Com 310: Foundations and Ethics

Terrorism and the Media 

Last Updated: Sunday, April 28, 2002

Copyright, 2002, Dr. Janet McMullen

Partial Chronology:

 

Date Event
9/5/72 Munich Olympic Massacre. 11 Israeli athletes and 5 Palestinians dead in a botched rescue attempt.
4/18/83: U.S. Embassy in Beirut blown up by suicide bomber.  Sixty-three people killed. (17 U.S. citizens)
10/9/83  16 Korean officials killed by terrorist bomb in Rangoon, Burma
10/23/83 241 U.S. service people killed when a suicide bomber destroys Marine Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon.  Almost at the same time
9/24/84 U.S. Embassy in East Beirut is attacked. Suicide bomber is killed by a British security guard before he can drive into the embassy garage. The car explodes outside the building; 23 are killed, 71 injured.
10/12/84 IRA terrorists explode a bomb in the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England while the British Conservative Party was holding its convention.
1984-1985 Six Americans and two others were taken hostage in Beirut, including Terry Anderson, Terry Wait, Thomas Sutherland, Joseph Cicippio, Alan Steen, Geoffrey Vernon Nash, William Buckley and William Higgins. Terry Anderson was the bureau chief of the Associated Press in West Beirut.   Nash was released in 1985. All others  were freed in 1991, except Buckley and Higgins who died in captivity.
6/14/85 Shiite Moslems hijack TWA Flight 847 with more than 150 people on board.  The hijackers force the plane to fly back and forth between Athens, Beirut and Algiers.  Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem (pronounced 'steethem") was beaten and killed.  The hijackers demanded release of 700 Shiite Moslems imprisoned or detained in Israel.  After 17 days, the hostages were released.
10/85 The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.  One American, Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly man who was confined to a wheel chair was was killed and thrown overboard.
12/87 Iran-sponsored terrorist downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerby, Scotland. 200 plus lives lost.
7/88 Video tape of apparent hanging of kidnap victim and hostage Lt. Col. William Higgins released to American media and aired on U.S. network news programs. Death threats are made against fellow hostages Joseph Cicippio (held for two years) and a TV drama followed which included pleas from Mrs. Cicippio and daily interviews with families, all of which obscured the security issues involved.
12/21/88 Bomb Destroys Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Soctland. 259 people are killed.
2/26/93 World Trade Center bombed.  Six killed, more than 1000 injured.
3/19/95 Tokyo Sarin attack in subway.  Five dead, 565 hospitalized.
4/14/95 Oklahoma City Bombing  169 killed. Hundreds injured.
9/19/95 Unabomber Manifesto Published
June, 1996 Khobar Towers complex in the  U.S. Military Base in Dhahran, Saudi  Arabia.  19 Servicemen killed; 500 injured Americans and Saudis killed.
June, 1996 Olympic Park Bombing.
8/7/98 U.S. Embassy bombed in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Esselaam, Tanzania
11/10/00 USS Cole bombed in the harbor at Aden, Yemen. 17 Sailors killed, 39 injured.
9/11/01 World Trade Center destroyed by two terrorist-controlled airliners; more than 3000 killed and hundreds injured.

Additional resources concerning terrorism in the last two decades:

For a more complete list of terrorist attacks against American targets see, Chris Helman, "Terrorism Project: Chronology of Major Terrorist Attacks Against U.S. Targets." Center for Defense Information. at http://www.cdi.org/terroism/chornology.html 

Kennedy, Bruce. "Deadly Escalation: Terrorism Not Only Grew in the 1980s but Evolved into a New Threat." CNN Interactive. Available at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/century/episodes/09/currents/ 

 

According to John Weisman, "There has always been a fundamental, even symbiotic, relationship between terrorism and television.  Terrorist attacks, hijackings, assassinations, and bombing are new.  The more outrageous or inhuman the act, the more coverage it receives--which is what the terrorists want."

George Will, columnist and commentator for ABC in the 1980s called television an "electronic megaphone" for terrorists.

Ted Koppel put it this way, "...the media, particularly television, and terrorists need one another, that they have what I call a fundamentally symbiotic relationship.  Without television, terroism becomes rather like the philosopher's hypothetical tree falling in a forest: no one hears it and therefore it has no reason for being.  And television without terrorism, while not deprived of all interesting things in the world, is nonetheless deprived of one of the most interesting."  

Terrorism changed in the '80s.  Prior to that, terrorist activity was somewhat limited and its goals were to free a political prisoner or to draw attention to a rebel group.  In the 80s, embassies were attacked and the goals were to change international policy.

As a result of the attacks of the early 80s, all three networks established policies for covering terrorist attacks and hostage situations.  ABC's policy stated that the network would not provide live coverage of terrorist activities "except in the most compelling circumstances." During that time, broadcasters became concerned about the role of media in these events.  There was concern that terrorists were treated more like politicians than criminals and that statements made by organizations like the PLO put someone he knew to be a murder on the air, John Chancellor (then Anchor for NBC News) commented that "Unless journalism deals with the case of terrorism, deals with why poeple are willing to blow themselves up, then it seems to me that the public isn't ever going to know the story of what's happening." Other experts believe that by covering terrorism so extensively, media make it more important than it really is.

All of those comments were made in 1984, and January or February of 1986.  In June of that same year, the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 made all of that discussion look pretty "empty," and media covered the story minute by minute and second by second, devoting half or more of entire nightly newscasts to the story and interrupting programming for more than two weeks.  All three networks and CNN altered their formats and style of delivery, focusing on this event.  On day 6 of the event,  the on-the-tarmac interview with Captain John Testdrake (that image of the captain of the aircraft with a gun to his head was on the cover of Time and Newsweek), was  illustrative of the media hype and lack of judgment. 

Subsequent interviews with hostages provided by the kidnapers further illustrated the coverage of the story.  What could any of these people say of truth or value while they were under the control of their captors?  Consequently, if there was no assumption of truth in their statements, of what news value was the interview? (..Other than to let the families know that their loved ones are still alive and let the kidnappers further exploit their captives for their own purposes)   In the process, media personnel were unruly and boisterous, producing a "circus" atmosphere.

Another criticism was that even calm, even-tempered coverage can tend to make terrorists look sympathetic or even statesmen-like.  Robert Kupperman and Jeff Kamen wrote that Nabi Berri, who worked to obtain the freedom of the Flight 847 hostages, was made to look credible and moderate even though he was the leader of the group that took control of the hostages!  Terrorists know how to manipulate media to get the kind of coverage they want.

Several Lessons were Learned:

After this, the RTNDA and others established much firmer guidelines for hostage coverage.

While terrorist activities continued, the media issue was fairly quiet until 1995 when the Unabomber promised to stop the bombings if the New York Times and / or The Washington Post would publish his manifesto against industrialism.  After lengthy deliberation, they did so, saying their decision was not the result of a journalistic decision but a "public safety" decision.  The manifesto was published in the Times, but both papers shared the cost, estimated to be between $30,000 and $40,000.  The Justice Department urged publication. Criticism came from journalists and others who feared publication would set a precedent in which terrorists could in effect hold media hostage as well.  As a result of the publication, family members of the Unabomber recognized his writing content and style, and he was later apprehended.  The 17-year series of package bombings ended.

The bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City was the first serious terrorist attack in this country. Obviously, the perpetrators wanted the publicity they received.

The Oklahoma City bombing brought back into focus the coverage of terrorist attacks.  There was an early assumption by media that the bombers were from the Middle East.  That speculation  (labeled as such) was wrong.  In the rush to explain and to provide answers, some reporters jumped to conclusions.  Obviously the story interrupted normal programming and was the focus of news coverage for the days and weeks to follow.  IT has been reported that Timothy McVeigh confessed to the bombing and wanted a "body count."  He has shown no remorse for the event.   What would have been the point, if media had not covered the event? Is there any way the event could have been covered differently?

The Oklahoma City bombing was obviously a major story.  But note how differently coverage was given to a hostage situation in Lima, Peru, in which Japanese personnel were taken hostage at their Embassy. After the first few days, the story disappeared from media until the hostages were freed by force and the terrorists killed.  

As we continue in the War on Terrorism in the aftermath of the World Trade Center destruction of September 11, 2001, it is even more imperative that we in the media understand what is at stake and what the relationships are.

What are some of the issues at stake here?

Any or all of these topics could be the subject of essays on the final.  Give them some serious thought.

Required Reading: Perl, Raphael. "Terrorism, The Media, and the Government: Perspectives, Trends and  Options for Policymakers." U.S. Information Office. 10/27/97 at http://www.usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/crs.htm

This paper from the Congressional Research Office, provides information on what the goals are in a terrorist situation: what terrorists, media and governments want in those situations.  While I will summarize here, be sure you read the article for complete understanding:

Terrorists want the following from Media:

Governments want the following from Media:

What the Media want:

See the Radio Television News Director's Association site for their guidelines on coverage of terrorism at http://www.rtnda.org/ ; the specialized site updated for 2002 is in their resources section at http://www.rtnda.org/resources/terrorism.html Check out the articles there and take a look at the many links available.  There is a treasure of resources and information at that site.

See also The Close Up Foundation site on Domestic Terrorism for some good information at http://www.closeup.org/terror.htm 

Another result of the events of 9/11 has been a close examination of how the media should cover the war and to what degree they should have access to information.  I have included several sources for you to check out...Consider these required reading...

Media and Terrorism--Post-9/11 Resources:

Another excellent resource on the event of September 11, 2001 and how the media covered it can be found at the Poynter site, "Covering the Attacks" at http://www.poynter.org/Terrorism/index.htm   While I am not assigning specific articles from there, this is an excellent resource on the topic, and I encourage you to browse the site when you have a chance to do so.

Additional Sources: