Today’s terrorists, like those of yesteryear, are keen to exploit mass media, particularly the internet, while also recognising the value of more direct non-verbal communication channels – propaganda by deed.
For decades the media has been considered significant in cultural and political transformation. The internet is daily heralded as a new media technology of enormous and increasing importance; it is the first many-to-many communication system and the instrument of a political power shift.
The ability to communicate words, images and sounds, which underlies the power to persuade, inform, witness, debate and discuss – not to mention the power to slander, propagandise, disseminate bad or misleading information, and engage in misinformation and disinformation – is no longer the sole province of those who own or control printing presses, radio stations or television networks.
