should the state increase restrictions on the media
Terrorist Propaganda and the Media
Publicity: The Universal Terrorist Goal
All terrorist organizations both in the contemporary operational environment as well as that of the past have used publicity as a tool for achieving their political goals, which makes maximizing their media impact a universal objective.
Liberal democracies rely on the principles of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, which inadvertently provides terrorists with an active and open forum for disseminating their messages and fulfilling the goals of their information operations.
Since the explosion of global media, however, the susceptibility of media in liberal democracies is not as different from media in non-liberal, non-democratic states as was previously the case.
Additionally, modern technology has lowered the entrance costs for terrorist organizations that wish to develop their own media outlets, and many prefer to exploit this advantage over relying solely on legitimate media outlets.
An Alternative View: Contemporary Terrorists Do Not Need Publicity
In contrast to the position articulated above, some have argued that extreme terrorist groups driven by religious or pseudo-religious motivations are prone to engaging in political violence without the need to receive credit for the actions from the broader population.
These types of organizations are more interested in inflicting as much pain and suffering as possible, and do not, therefore, have publicity goals explicitly incorporated into their operations.
In practice, however, such “expressive” terrorists often do, in fact, take advantage of publicity garnered by their actions, and many – while not as actively engaged in information operations as others – intentionally leave clues and indicators that allow them to receive credit for their attacks.
Terrorism and the Triangle of Communication
One model of political communication is called the “triangle of communication,” which terrorists attempt to access as a means of achieving their publicity goals:
Terrorists access the triangle of communication by staging spectacular attacks.
The media reports on those attacks.
The public consumes the reporting, driving up fear among the local population as well as demand for more reporting.
Politicians then pay attention to both the media and the public’s reaction to the media, driving political decisions that terrorists might not have the ability to influence otherwise.
Terrorists exploit the triangle of communication first at the domestic level to influence local conditions, and then at the international level (through the international press, foreign publics, and foreign political leaders) to influence situations above and beyond the domestic context.
Media-Related Goals
The Attention-Getting Goal
A key question regarding the media in a free society is not whether it should perform the function of keeping people informed by reporting on terrorism, but what amount and quality of coverage should be devoted to terrorism.
When the media does not maintain a responsible balance of coverage, it becomes a tool for terrorists to spread fear and anxiety among their own target audiences.
The Recognition Goal
Because terrorism serves as a violent expression of grievances, media coverage of terrorism can trigger the public to seek out additional information about those grievances – which in itself is not a problem.
This issue becomes a problem, however, when media coverage does not adequately represent the complexities inherent in terrorist motivations, and instead focuses on oversimplified, yet dramatic, narratives that can turn the media into a platform for terrorist organizations and their supporters.
The Respectability/Legitimacy Goal
The media is supposed to bring to our attention issues and people that deserve our sincere consideration, and bestow on these issues and people a level of respectability and legitimacy in the public forum.
When the media – especially television – treats terrorist spokespersons the same as it treats important political, social, or culture figures, it can bestow on terrorists and their organizations a level of respectability and legitimacy that they might otherwise not have acquired.
Bedfellows in a Marriage of Convenience
Media in the United States is not an accomplice to terrorism, but the media and terrorists do exist in a symbiotic relationship whereby the media achieves ratings by captivating consumers with shocking news and terrorists rely on the media to disseminate their shocking messages to the widest audience possible.
Various approaches have been proposed for dealing with this troubling relationship, but given the US’ emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of the press, it seems unlikely that legislation will effectively address the issue in the American context as it may have in other liberal democracies with different legal and cultural values.
A more likely approach for the United States seems to be efforts within the media community itself to promote education and training, increasing professionalism and professional ethics, and encourage an internal reform process.
Media and Terrorist Contagion
Terrorism scholars have found that terrorist organizations tend to adopt and pursue tactics that have achieved the best results based on media coverage for themselves or for other terrorist actors.
While this does mean that the media plays an important role in disseminating terrorist ideologies and courses of action, we must be very clear here that it does NOT mean this dynamic leads to increased terrorist activity, but rather it contributes to refining terrorist behaviors.
Defending the Media
While the issues we have considered represent important perspectives for informed scholars of terrorism, they do not mean that the media serves no fundamentally useful or positive function.
The best defense of the media rests on the absolutely essential role it plays in keeping the population informed of current events in the world around them, which in a liberal democracy is a necessary factor in the population’s decision-making process about its government leaders and policies.
Treason or Public Service?
The media has often served as a forum for the unauthorized revelation of information policy makers and security officials would prefer remain secret.
Whereas some view the media’s release of information that the government withholds from the public as undermining national security because it reveals sensitive means and methods, others view it as holding government officials accountable for their decisions when they might otherwise bury those decisions or their negative results behind a wall of security classifications.
