Media and Terrorism

Terrorism differs from other forms of violence or crime in that it is aimed at people other than its victims. Most violence is committed for its own sake; an ordinary murderer wants the victim dead and usually does not want anyone to know who is responsible. A terrorist attack, by contrast, uses violence to influence others. The victim may be chosen at random, and the terrorists committing the act of violence generally want people to know that they are responsible. A repressive government might assassinate a relative of a political activist in order to intimidate the activist and other dissidents. A regional separatist group might bomb a police station in order to show authorities that their hold on that region is tenuous. A small fringe group might kidnap a celebrity in order to attract attention to their cause.

In each of these cases, the victim—the relative, the police officers, the celebrity—is not the real target of the terrorist attack. Instead, the target is a group or groups—enemies, potential supporters, the general public—that essentially form an audience. One highly effective way to reach an audience is through the modern media network of television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books. The rise of satellite television and all-news channels in recent years means that modern media can now reach a worldwide audience almost instantly.

Terrorists often create their own media outlets. Pamphlets, books, videotapes, and audiotapes have all been circulated by terrorist organizations seeking support. Groups that have relatively stable control over a particular territory often have their own radio stations or newspapers. The Internet has given terrorists a new forum in which to advertise their views and make contacts with potential recruits.

Such terrorist-generated media pose fairly straightforward issues for authorities. With the appropriate legal backing, law enforcement officers can shut down Web sites and radio stations and can seize flyers or tapes. The main challenge is finding who is producing and distributing the material or broadcasts.

A more complex set of issues is created by the mainstream media's coverage of terrorist activities. In any country with a reasonably free press, terrorist attacks are almost certain to attain widespread coverage—even if the group is tiny and its attacks cause relatively little damage. Not only is the attack itself covered as an event, but often media outlets run pieces on the group responsible that detail the group's agenda. The response of authorities to terrorist attacks can be subject to highly critical coverage.

The publicity resulting from terrorism can be a boon to a cause. Terrorist acts committed by Palestinians in the early 1970s, for example, riveted world attention on an issue—the displacement of Arabs by the founding of the state of Israel—that for decades [Page 227]had largely been ignored by the international community.

General Tommy R. Franks, commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (right) brief reporters in March 2002 on the progress of Operation Anaconda, a large combat operation against Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in the Shahikot Mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

U.S. Department of Defense photograph by R. D. Ward.

Such terrorism was nothing new, but advances in media technology meant that by the early 1970s, it was occurring on a global stage. For example, the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany, were the first to be televised live around the world, thanks to the now-commonplace use of satellites to broadcast television signals. During the games, a radical splinter group of Al Fatah called Black September raided the compound housing Israeli athletes. The group killed two athletes and took nine hostage; those nine were killed during a botched getaway. The horrific events were broadcast worldwide as they happened, making a formerly obscure group instantly famous, or infamous—the group was even featured fictitiously plotting a blimp attack on the Super Bowl in the 1976 movie thriller Black Sunday.

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