NCJ Number
85118
Journal
Journal of Security Administration Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (June 1982) Pages: 7-18
Date Published
1982
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The basic aim of the terrorist is to gain worldwide recognition, and this is facilitated by the symbiotic relationship shared by the media and the terrorist, such that some experts are convinced that international media coverage of terrorism tends to increase international terrorism.
Abstract
Terrorists are dependent on the publicity they receive, and the media acquire from the terrorist their staple in news reporting: an event newsworthy, unexpected, and violent, which the public is drawn to hear, see, and read about. There is evidence that terrorists choreograph dramatic incidents to maximize their propaganda impact. Terrorism only works because a handful of persons inflicting violence directly on a relatively small number of people receives worldwide publicity for a terrorist group and its demands and ideology. In June 1978, an International Congress on Terrorism and the Media convened in Florence, Italy. Some government representatives appealed to journalists to stop using the propaganda language of terrorists, and news organizations from the United States, Britain, Japan, and West Germany said they should exercise voluntary self-restraint and cooperate with security authorities when reporting political acts of violence. Anything more radical than voluntary self-restraint in reporting terrorist activity would be a threat to the democratic principles of freedom of the press and speech. The media's awareness of the efforts of terrorists to manipulate them for terrorist purposes should put the media on guard against becoming a propaganda arm for terrorism. Twenty-two references and a selected bibliography of 25 listings are provided.