Terrorists weaponize mass media for legitimation, recruitment, and cell communication

Evidence

Al Jazeera, a satellite television channel based in Qatar, broadcast the videotapes and audiotapes that bin Laden prepared in which he justified the morality of his global jihad. The televised tapes, usually dropped off anonymously at Al Jazeera’s offices, also were a recruitment device, a tool for communicating with widely dispersed terrorist cells, and a source of inspirational support for his followers. The media, in turn, come under heavy fire from targeted officials who regard granting terrorists a worldwide forum as aiding their causes. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2261

Categorization

• XREF: Links to vault claims about how marginal actors use narrative and media legitimacy to recruit; complements Cooper’s framing of how ideology gets moral packaging.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2261