Kerry suggested that the media cover acts of terrorism less often, and perhaps people might not "know what's going on." I completely understand where he is coming from; however being an American citizen I would like to know what is going on when it comes to an terrorist attack. The terrorists uses the media to broadcast their evil acts to a bigger audience hoping to instill fear within us. Honestly, I cannot say that media need to not report because I would not want to be in the dark

The media plays the strongest role in the public’s perception of terrorism. A person the news as informative. It informs the public on any social, political, or economic issues. Many believe the output of information that comes from the news is accurate. It feels the primary source and a means of communication to alert the public of any devastating news. “Studies have shown that the media emphasize on certain crimes that leads the public to believe that such crimes are most likely to be committed” (Maras, 2013, p.97). When a tragedy occurs, the news focuses its attention of that specific factor. For example, the terrorist group called ISIS is still surfing through many different media outlets and newspapers.

“If the media were not there to report terrorist acts and to explain their political and social significance...terrorism as such would cease to exist” said John O'Sullivan, an editor of the Times of London.1 This is also the way many other people feel about the recent increase in terrorist activity; they feel that the media is causing it. The media is doing this by fulfilling the terrorists' need for publicity.2 Terrorists need media publicity in order to get their views spread to the public.3 Because of this need for publicity, terrorists are committing their acts of terrorism in areas where a lot of publicity will be gained; the United States and Western Europe are the most recent targets. The bombings of the federal building in

One example of terrorists using the media to leverage their position is mentioned in Boaz Ganor’s contribution to. In Chapter 16 of “The Routledge History of Terrorism”, Boaz Ganor describes a

It is no doubt that terrorism is on the rise again and that the results have been more and more devastating. With a dramatic increase in casualties due to terrorism spiking in 2014, it is inevitable that there will be media coverage. With an increase of media and globalisation, acculturation has become more prevalent in our society. These impacts are sometimes received poorly in western countries through news media; “the news has such a control over what we think and what they feed us that we almost have to see it their way due to what they report”1, indicating that the media has an influence in what we are conditioned to think. After big terrorist attacks like ‘the 1993 world trade centre bombing, the 9/11 bombings, 2009 killings at Fort Hood Army base, and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing’, secondary sources report a 17% increase in the responses saying that Islam promoted and encourages violence. This supports ideas that terrorist attacks increase the fear of the religion through the religions portrayal in the media. In a focus group conducted with a group of Millennials, they agreed with the influence of the media; “At first, [when you see the niqarb] you go, ‘oh god’ because that’s what is what we’re used to and those things are told to be bad in the media”1. This expresses how the media tells us what to think because it’s seen as reliable. Media coverage has played a part in their views and how they perceive Muslims in traditional dress, “The media has a strong grip…