Journalism Politics of Terror

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course investigates the interplay between events (natural and man made including acts of terrorism) that can strike terror, fear and anxiety around the world and the communication about such events. While modern terrorism can be seen as a form of strategic communication in which media, especially news media, amplify messages about terrorism to a world-wide audience, influencing audience perceptions about the world, catastrophes in general bear a special challenge to journalists and audiences alike as such media events often evoke fatalistic or stereotypical news coverage or is manipulated by interested stakeholders. The course will focus on how news and entertainment media portray catastrophes, terrorism and terrorists, and the effects of such events and media portrayal of catastrophes and terrorism on public perception and public policy. Moreover, the course examines how journalists deal with or are impacted by the coverage of terrorism, war and natural catastrophes.