The Media’s Coverage of Domestic Terrorism

Measuring media oriented terrorism

“…Third, a longitudinal analysis examining how terrorist have historically used the media is needed (Chermak & Gruenewald, 2006;Ross, 2007). Within this longitudinal analysis, questions regarding the distribution of media oriented terrorist events, including how the level of media orientation and media differ by era and region and what happens after media attention is gained need examination.…”

“…(p. 16) Media oriented terrorism was better suited to television as opposed to print journalism because television has little time for exposition and requires an event that is highly visual and compact. Since the 1970s, terrorist acts are more likely to receive media coverage if they follow the canons of television entertainment and newsworthiness-scarcity, unexpectedness, hostility to elite people or nations, violence, intensity, and unambiguity (Chermak & Gruenewald, 2006;Weimann & Winn, 1994). A recent example of this visual media orientation is provided by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh who chose to bomb the Murray Federal Building in 1995 because, among other reasons, it had "plenty of open space around it, to allow for the best possible news photos and television footage" (Nacos, 2002, p. 12).…”

An Exploratory Study of Honor Crimes in the United States

“…For instance, almost all media outlets have an online presence and often have more information available via the Internet than in their print editions. Significantly, media reporters in the United States may be more inclined to cover honor crimes, especially those committed by Middle Easterners, compared to other fatal crimes, because they may be perceived as more Bexotic^and newsworthy and fit the media's stereotypical expectations (Chermak 2002;Chermak and Gruenewald 2006). But, open sources are not limited to this.…”

“…Open source data refer to information that is publicly available. In addition to the weaknesses of other sources, homicides in the United States have been more likely to be covered by the media and other open sources compared to other types of attacks (Chermak 1995;Chermak and Gruenewald 2006). These sources include, but are not limited to, media reports, official sources, reports by NGOs and watch-groups, scholarly case studies, and published chronologies and listings of certain kinds of crimes (such as extremist related offenses, ideologically motivated crimes).…”

Condensational symbols in British press coverage of Boko Haram

“…Through the use of familiar frames of reference, journalists are able to tell stories, especially complex stories of events that lie beyond the direct experience of their audiences, in ways that are appealing to their readers. Consequently, journalists play a critical role in the shaping of public perception of a given issue (Chermak & Gruenewald, 2006). Incorporating news frames with 'identifiable conceptual and linguistic characteristics ' (de Vreese et al, 2010:108), can fixate attention on certain aspects of an event, and conversely detract scrutiny from others.…”