Transcript Chapter 4

TERRORISM AND THE
MEDIA
Chapter 4
Babette
Protz
University
of South
Carolina
Lancaster
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: CHAPTER 4
 Discuss the role of the media in constructing
social reality.
 Explain the tension between security forces
and the media.
 Describe how the media can be viewed as a
weapon.
 Explain how news frames are used present a
story.
 Describe the special relationship between
terrorism and television.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES: CHAPTER 4
 Explain how the Internet has impacted
terrorism.
 Summarize various positions about bias in
the news media.
 Define the contagion effect.
 Debate the issues of freedom of the press
and censorship.
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PASSING OF STORIES
 This is the way human beings share stories; it
is not merely the product of entertaining
fiction.
 Consider the following videos.
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PASSING OF STORIES
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcdnf0Ck
xmc&feature=related
 United 93 (2006) hijacking ending scene
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA_2teLm
m1Q&feature=player_embedded
 World Trade Center (Movie) - WTC collapse
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PASSING OF STORIES
Discussion:
 Considering there were no survivors from the crash
of United 93, a lot of creative license was taken to
create the film. Do you view this film as a tribute or
chance for financial gain?
 The attack on and the collapse of the WTC were
shown repeatedly for a number of days. This film,
like the previous film dramatized the tragedy. Do
you think the film should have been made?
 How do the films clips change your view of
terrorism? Support your position.
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MEDIA MISCONCEPTIONS
 Media’s presentation of terrorism is
dominated by several simplified stories,
presented on 24 hour cable news networks
 Media exaggerates the threat of WMD
 Media uses simple catchphrases to
popularize a point
 “Broken borders”
 “War on terrorism”
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MEDIA OF TERRORISM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Xrob_I
By0
Discussion:
 What were your thoughts on this video clip? Do you
see this as promoting one-sided thought or
providing valuable information?
 Could this be viewed as propaganda increasing fear
of terrorism? Support your position.
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MEDIA AND SECURIT Y FORCES
 Media social constructions often run counter
to governmental objectives and policies
 Police and military perceive themselves to be
the forceful extension of democracy
 They think reporters are only trying to gather
sensationalistic stories
 Embedded reporters
 Pentagon invited journalists to join combat units
 The results were partially realized
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MEDIA AS A WEAPON
 Terrorists recognize the power of the media
as a weapon
 Ayman al Zawahiri
 Jihadists are keenly aware of the media’s
ability to influence the social construction of
reality
 They seek legitimacy for their movement
 They want to spread their message and increase
sympathy for their militant interpretation of religion
 Their opponents are targeted for intimidation
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NEWS FRAMES
 Reporting patterns are packaged in
segments called news frames
 Purpose is to assemble words and pictures to
create a pattern surrounding an event
 Creates a narrative for a deadly drama
 Characters are introduced, heroes and villains are
defined, and victims become the suffering
innocents
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NEWS FRAMES
 News frames help “mediatize” the
presentation of terrorism
 Media shapes the way an event is communicated
 News frame is one of the least understood
aspects of broadcast journalism because its
complexity goes unnoticed
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T YPES OF FRAMES
Reporting frame
Dominant frame
Conflict frame
Contention frame
Investigative frame
Mythic frame
Campaigning frame
Reportage frame
Community service
frame
Collective interest
frame
Cultural recognition
frames
Mythic tales frames
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BEATING THE WAR DRUM
 American television presented only one news
frame after 9/11
 Patterning the attack as a clash of civilizations
 Suggesting that only a military response would stop
future attacks
 Television called in a variety of terrorism
experts who reflected the single view
 Radio was even worse, engaging in
sensationalistic propaganda
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OLYMPIC PARK BOMBING
MEDIA LEAKS
 http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ParkB
Discussion Question:
 The video addresses First Amendment rights in
regard to rights of the media. Do you agree or
disagree the media should have free reign over
broadcasting information leaked to them on an
ongoing investigation.
 Consider what could be considered as “trial by
media” in regard to Richard Jewell – hero – suspect
– innocent.
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BEATING THE WRONG DRUM
 Focus is improperly centered on military and
law enforcement action overseas
 Media has virtually ignored domestic security
issues
 Nacos’s study
 American news media did not believe there was a
need to focus on domestic security
 Televisions’ preference for sensational events
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INFOTAINMENT TELESECTOR
 Barber calls the twenty-four-hour news
networks the infotainment telesector
 Media flourishes on one overriding factor:
entertainment
 The infotainment telesector is not geared for
depth; it is designed to create revenue
 Negative effect on homeland security
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TELEVISION DRAMA
 Control of the drama pattern was held in a
Western monopoly until recently
 Al Manar television presented a sympathetic view
of the al Asqa uprising
 Television makes the viewing audience
participants in a terrorist attack
 Television seeks drama, and terrorism
provides an unfolding dramatic event
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GENDER STEREOT YPES
 Television tends to portray women as minor
figures in the male-dominated occupation
 Nacos presents several images created by
television news frames:





Physical appearance frame
Family connection frame
Terrorist for the sake of love
Women's lib frame
Women as bored, frustrated housewives
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
 Edward Herman (1999) focuses on the social
construction of reality and political bias
 American media is part of a vast propaganda
machine promoting values and goals of
corporations
 David Baron (2004) takes a different
approach, suggesting that bias appears on
two levels
 Individual discretion of the reporter
 Public’s desire for the most captivating story
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MUNICH (MOVIE TRAILER)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WvfWXn7U&list=LPO8kMfXOdUFU&index=5&
feature=plcp
 Discussion:
 In the video it is noted that the media was broadcasting
everything that was going on in real time – allowing the
terrorists to watch police movements.



What are your thoughts in regard to this?
Does it surprise you that media was active in covering a terrorist attack
in 1972?
Should the games have continued?
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STEREOT YPES
 Large groups of people are portrayed without
depth in American television
 Media is spreading incorrect information
about terrorists
 Richard Miniter (2005) identifies 22
misconceptions about terrorism accepted as
truth by most newspapers, magazines, and
broadcasters
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INTERNET AND TERRORISM
 Steganography
 Embedding hidden information in a picture,
message, or another piece of information
 Message can be encrypted, placed in plain text in a
hidden file, or sent on a covert channel
 Recruiting and training
 Salafi-jihadists using Web sites and e-mail to make
training manuals available
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AS SAHAAB VERSUS AL HURRA
 Al Qaeda’s underground video network,
known as As Sahaab, wages an effective
propaganda campaign using the Internet
 In response, the US launched al Hurra, an
Arabic-language 24 hour satellite station
 Results have been disappointing
 United States has yet to capitalize on the Internet
for spreading propaganda
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
 Tim Groseclose and Jeffrey Milyo (2005)
stated that the American media has a liberal
bias
 Fouzi Slisli (2000) says that the American
media is full of oversimplifications and
stereotypes
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MINITER’S MEDIA MY THS
 Miniter believes that all media serve as a
source of disinformation
 The primary reasons are sloppy reporting,
editors who fail to check facts, and rumors
that are accepted as truth
 Many of these media-based “truths” cannot
stand the test of investigation
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THE CONTAGION EFFECT
 Some analysts wonder if media coverage
inspires more terrorism
 Many researcher believe that the fear
generated by media reporting is contagious
 Anthrax attack
 Madrid commuter train bombing
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CENSORSHIP
 Paul Wilkinson (1997) believes that
governments face three choices when it
comes to maintaining freedom of the press
and combating terrorism:
 Laissez-faire attitude
 Censorship
 Media self regulation
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CENSORSHIP DEBATE
 Democracy is threatened when the
government openly censors information
 Censorship could do more to damage freedom than
the terrorist attacks themselves
 Others believe that in times of emergency,
information must be controlled to ensure the
survival of the state
 America was fighting a new type of war and some
form of censorship was required
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CHAPTER TAKE AWAYS
 Television and other media shape the way we
view terrorism.
 This creates quite a bit of controversy about
the role of the media in reporting terrorism,
and it frequently pits reporters against
security forces.
 All sides try to manipulate the media
because of its extensive power.
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CHAPTER TAKE AWAYS
 This means that there is extensive
competition for presenting a point of view
and a news frame, and it leads to charges of
biases from all sides.
 This is especially true in television because
terrorism is a made-for-television drama.
 Some scholars have called for limited
censorship because the media is so powerful.
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