Media attention amplifies terrorists’ perceived power and reach

Evidence

There is a mutually beneficial relationship between terrorism and the media (Akbarzadeh and Smith 2005). Terrorists use the media to further their terror-inspiring goals (Douai and Lauricella 2014). Whether the terrorism takes the form of individual acts against the state or state-sponsored acts of terrorism against individuals, the perpetrators’ strategy involves the use and instrumentalization of the media (Zhao and Zhan 2019). Terrorism and violence have become a popular tactic for enacting social or political change for two reasons: first, the media has improved the perceived power of those who oppose the socio-political system; second, technology has made the media an indispensable tool that allows individuals or small groups to exert large amounts of influence over society quickly and with minimal effort (Von Sikorski et al. 2018). — Muhammad Asad Latif, The Identity of Religion Always Comes Up, 16

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to media-studies and terrorism literature on ‘propaganda of the deed’ and the symbiotic terror-media loop.
• SEED: Essay angle: the media as an unwitting co-author of the modern terrorist, from the penny press to algorithmic feeds.