Terrorists and the Media

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Sociology - Law and Delinquency, grade: A, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (-), language: English, abstract: Terrorist acts/threats have been in existence for ages, far back as the 14th- 18th century, continuing into the modern era 19th -20th C and the 21st C. There is no universally accepted definition of terrorism; however, Hoffman (2006) defines terrorism as the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence in pursuit of political change. Terrorism according to Schmid and Jongman (2005) is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent actions employed by individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons. It has been established that there are no universally accepted definition of terrorism. Similarly, theories posit varying explanations as to why individuals commit terrorists acts. Despite ongoing debate surrounding the relationship between international media and terrorism there is evidence to support the emergence of an unintended relationship which impacts on consumers in both positive and negative manner which serves as training information for potential terrorists.