Terrorism’s political impact exceeds its physical destructiveness via media amplification.

Evidence

The physical destructiveness of terrorism is in general minimal, despite the tragedy it may cause for individual victims. There is some feeling that the significance of terrorism has been exaggerated, perhaps as a result of the media’s adoption of international terrorism as a news issue. Whether because of the intrinsic drama of terrorist violence or because of press and television hyperbole, hijackings, kidnappings, and other terrorist assaults have created large public concern (see de Boer, 1979). In part because of public reaction, terrorism has become a salient policy issue for many governments. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4163

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ‘terrorism as theater’ thesis and the amplification effects studied in the moral panic literature. — connects to: Media publicity supplies the fuel that lets small jihadist cells threaten great powers — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor: Unconditional…, 66; The produced moral panic far exceeds the actual terrorist threat — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 762
• SEED: An essay angle: ‘The exaggeration paradox’ — the more effectively media heightens fear of terrorism, the more policy overreacts, and the more the cycle feeds the terrorists’ need for attention.