The terrorists use the media as a means of attaining their objectives. People like Bin Laden have used it most effectively. His greatest moment of media publicity was when he targeted the twin towers at the heart of the economy of the most powerful nation on earth. An attack on no other city in the world would have provided him with greater media coverage. And his message has now been carried and discussed in the most remote areas and regions: this of course is what he wanted, far more than acts of destruction in major American cities. His method was so shocking and so powerful that the world needed two months to begin to recover from its trauma.
In any discussion of terror and the media, we should not ignore the fact that the media itself is often the target of terrorism, especially by organizations and official agencies. It is quite safe for an Arab journalist to criticize the United States. On the other hand, would he be equally safe if he criticized Al-Jihad or some similar such organization? Going against public opinion is a difficult job for a journalist whether he is in the Arab world or in America.
While the head of a dissenting journalist in Afghanistan might be cut off, a US writer expressing views critical of Bush or the US will simply not find a publisher who will present his views. Since anti-American feelings are very strong in Arab countries, it is not very difficult for anyone, who commits a crime in the US, to gain some Arab sympathy. These feelings have been gaining currency in Arab lands from the time of Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt and they have been progressively aggravated by the continuing — and unresolved — Arab-Israeli conflict.
Opposition groups in every country have realized that they can achieve far more with a box-cutter or a pistol than direct armed confrontation can. Such acts as hijacking an aircraft which attract great media attention have replaced more conventional methods of armed struggle. These techniques bring the agenda of the hijackers into the public eye. The technique is the same as one used by a coffee-shop owner in Rio de Janeiro who profits more by spending on advertising rather than improving the quality of the coffee.
Apparently, Bin Laden has adopted the same policy. He is not content with the enormity of the destruction and havoc he and his followers have wrought but wants, in addition, to increase his advantage by threatening statements to create unfavorable psychological impacts on the US public which, in turn, would send the stock market plummeting to new lows.
When I say that Bin Laden has so far been successful in exploiting the media, I do not mean to imply that he will win the final battle. His is a losing battle which is essentially a suicidal operation launched against an incomparably superior adversary.
The temptations of the media, as I have written earlier, can be compared to riding a wild bull. A man cannot do it for long, though simply sitting on its wide back may be very comfortable. The fall may come at any moment and probably will at the most unexpected time. Al-Qaeda’s outrage made the American people rally round the Bush administration and enable it to pass harsh bills guaranteeing the safety of Americans and bringing an end to global terrorism. The administration also succeeded in getting world support in its war against terrorism. In the final analysis, the tempting ride in the media will hurl Al-Qaeda to its own destruction faster than its leaders imagine.
