Media, Fear and Terrorism: How terrorists Use the Media - Thesis Proposal Example

Running head: MEDIA, FEAR AND TERRORISM; HOW TERRORISTS USE THE MEDIA? Media, Fear and Terrorism; How terrorists use the Media? [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Media, Fear and Terrorism; How terrorists use the Media? Introduction This paper will be based on how Qaida uses the internet to spread or send their ideology to the world, and how they induce fear in the public using this technology. After the tragic September 11 incident a lot of key questions regarding the part that internet and media channels have played in the surfacing of the “new terrorism.” A lot researchers have studied the change in terrorism in modern society, however relatively little attention has been given to the fact that terrorists now use internet. How are “terrorist” organizations using new media technologies? Is and important question. Before further moving on it is important to understand the concept of terrorism. Terrorism: Defining the Concept Terrorism is an extremely sensitive phrase. Many use it in the wrong sense, like these days it may even be used for an abusive husband Section 2331 of Chapter 113b of the Federal Criminal Code defines terrorism as: " Activities that involve violent or life-threatening acts; that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; and appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and … (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States … [or] … (D) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States …"(Durmaz 2007 p208 ) . A number of overarching concepts are extremely relevant while discussing terrorism. The first important concept is regarding warfare. Terrorist frequently give an excuse that they at war, they basically try to justify their acts of terrorism. The second concept is the rules of engagement of combat. If they are at war they should follow the guidelines given by the Geneva Convention. They have their won set of rules which they follow the jihad or holy war. Both go against the guidelines set by the Geneva Convention. Another concept is innocent civilians. During warfare a lot of innocent people become the target. The distancing and deceptive military term is "collateral damage." However, the phrase terrorism means the deliberate targeting of civilians, like the 9/11 attack. The third concept is criminal acts apart from murder or torture. These could include kidnapping or drug dealing. A lot of terrorist groups financially strong , thus they turn to drug dealing, smuggling, robbery, kidnapping for ransom, ect for funding . Terrorist Use of the Internet Terrorist have easy access to the internet as it is easier to globally spread uncensored information. This information is usually about their ideology and how they are being treated badly due to it. Once, the groups attain important documents or information they use the internet as a medium for communication, and thus they spread information world wide Networking and Information Sharing Terrorists have a strong believe that information should always be shared. They tend to share all kind of information, how to assemble explosive, attain fake passports, carry out identity theft, or providing both logistical and tactical information. Whilst usually depending on password-guarded forums, chat rooms and bulletin boards. Basically, their main aim of AL- Qaeda is to spread their ideology through this world wide technology. The fact that they want the world to know what their religion is based on, behind this excuse they even pass on information regarding the above. This also causes a lot of fear and chaos in Hearts of the public Information about their ideology is mostly copies on to a lot of other sites. This way an extensive path of sharing information may be developed. Logistics and Tactical/Strategic Planning For terrorists the internet is like any mean of communication. They use it to even discuses their plans Logistics. Al-Qaeda planed the entire 9/11 attack by email (Jahangiri 2009). Forest (2006) found an Al Qaeda website encouraging supporters to attack the Alaska pipeline. It also provided a great deal of information (e.g., maps) about the pipelines. Terrorist and Anti-Terrorist Websites Most terrorist groups either do not have websites; have sporadic websites or sites that continually change URLs; appear in languages -- or alphabets -- foreign to most of us; or are very difficult to locate. As always, one starts with Google searches. The al-Qaeda usually utilize websites for a lot of different reasons and have specific categories of information: history regarding their organization, biographies, articles, and speeches, ideological and political objectives. Information on such sites is usually prejudiced. A number of sites, mostly some of the Iraqi sites, adore every kind of violence, whilst others only show violence which is inflicted to them by their enemies, keeping their end hidden. These sites tend to spread fear and panic in the public. News media There is a symbiotic relationship between the news media and terrorists, even if some of their goals are at odds with one another (Clarke 2004). Obviously, terrorists design their attacks to attempt to get maximum media publicity As Conway (2006) argues: Every machine connected to the Internet is potentially a printing press, a broadcasting station, or a place of assembly. And in the twenty-first century, terrorists are availing of the opportunity to connect. Problem statement The paper shall be based on the following questions: Does the Al-Qaeda spread it’s ideology through internet and other sources of electronic media? Does the Al- Qaeda spread fear through internet and other sources of electronic media? Hypothesis H1: The Al Qaeda uses the internet and other sources of electronic media to spread their ideology , H2: The Al Qaeda uses the internet and other sources of electronic media to fuel fear in the public. Literature Review The Internet is a perfect source for Al-Qaeda’s propaganda: in the past they would indulge in violent acts. They would just sit back and hope that their acts would get enough attention, so that they could give a justification according to their ideology. With the dawn of the Internet, nevertheless, the same terrorists can spared their information censored by the media to the public. This causes a lot of fear and panic; apart from this they can spread their ideology as well. It provides terrorists with much greater direct control over their message compared to the traditional television and print media. Al Qaeda’s Internet sites provide a lot of detailed background information regarding their ideology, this at times when makes the public take action, and often they conceal their reliance upon the use of violence to achieve political goals (Tsfati and Weimann, 2002). The Internet helped the Al-Qaeda to successfully spread a lot of rumours regarding 9/11. Rumours instantly tend to cause a climate of fear, the public start looking for the truth behind them and try to gain control over the prevailing circumstances (Cassel, 2002; Newitz, 2001). The most famous ones were: that Nostradamus had foretold a bout 9/11, that the face of Satan could be seen amid the blast of the twin towers, that CNN utilized an old recording to blame Palestinians, as it showed them rejoicing after the 9/11 incident, and quite a lot of Jews took an off the same day of the attack as they were warned beforehand. (O’Leary, 2001; Emery, 2006). These sites were quickly developed, and used for spreading the rumours. Al- Qaeda’s main interest behind this could be to cause fear and anxiety spreading such intense rumours. Although new media technologies has it’s importance, traditional television and print media still play an important role in fuelling public fear and anxiety. By Getting blanket news coverage terrorist tend to reach the masses, cause the public to ponder over reasons regarding their political violence, and allow leaders to get importance (Nacos, 2000). It is quite possible that in the future al-Qaeda will carry on exploiting new technological developments where it helps them obtain their goals and provides with uncensored means of communication. It is important to understand how new media technologies are used by the terrorist, and how it spread fear amongst the public. The mass media, and fictional programs as much as the news programs, provide us - and the terrorists - with identification objects. The attraction of the written word and later the picture movie has always been that it offers identification objects. Identification stands at the centre of great works of literature. Explicit presentation of warfare in real time has been successful in effecting the viewer’s emotions and thoughts, reducing the distance between viewers and events, and thus the element of personal engagement is increased (Schleifer, 2006). Thus a lot of people become victims-by-proxy, due to the fact that they suffer from psychological effects. This is because of personal association and identification regarding the events shown in media. Last, terrorism is largely a matter of propaganda and media interest, which is shaped by and shapes its audiences. The terrorist's deeds and words change in relation to the uncommitted audience (society in the country of operations); the sympathetic audience (those with a historical or ideological sympathy for the cause but not for the acts per se); and the active audience (those belonging to the group including prisoners and support cadre). These differences in perception often cloud responses because the focus is on the groups or the causes and not the actual violent acts or the origins of terror. For a normal Afghan, the major barrier to taking stand like this is the insurgents’ efficient utilization of propaganda—and particularly the use of violent behaviour as a type of propaganda. They undoubtedly realize the importance of the information environment and know the role of propaganda in attaining their goals. In a lot of ways, media gives weightage to terrorists and their actions (Brouns 2009)—and they utilize it to fulfil their aims. The Taliban usually convey knowledge regarding their religious, tribal, and ethnic ties i.e. their ideology. They try to make the viewers understand the Afghan culture as well as their needs and vulnerabilities. They are hardly ever bound by the desire to find out the truth this makes them react rather quickly to events—particularly when they themselves design those events in order to support them. Furthermore, the media corporations’ craving for profits gives special treatment to this type of shocking reporting that gives publicity to rebellious propaganda. Thus, by continuously publicity the fact that they are evil, the media gives them extra attention. The ubiquity and worldwide connectivity of the internet has turned into an unparalleled medium for knowledge and motivation, as well as an unrivalled medium for terrorist and activist propaganda and enrolment. The increase in internet propaganda has attracted a lot of attention after the rise in public fame of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric, as well as his suspected role in stirring English- speaking foreigners to take part in violence and militancy. Awlaki and his suspected relations to a number of current investigations have once more highlighted the influence of the internet to spread information world wide. For example, YouTube has a channel of al-Malahim, which is considered as the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This channel broadcasts all their video messages, with English subtitles, as well as some messages from their important leaders giving explanations for their terrorist attacks. In this way the message globally reaches the viewers. Even those who don’t understand Arabic can watch and understand it. Members of the media played a primary role in creating a climate of fear and anxiety of insurgent terrorism among the general public (Wittebols, 1991, p. 340). Proposed Methodology The methodology used in the dissertation will be a secondary research method. The entire analysis will consist of important literature regarding the topic in question. Journal article and books will be used to select the most appropriate literature for the analysis. The proposed list of references is given below. These will be used throughout the paper. Proposed References Brouns Thomas ( 2009)Exploiting insurgent violence in Afghanistan. Military Review U.S. Army CGSC Vol 89 Iss 4 p10(11) Retrieved On 25 February 2011 from usacac.army.mil/CAC2/.../Archives/.../MilitaryReview_20090831_art005.pdf Cassel D, 2002, "US counter-terrorism: leap before you look?" World View Commentary number 136, Center for International Human Rig Clarke David ( 2004 ), : Technology and Terrorism , Transaction Pub Conway, M. (2006). Terrorism and the Internet: New media—new threat? Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 283-298.  Durmaz Huseyin (2007), Understanding and responding to terrorism. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Turkish Institute for Police Studies p208 Emery, D. (2006). Rumor Watch: 9/11 Terrorist Attack on U.S. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa091101a.htm Forest, J. (2006). The Democratic Disadvantage in the Strategic Communications Battlespace. Democracy & Security, 2(1), 73-101. Jahangiri Ali (2009) ; Cyberspace, Cyber Terrorism and Information Warfare: A Perfect Recipe for Confusion . Retrieved on 25 February 2011 from www.alijahangiri.org/.../Cyberspace-Cyberterrorism-and-Information-Warfare-A-Perfect-Recipe-for-Confusion.htm Nacos, Brigitte L (2000). Mass-Mediated Terrorism: The Centrality of the Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Second Edition. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Newitz, A. (2001), "Techsploitation: How 9-11 Will Change Cyberspace," in retrieved on 25 February 2011 from . O’Leary, Stephen (2002). Rumors of Grace and Terror. Los Angeles, CA: The Online Journalism Review. Retrieved 25 February 2011, from the Online Journalism Review Web site: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/ethics/1017782038.p Schleifer, Ron (2006). Psychological Warfare in the Intifada: Israeli and Palestinian Media Politics and Military Strategies. Portland, Ore.: Sussex Academic, Tsfati, Y., & Weimann, G. (2002)0Terror on the Internet. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 25(5), 317-332. Wittebols, J.H., 1991. Politics and coverage of terrorism: from media images to public consciousness. Communication Theory I, pp. 253–266. Read More