ABSTRACT
Contemporary terrorists have become exposed to new opportunities for exerting mass psychological impacts as a result of technological advances in communications and transportation. Paralleling the growth in technology-driven opportunities for terrorist action were efforts by terrorists themselves to hone their communications skills. The emergence of media-oriented terrorism led several communication and terrorism scholars to re-conceptualize modern terrorism within the framework of symbolic communication theory. During the 1970s, academic observers remarked increasingly on the theatrical proficiency with which terrorists conducted their operations. As Jenkins concluded in his analysis of international terrorism:
Terrorist attacks are often carefully choreographed to attract the attention of the electronic media and the international press. Taking and holding hostages increases the drama. The hostages themselves often mean nothing to the terrorists. Terrorism is aimed at the people watching, not at the actual victims. Terrorism is a theater.1
