The media and terrorism: A reassessment

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 51-64

  Wilkinson, Paul ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 5844309071     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546559708427402     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. For a useful discussion of the conceptual literature see Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories and Literature (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing 1988) pp.1-32.
2. Trends in international terrorism around the world are reviewed in the RAND and RAND-St Andrews chronologies published by RAND Corporation, Santa Monica and, since 1995, in the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence (TPV) (7/4,8/3). See also the US State Department annual publication.
3. This sect is the subject of a classic study; Bernard Lewis, The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1967).
4. Russian and Balkan terrorist movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are described in Walter Laqueur, Terrorism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1977).
5. The relationship between the mass media and coverage of terrorism is analysed in Alex P. Schmid and Janny de Graaf, Violence as Communication: Insurgent Terrorism and the Western News Media (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage 1982), Richard Clutterbuck, The Media and Political Violence (London: Macmillan 1981) and Abraham Miller (ed.), Terror, the Media and the Law (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Transaction 1982).
6. The relationship between the mass media and coverage of terrorism is analysed in Alex P. Schmid and Janny de Graaf, Violence as Communication: Insurgent Terrorism and the Western News Media (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage 1982), Richard Clutterbuck, The Media and Political Violence (London: Macmillan 1981) and Abraham Miller (ed.), Terror, the Media and the Law (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Transaction 1982).
7. The relationship between the mass media and coverage of terrorism is analysed in Alex P. Schmid and Janny de Graaf, Violence as Communication: Insurgent Terrorism and the Western News Media (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage 1982), Richard Clutterbuck, The Media and Political Violence (London: Macmillan 1981) and Abraham Miller (ed.), Terror, the Media and the Law (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Transaction 1982).
8. On the Munich Olympics massacre see Schmid and de Graaf, Violence as Communication (note 5) pp.30ff
9. Michel Wieviorka, The Making of Terrorism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1988) p.43.
10. Ibid., p.43.
11. lbid., p.44.
12. Ibid., p.44.
13. Ibid., pp.44-5.
14. This is a point made very powerfully in Alex P. Schmid, 'Terrorism and the Media: The Ethics of Publicity', TPV 1/4 (Oct. 1989) pp.539-65.
15. On the terrorists' use of propaganda war see Maurice Tugwell, 'Politics and Propaganda of the Provisional IRA', in Paul Wilkinson (ed.), British Perspectives on Terrorism (London: George Allen and Unwin 1981) pp.13-40, and Maurice Tugwell, 'Revolutionary Propaganda and Possible Counter-Measures', unpublished Ph.D. thesis, King's College, University of London, 1978.
16. On the terrorists' use of propaganda war see Maurice Tugwell, 'Politics and Propaganda of the Provisional IRA', in Paul Wilkinson (ed.), British Perspectives on Terrorism (London: George Allen and Unwin 1981) pp.13-40, and Maurice Tugwell, 'Revolutionary Propaganda and Possible Counter-Measures', unpublished Ph.D. thesis, King's College, University of London, 1978.
17. In this connection the author has observed in a recent article in Martin Warner and Roger Crisp (eds), Terrorism Protest and Power (London: Elgar 1990) p.52: 'Terrorists are fond of using romantic euphemisms; they claim to be revolutionary heroes yet the commit cowardly acts, and lack the heroic qualities of humanity and magnanimity. They profess to be revolutionary soldiers yet they attack only by stealth, murder and maim the innocent, and disdain all conventions of war. They claim to bring liberation when in reality they generally seek power for themselves.'
18. On terrorists' manufacture of media events see the useful discussion in Schmid and de Graaf, Violence as Communication (note 5) pp.9-56.
19. See Schmid, 'Terrorism and the Media' (note 12) pp.539-65.
20. Ibid., p.549.
21. Ibid., p.555.
22. Hamid Mowlana, 'The Role of the Media in the US-Iranian Conflict', in Andrew Arno and Wimal Dissanake (eds), The News Media in National International Conflict (Boulder, CO: Westview 1984).
23. On this point, see the particularly useful discussion in Clutterbuck, The Media and Political Violence (note 5).
24. Statement by Dr O'Brien reported in The Times, 20 Oct. 1976.
25. Evidence for this assessment can be found in Tim Gallimore's valuable paper, 'Media Compliance with Voluntary Press Guidelines For Covering Terrorism', presented at the Terrorism and the News Media Research Project conference, 'Communication in Terrorist Events: Functions, Themes and Consequences', 1988. For a thoughtful discussion of some of the problems involved, see Ronald D. Crelinsten, 'Terrosim and the Media: Problems, Solutions and Counterproblems', in David Charters (ed.), Democratic Responses to International Terrorism (New York: Transnational Publisher 1991) pp.267-308.
26. Evidence for this assessment can be found in Tim Gallimore's valuable paper, 'Media Compliance with Voluntary Press Guidelines For Covering Terrorism', presented at the Terrorism and the News Media Research Project conference, 'Communication in Terrorist Events: Functions, Themes and Consequences', 1988. For a thoughtful discussion of some of the problems involved, see Ronald D. Crelinsten, 'Terrosim and the Media: Problems, Solutions and Counterproblems', in David Charters (ed.), Democratic Responses to International Terrorism (New York: Transnational Publisher 1991) pp.267-308.
27. Baroness Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, made a powerful point in an interview published in The Times, 30 March 1988: 'The news media should consider whether those who, like terrorists, use freedom to destroy freedom, should have so much publicity for their work.'