Terrorism and Communication Technologies Essay ⋆ Communication Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Communication and communication technologies are intrinsic to the idea of terrorism as formulated and understood from the nineteenth century onwards. The discourse of terrorism has come to be symbiotically linked to communication technologies as state and nonstate actors across the globe use and exploit technological advances to further their causes. However, there is no universally accepted definition of the term, mainly because it is vulnerable to vastly different interpretation by state and nonstate actors.

Groups and individuals branded by states as ‘terrorists’ use communication technologies at two levels: to orchestrate events and insure that news about them is communicated through the news media for maximum effect on governments and the public; and to coordinate, plan, and execute acts of political violence. The success of a terrorist operation depends on its publicity, which stresses the importance of communication technologies in the process of communicating acts of violence. The technologies constitute the cornerstone that links the three elements of a terrorist strategy: the terrorist, the target of the terrorist (victims), and the actual target of the acts of violence (the government or the public). The idea is often to evoke reactions from the government and instill apprehension or fear in the public.

Terrorist activity is immensely newsworthy as it satisfies several news factors such as negativity, timeliness, and scale. Both state and nonstate actors use communication technologies to achieve contending propaganda objectives. Al-Qaeda using video tapes to communicate messages by Osama bin Laden through the Al Jazeera television channel (and many others) is a visible example of the ways in which terrorist groups deploy communication effectively to propagate their perspectives. Before communication technologies such as the press became key elements of everyday life, the maximum audience that could be reached was limited to the range of the human voice. Nineteenth-century European anarchists faced the problem that their pamphlets had limited distribution. The anarchists turned to the ‘propaganda of the deed,’ which meant using acts of violence to secure coverage from the national and international press as well as encourage word-of- mouth communication. Nineteenth-century Italian anarchists Malatesta and Cafiero are said to be among the first to understand and exploit the symbiotic relationship between the news media and acts of terror. Around the same time in Russia, Peter Kroptokin stated, “By actions which compel general attention, the new idea seeps into people’s minds and wins converts. One such act may, in a few days, make more propaganda than a thousand pamphlets” (in Weimann & Winn 1994, 53).

Every new communication technology invented increased the potential for effective propaganda as well as better coordination and execution of acts of violence. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 via the national press took weeks to be known widely, but when John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963, more than 70 percent of Americans had heard about it within half an hour through television. The potential for propaganda further increased exponentially with the invention of and advances in radio, film, television, and the world wide web and its many networks of communication. Particularly television not only insured that acts of violence could be covered live, but that the leading nonstate actors could also counter official versions in the cut and thrust of politics in the aftermath. Bin Laden’s selective video appearances made as much news in the western media as outside the west, insuring that western perspectives in international communications did not go unchallenged.

The new ICTs allow the diffusion of command and to control as well as targeting the information stores, processes, and communications of their rivals. The developments in communication technologies facilitate what has been called netwar, which refers to offensive acts carried out by often geographically separate, diverse, interconnected nonstate actors. Called ‘cyberterrorism,’ the latest convergence between nonstate actors and communication technologies involves hackers (cyberterrorists) who cripple websites, data systems, and networks of rival groups and/or governments. A new phenomenon are also the so-called ‘lone wolves,’ like the Unabomber or the Norwegian mass mudererer Anders Breivik. They seemingly act alone but behind them is a virtual supportive network via the Internet.

Bibliography:

Amble, J. C. (2012). Combating terrorism in the new media environment. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 35(5), 339–353.
Nacos, B. (2008). Mass-mediated terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20(4), 621–624.
Weimann, G. & Winn, C. (1994). The theatre of terror: Mass media and international terrorism. London: Longman.
Weimann, G. (2012). The role of the media in propagating terrorism. In U. Kumar & M. Mandal (eds.), Countering terrorism: Psycho-social strategies. New Delhi: Sage, pp. 182–202.
Winseck, D. (2008). Information operations “blowback”: Communication, propaganda and surveillance in the global war on terrorism. International Communication Gazette, 70(6), 419–423.