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Terrorism and the Media

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The scholar Brian Jenkins declared in 1974 that "terrorism is theatre," and terrorists themselves have long seen it much the same way. Narodnaya Volya, the late-19th-century Russian anarchist group, conceived of its violent activities as "propaganda by deed." Ever since, terrorists have tailored their attacks to maximize publicity and get their messages out through all available channels. Experts say the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, for example, were designed to provide billions of television viewers with pictures symbolizing U.S. vulnerability, and they prompted extensive reporting on al-Qaeda and its Islamist agenda.

However, some experts say that the nature of terrorism may now be changing. Jenkins has famously said that terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead. But the emergence of religious terror groups with apocalyptic outlooks and the availability of weapons of mass destruction may indicate that inflicting mass casualties has supplanted publicity as the primary goal of some terrorist campaigns.

Terrorists want governments and the public to pay attention, and the media provide the conduit. Experts say terrorism is calculated violence, usually against symbolic targets, designed to deliver a political or religious message. Beyond that, terrorists' goals might also include winning popular support, provoking the attacked country to act rashly, attracting recruits, polarizing public opinion, demonstrating their ability to cause pain, or undermining governments.

Do terrorists try to attract media attention? Yes, and terrorists say they design their operations accordingly. Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, said he chose the Murrah Federal Building as a target because it had "plenty of open space around it, to allow for the best possible news photos and television footage." The Italian leftist Red Brigades liked to stage attacks on Saturdays to make it into the Sunday newspapers, which had a higher circulation. And the Palestinian group Black September took Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics because television sets worldwide were already tuned in to the games and the concentrated foreign press would amplify the story Terrorist groups study the media carefully, and some groups have their own media operations; the Colombian leftists of the FARC, for example, put out their own radio broadcasts, and many groups have promotional Web sites.. The old saying that any publicity is good publicity has often been applied to terrorism; even when an assassin misses or a bomb doesn't go off, an attack can raise awareness about the terrorists' cause. Terrorism, which garners a disproportionately large share of news coverage, can also move neglected issues to the top of the political agenda—as a series of attacks in the 1970s and 1980s did for the cause of Palestinian nationalism. Terrorism can also provoke policy debates and public discussion by highlighting both the terrorists' radical views and the visceral anger of terrorism's victims and their families.

But other experts doubt that media coverage really helps terrorists. Attacks can spin out of control or have unintended consequences; too much slaughter can alienate potential supporters and sympathizers; terrorist activities have different meanings for different audiences; and even when terrorists' attack plans work, they cannot necessarily control how their actions are covered or perceived. Finally, being saddled with the pejorative label "terrorist" focuses attention on a group's methods, not its message, and can delegitimize its cause in the public eye.

Many terrorism scholars have identified a symbiotic relationship between terrorists, who want attention, and news organizations, which want dramatic stories to boost readership or ratings. Most news organizations, while aware that terrorist groups are manipulating them, want to report on major events without becoming a platform for terrorists. Critics say live television news is particularly susceptible to becoming an unwitting partner in the theater of terrorism.

Experts say sustained coverage of a hijacking sometimes protects hostages' lives by building international sympathy for their plight. But it can also prolong a hostage situation since terrorists may hold out until the publicity—and therefore the attention—fades. When an unfolding attack is covered on television, a lull in real-time developments can make it seem like a government isn't responding to an attack and lead to pressure on officials to resolve the situation, perhaps prematurely, with dangerous consequences. Media coverage can also disrupt or prevent counterterrorist operations. It can tell hijackers how their attack is proceeding and even tip them off to a rescue attempt. But it can also lead to arrests. The decision by major U.S. newspapers to publish the antimodern political manifesto of the Unabomber, a lone serial mail bomber who eluded FBI investigators for 17 years, brought about his identification and capture.

 

Task 1

Explain the following words and expressions from the text and give their Russian equivalents.

1. Publicity 2. Propaganda by deed 3. Mass destruction 4. Calculated violence 5. Symbolic target 6. Television footage 7. News coverage 8. To lughlight 9. Audience 10. Unintended consequences 11. Live TV news 12. Hostage 13. Real-time development 14. Officials 15. Identification 16. Investigator 17. Terrorist campaign 18. To povarize public opinion

Task 2

Match the synonyms from the two columns.

1. Intensely 2. To conceive 3. To get out 4. To prompt 5. Nature 6. Conduit 7. To inflict 8. To go off 9. Dramatic 10. Outcome 11. To resolve 12. To proceed a. To cause b. Channel c. To explode d. To think of e. Exciting f. Strongly g. Result h. To decide i. Character j. To advance k. To force on l. To produce

Task 3

Match the linking words from Column A with their Russian equivalents from Column B. Use them in sentences.

A 1. Ever since 2. Through 3. Accordingly 4. Both… and… 5. Particularly 6. Since 7. Until 8. Therefore 9. Perhaps В a. Как… так и… b. Поэтому, следовательно c. Так как, поскольку d. Соответственно e. С тех пор f. до тех пор) пока (не) g. Через, посредством h. Особенно, очень i. Может быть  

Task 4

Translate the following words paying attention to the suffixes.

activity, active, maximize, available, famous, emergence, ability, rashly, doubtless, attraction, ацness, necessarily, finally, identify, relationship, prevention, delegitinuze, prolongation, doubtful, limitless, carefully, primarily, winner.

 

Task 5

Match the words and their definitions

 

1. Scholar 2. Violent 3. Agenda 4. Outlook 5. To undermine 6. Assassin 7. Slaughter 8. To cover 9. To disrupt 10. To elude   a. Removing support b. To bring into disorder c. A person who murder for political reasons d. A list of subjects to be considered e. To escape f. To report the details g. One`s general print of view h. Using great damaging force i. Killing many people eruclly  

 

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Task 6

Answer the questions and give your own opinion.

1. Are terrorists interested in publicity?

2. How did Narodnaya Volya consider their violent activities?

3. Is modern terrorism tailored to the media?

4. Does media attention help terrorists? Give some examples to prove your point of view?

5. Why do the media cover terrorists’ attacks?

6. Can media coverage shape the out came of a terrorist incident?

 

Task 7

Translate the following text into English

 




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