Mass-Mediated Terrorism

Mainstream and Digital Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Third Edition

Brigitte Nacos

With all new and expanded chapters, the third edition provides an in-depth look at how terrorists exploit mass media to get attention, spread fear and anxiety among the targets of this sort of violence, and threaten further attacks. The traditional news media’s appetite for shocking, sensational, and tragic stories has always resulted in over-coverage of terrorist events and threats. But today, social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, allow terrorists to communicate directly with huge audiences around the globe spreading their propaganda, radicalizing and recruiting followers, and providing know-how to “lone wolves.” On the other hand, governments in democracies, too, utilize mass media to enlist public support for counterterrorist measures. This volume will help readers to understand the centrality of media considerations in both terrorism and counterterrorism.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4422-4760-4 • Hardback • February 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

978-1-4422-4761-1 • Paperback • February 2016 • $52.00 • (£40.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Terrorism, Political Science / Security (National & International), Political Science / Propaganda, Social Science / Media Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / International Communication

Mass-Mediated Terrorism

Mainstream and Digital Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Third Edition

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

With all new and expanded chapters, the third edition provides an in-depth look at how terrorists exploit mass media to get attention, spread fear and anxiety among the targets of this sort of violence, and threaten further attacks. The traditional news media’s appetite for shocking, sensational, and tragic stories has always resulted in over-coverage of terrorist events and threats. But today, social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, allow terrorists to communicate directly with huge audiences around the globe spreading their propaganda, radicalizing and recruiting followers, and providing know-how to “lone wolves.” On the other hand, governments in democracies, too, utilize mass media to enlist public support for counterterrorist measures. This volume will help readers to understand the centrality of media considerations in both terrorism and counterterrorism.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4422-4760-4 • Hardback • February 2016 • $129.00 • (£99.00)

978-1-4422-4761-1 • Paperback • February 2016 • $52.00 • (£40.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Terrorism, Political Science / Security (National & International), Political Science / Propaganda, Social Science / Media Studies, Language Arts & Disciplines / International Communication

Author

Brigitte L. Nacos is an adjunct professor in political science at Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction to the First Edition
Introduction to the Second Edition
Introduction to the Third Edition
Chapter 1: Media and Terrorism in the 21^st Century
Chapter 2: The Communication Calculus of Terrorism
Chapter 3:Terrorists Always Found Alternative Media: Same Objectives, Different Technologies
Chapter 4:Computer-Assisted Political Violence or E-Terrorism
Chapter 5:Traditional Media, Terrorism News, and the Virus of Contagion
Chapter 6:Attack on America as Breaking News—a Case Study
Chapter 7:Terrorism and Mass-Mediated Gender Stereotypes
Chapter 8:Political Violence as Public Entertainment
Chapter 9: Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Freedom of Expression
Chapter 10:Indexing, Propaganda Model, and Counterterrorism News: How the News Media Cover Counterterrorism
Chapter 11: Responding to Terrorist Crises: Dealing with the Mass Media
Chapter 12: Conclusion
Bibliography

Reviews

Nacos’s needful third edition is the best there is. No other book is as accessible, as comprehensive, as insightful, as timely, or as useful in parsing bitter election-year debates about how to define, discuss, and respond to terrorist violence at home and abroad. Every American should read it. Now.
— David A. Green, associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of When Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political Culture

Features

• New edition of a successful text that explains the centrality of media and communication in the terrorist scheme and in the ways governments respond to terrorist strikes and threats.
• First edition was Highly Recommended by Choice.
• Complete update and rewriting of the previous edition.