Media, Terrorism, and Theory: A Reader

As terrible as terror is, our media coverage is at times almost as bad. Why is that? What can we do about it? To understand the world today, you need to know the role the media plays as it embeds itself in an unjust system of deception. We need this bold new reader to help us penetrate that story behind the story. It is essential.

The strength of this volume…[is] its ability to move beyond a description of communicative patterns in the war on terror to discussing its theoretical implications for international communications and politics.

The volume is a success. A revealing and culturally relevant reader that challenges the conservative-often inaccurate-perceptions that go unchallenged in mainstream U.S. news media. It will improve Americans’ understanding of terrorism and should be read by the mythmakers themselves. Essential.

War has always been reported-on pots and pyramids, in papers and the ‘pictures.’ In contemporary times a range of high-tech media has been added. More interestingly, we are now standing on a century of communication and social theory that helps us make sense of media, war, and senseless violence. Media, Terrorism, and Theory adds to a growing collection of theoretical treatments of the post-9/11 world and media, drawing on important contributors to this area of inquiry. Comprising carefully selected chapters, it will find its way into many a university course.