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Kind: captions
Language: en

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Throughout time, those drawn to
terrorism have leveraged the media as an

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indispensable part of their arsenal. One
of the first groups to exploit the

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media's power was a collection of
Russian nihilists trying to overthrow

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the Czar system. When the group turned to
violence and killed Czar Alexander II in

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1881, newspapers around the world ran
front page accounts of the leader

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brought down by nihilist conspirators. It
was a watershed moment. Radical groups

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saw the value of terrorism to promote
their political agendas and the value of

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the media to promote their acts of
terrorism. Television offered even more

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value to terrorists especially after the
launch of the first TV satellite in the

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1960s. In the following decades,
high-profile assassinations, highjackings

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and bombings filled the airwaves. It was a
two-way street. In hot pursuit of ratings

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and beholden to a grim trope, media
companies raced to cover terrorist

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attacks on their evening newscasts. In
1985, members of Hezbollah hijacked TWA

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Flight 847. During the 17-day hostage
crisis that ensued, the three major U.S.

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networks broadcast nearly 500 news
segments, an average of 28 a day.

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Fast-forward to the 1990s, when Osama bin
Laden began attempting to engineer a

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media strategy to promote al Qaeda and
the group's worldview.

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His disappointment with the success of
this strategy further motivated bin

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Laden to orchestrate spectacular
attacks that would generate their own

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publicity, most notoriously on September
11th 2001. In the days following 9/11,

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the three major U.S. networks set a record for
continuous coverage, staying on air

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without commercials for more than 90
hours. Fast-forward again to the post

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9/11 world, where Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter have become regular destinations

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for billions. Terrorists now have the
ability to circumvent traditional news

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outlets and directly market their cause
to a global audience. No group has

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exploited this new era better than the
self-proclaimed Islamic State. A 2015 study

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estimated that the group's media offices
were pushing out 38 pieces of digital

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content each day. That includes the
brutal videos that make headlines, but

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also content touting general prosperity and 
military successes in ISIS-controlled

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territories. This content strategy has not
only inspired others to commit terrorism

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in the group's name. It signals a new
stage in the relationship between

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terrorism and the media,
one in which low-tech attacks captured

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on smartphones can still provoke terror
from the public, extensive news coverage,

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and often action from authorities. It's
unclear how this relationship, one forged

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over centuries, will evolve. What is clear,
however, is that it will endure.