research review

Media Savvy Terrorism

By Randall Floyd

In a world of massive media conglomerates and instant messaging, a relatively small group of people has found a cheap ticket to an instant, international spotlight. Terrorists, traditionally people with very little power or influence, can now affect the thoughts and actions of millions of people by exploiting the media.

Brigitte Nacos, in her book Mass Mediated Terrorism, shows that terrorists are more than "extremists" who want to blow stuff up. On the contrary, they efficiently manipulate the media system. First, terrorists are efficient in getting maximum publicity. Second, common news values create a situation where media unwittingly facilitate terrorist goals. Lastly, the excessive attention "acts of terror" get via the media propagate fear and anxiety.

In one section, Nacos inserts parts of an al-Qaeda training guide. It instructs terrorist trainees, for example, to target "sentimental" landmarks in order to maximize publicity. The objective is to incite intense publicity and minimize casualties. This shows that blood lust portrayed in many newscasts is not necessarily the case.

Nacos also indicates that because of common news values, mass media outlets are in an exploitable position. One of the "hot tickets" in news today is violence. This opens up the door, as terrorists see it, for easy access. Let’s face it: when CNN sees a terrorist attack, they publicize it. Then, the world watches.

The book also illustrates that the media, in showing many images of violence or terrorism, send certain messages to publics. The sheer frequency of terrorist acts reported creates a very scary frame of the world for many viewers. The bias media has for violence commonly ignores other "less explosive" stories, and fails to paint an accurate picture of world. Thus, as this well-researched book suggests, excessive fear and anxiety is propagated on a massive scale.