Overview
Conventional research suggests that news coverage of terrorism is a tool of the terrorist to gain public support and recognition. Based on an analysis of more than 200 evening newscasts aired during the first six years of the Reagan administration, Tales of Terror offers a detailed account of the ways in which news media escalate public panic about terrorism and encourage support for specific U.S. policy objectives, rather than build sympathy for terrorists. Bethami Dobkin explores similarities between news media and government portrayals of terrorism, combining textual criticism with an interpretation of official U.S. policy statements, and argues that government depictions and news presentations of terrorism reproduce an ideology that supports military strength and intervention. Dobkin examines several specific features of news coverage: the dramatic format of television news and the political interests that this format serves; the narrative construction of enemies by television journalists and public officials and the political significance of the terrorist label; the use and significance of testimony, particularly that of people affected by crisis; the mutual exploitation of political crisis by both television news producers and public officials; the function of journalism in shaping the conduct of public diplomacy and public perceptions of foreign conflict; and the creation of consensus about the need for military responses to political violence. This revealing study will be of particular interest to scholars of communications and political science.
Full Product Details
Author: Bethami A. Dobkin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint: Praeger Publishers Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.397kg
ISBN: 9780275939816
ISBN 10: 0275939812
Pages: 159
Publication Date: 20 April 1992
Recommended Age: From 7 to 17 years
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
.,. makes a substantial and unique contribution in that it adds an in-depth case study to earlier works that framed in more general ways the contruction and utility of the politically loaded analysis of the terrorist threat to U.S. foreign policy. Written for scholars and students of communications, U.S. foreign policy, and public opinion. -Perspectives on Political Science
Author Information
BETHAMI A. DOBKIN is Director of Media Studies and Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of San Diego. She has published and spoken on the news media and foreign policy since 1988.
