ABSTRACT
Terrorist and extremist movements have long employed every available mass communications technology. Examples range from the Irish Republican press in the nineteenth century, 1 Marighela’s advice to his comrades in 1969 to use photocopiers to reproduce pamphlets and manifestos, 2 and Hizbollah’s establishment of its Al-Manar television station in the early 1990s, 3 through to the so-called Islamic State’s ‘slickly’ produced contemporary digital content. 4 For many years, scholars interested in the relationship between terrorism and media focused on the role of news media, particularly newspapers, 5 with terrorism often portrayed as involving the intentional manipulation of journalists. Terrestrial and satellite television has also directly impacted on terrorism, 6 with many terrorism spectaculars, including 9/11, appearing to be specifically choreographed for television.
