Media and Terrorism

Des Freedman is Professor of Media and Communications in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is co-director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and a founding member of the Media Reform Coalition.His publications include, as editor, Capitalism’s Conscience: 200 Years of the Guardian (Pluto, 2021) and, as author, The Contradictions of Media Power (Bloomsbury, 2014), The Politics of Media Policy (Polity 2008), Misunderstanding the Internet (Routledge, 2016, co-authored with James Curran and Natalie Fenton) and The Media Manifesto (Polity, 2020, co-authored with Natalie Fenton, Justin Schlosberg and Lina Dencik). He has co-edited books on a wide range of themes including media, racism and terrorism, the politics of higher education, media reform and the future of television.Daya Kishan Thussu is Professor of International Communication and Co-Director of India Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London. A PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he is the founder and Managing Editor of Global Media and Communication, a journal published by SAGE. He has authored and edited as many as 17 books. Among his key publications are: Mapping BRICS Media (co-edited with Kaarle Nordenstreng, 2015); Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives (co-edited with Des Freedman, 2012); Internationalizing Media Studies (2009); News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment (2007); Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra-Flow (2007); International Communication: Continuity and Change, third edition (forthcoming); and Electronic Empires: Global Media and Local Resistance (1998). In 2014, he was honored with a “Distinguished Scholar Award” by the International Studies Association, a first for a non-Western scholar in the field of International Communication.

Those familiar with the topic will immediately recognise the names of well-respected scholars from the Anglo-American paradigm, including David Miller, Greg Philo and Philip Seib, among the contributors. However, the book goes further in offering a truly global perspective, with contributions by academics, researchers and journalists from geographical backgrounds ranging from the Scandinavian countries to the Middle East and Russia, and with research interests as wide-ranging as the games, film and media industries and peace journalism and cultural studies.Drawing on these diverse perspectives, the book comes well equipped with the tools needed to unravel the media-terrorism-politics triangle. To mention just the most compelling, those include semiotics (Lena Jayyusi), political theory (Christian Fuchs), inter-sector approaches (Toby Miller, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, David Herrera and Jim Baumann), controversial comparative analysis (Justin Lewis), and the first-hand experiences recounted by journalists Dahr Jamail and Danny SchechterTHE Textbook Guide Acts of political violence, including terroristic violence, come in different forms, in different parts of the world and perpetrated by different sorts of actors (states, military, insurgents, individuals) who can be motivated by different interests and identities. In today′s media environment, the relation between terrorism and media is often no less complex or politically consequential. Historically momentous and deadly as the so-called ′global war on terror′ has proved to be, it does not exhaust the complexities of media and terror or their interactions around the world. Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives intelligently and incisively broadens the discussion, situating it within contexts of global inequality and geopolitical interests, contemporary media environments and strategic and symbolic politicsSimon CottleProfessor of Media and Communications, Cardiff University [The book] pulls together so many facts and arguments that it will help anyone grappling with the last eleven years of mayhem, laughingly referred to as the ′war on terror′. Above all it is a long-overdue unscrambling of the deliberate confusions behind the modern use of the word ′terrorism′.Chris NinehamCounterfire A new publication that seeks to not only join but also move forward the established literature on media and terrorism needs to be out of the ordinary. Freeman and Thussu′s book ′Media & Terrorism: Global perspectives′ appears to be that kind of publication. Marked by smart editorial decision making, this book maps the dynamics of media and terrorism in the era defined by the US as a ′war on terror′ with new and interesting academic content, producing an overall package that contrasts positively with the approach and features of many of its forerunners... In sum, this is a unique and interesting book that brings together significant contributions in one place... [and] this book is a must read for students and scholars who wish to understand the relationship between media and terrorism in global context.Julian MatthewsInternet Journal of Criminology

• Introduction: Dynamics of Media and Terrorism - Des Freedman and Daya Kishan ThussuPART ONE: CONTEXTSTerror, War and Disjunctures in the Global Order - Lena JayyusiMedia, War and Information Technology - Christian FuchsPublic Diplomacy Versus Terrorism - Philip SeibPropaganda and Terrorism - David Miller and Rizwaan SabirPART TWO: GLOBAL REPRESENTATIONS OF TERRORISMTerrorism and Global Popular Culture - Toby MillerHollywood, the CIA and the ′War on Terror′ - Oliver Boyd-Barrett, David Herrera and Jim BaumannTerror, Culture and Anti-Muslim Racism - Gholam Khiabany and Milly WilliamsonPictures and Public Relations in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Greg PhiloPART THREE: TERRORISM ON THE HOME FRONTSouth Asia and the Frontline of the ′War on Terror′ - Daya Kishan ThussuCovering Terrorism in Russian Media - Elena Vartanova and Olga SmirnovaWikiLeaks and War Laws - Stig A. Nohrstedt and Rune OttosenTelevision and Immigration in France - Tristan MattelartThe ′War on Terror′ in Arab Media - Helga Tawil-SouriPART FOUR: JOURNALISTS AND THE ′WAR ON TERROR′Terrorism and News Narratives - Justin LewisAsylum Seekers as Political Spectacle - Jake Lynch, Annabel McGoldrick and Alex RussellMedia Myth and Ground Reality in Reporting from Iraq - Dahr JamailChallenging the Media War - Danny Schechter