ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one aspect of unique Palestine Liberation Organization press conference, the use it made of violence as an instrument of communication. One of the most striking facts about political violence in recent years—domestic as well as international—is its ability to attract coverage in the news media. Not only have violent events been afforded extensive and prominent treatment on television and in print, but, with some regularity, the media themselves have become parties to the action. A contemporary example of a group with indigenous support might be the African National Congress in South Africa, while a group evidently lacking popular backing would be the Contras, the organized resistance to the former Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. In addition to terrorist groups and antiregime movements, even governments can resort to political violence as a means of communicating, either with other governments or with their own people.
