Terrorism and Mass Media: Analysis of a Bilateral Relation
Teresa Almeida e Silva
The media present themselves as an object of temptation for terrorist organizations, since they allow them to broadcast their message on a global scale, earning a force that would never have alone. But this is not a one-sided relation. No. The media also benefit with the coverage of terrorist attacks, since thereby they increase their sales and profits as well as the audiences. The blood, the tragedy, the human despair continue to sell newspapers; they make the opening of the newscasts. Terrorism is a spetacle. Thus, it appears to be an important relationship between media and terrorism. Being the terrorism one of the greatest threats to contemporary society, it is necessary to think about the relation between them and if it may be cansidered an exasperation of the threat. This article focuses the role of the mass media on terrorism and it emphasizes the cost-benefit relation that it is established between them. We will analyze how terrorists use the media in order to achieve their objectives and how the media can be used as a vehicle for terrorist ideology's spread. On the other hand, we will explore the benefits that media have with terrorism.