Terrorism and the Media

Over the last fifteen years, incidents of anti-American terrorism have become increasingly common. Until recently, however, Americans believed that such violent acts would not occur on American soil. The 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, the epicenter of American finance, was a rude awakening. Terrorism and the Media comes to readers at a crossroad in American history, when U.S. national security experts anticipate more acts of international terrorism at home and abroad. The author contends that terrorists are very successful in exploiting the vital link between the news media, public opinion, and decision-making - a pattern which might be called a calculus of violence. Terrorism works because media coverage of such incidents influence the American public to support government responses that protect the victims of terrorism, most of all hostages, at the expense of the national interest. Moreover, presidents and other high-level officials tend to follow public opinion. Written in a lively, journalistic style, the book is based on scholarly research of such shocking incidents as the Iranian hostage crisis, the hijackings of the Achille Lauro and TWA Flight 847, and the bombings at Rome airport and on Pan Am Flight 103. In the process, the author casts a critical eye on the practices of such media giants as The CBS Evening News and The New York Times. Terrorism and the Media includes an assessment of the World Trade Center bombing and considers the similarities and differences between terrorism inside and outside a targeted country. This first book to focus exclusively on the consequences of terrorism against the United States will be essential reading for politicians, journalists, and other professionals who confront these issues directly. It will be equally informative for the general reader interested in terrorist groups and the immense problems they cause even for the most powerful nation in the world.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.