Tales of Terror: Television News and the Construction of the Terrorist Threat (Media and Society Series)

Conventional research suggests that news coverage of terrorism is a tool of the terrorist to gain public support and recognition. Based on an analysis of more than 200 evening newscasts aired during the first six years of the Reagan administration, Tales of Terror offers a detailed account of the ways in which news media escalate public panic about terrorism and encourage support for specific U.S. policy objectives, rather than build sympathy for terrorists. Bethami Dobkin explores similarities between news media and government portrayals of terrorism, combining textual criticism with an interpretation of official U.S. policy statements, and argues that government depictions and news presentations of terrorism reproduce an ideology that supports military strength and intervention. Dobkin examines several specific features of news coverage: the dramatic format of television news and the political interests that this format serves; the narrative construction of enemies by television journalists and public officials and the political significance of the terrorist label; the use and significance of testimony, particularly that of people affected by crisis; the mutual exploitation of political crisis by both television news producers and public officials; the function of journalism in shaping the conduct of public diplomacy and public perceptions of foreign conflict; and the creation of consensus about the need for military responses to political violence. This revealing study will be of particular interest to scholars of communications and political science. Preface......Page 10 1 Introduction: Television, Terrorism, and Public Reality......Page 12 2 The Television Terrorist......Page 22 The Antecedents to Modern Terrorism......Page 23 Terrorism in the 1980s......Page 25 Terrorism and Media Interdependence: Contagion Theory......Page 29 Television Coverage and Public Perception......Page 32 Conclusion......Page 36 3 The Interpretation of Television News......Page 38 Semiotic Approaches to News......Page 40 The Structure of News Stories......Page 41 News and the Creation of Crisis......Page 43 The Media Role in Defining Terrorism......Page 44 Audience Interpretations of Dramatic Narratives......Page 47 Conclusion......Page 48 4 What’s in a Name? “Terrorism” as Ideograph......Page 50 Terrorism......Page 51 The American Ideograph......Page 61 Conclusion......Page 64 5 Paper Tigers and Video Postcards: Narrative Framing in Network News......Page 66 “Fixing” Terrorism......Page 68 Mobilized Emotions and the Video Postcard......Page 79 Building Contexts and Suggesting Responses......Page 84 Conclusion......Page 91 6 Official Discourse in the “Age of the Terrorist”......Page 94 Ideographic Resonance in Official Discourse......Page 96 Counterdefinitions of Terrorism......Page 98 Dramatic Facts......Page 100 Creating and Combating Conspiracy......Page 105 Conclusion......Page 111 7 Conclusions: Political Violence in a Video Age......Page 114 Limitations......Page 116 Implications: News and Foreign Policy......Page 118 From Crisis to Chaos: The Politics of Perpetual War......Page 122 Bibliography......Page 126 Index......Page 138 Based on an analysis of over 200 newscasts aired during the first six years of the Reagan administration, this book offers an account of the ways in which news media escalate public panic about terrorism, encouraging support for US policy rather than building sympathy for terrorists. Discusses the coverage of terrorists and terrorism on television news, and how the images and stories presented by the media influence public perception, foreign policy, and political debate