Global Media and Public Affairs Communications in a New Era of Defense: The War Against Terrorism.

摘要

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and subsequent conflict in Afghanistan culminated a 30-year escalation of terrorism and efforts to counter it, an undeclared war that has unfolded principally on the information battlefield. Though terrorists habitually denounce the elements of modernity and globalization, they manipulate the transnational media to commit and communicate their violence and virulent rhetoric. This qualitative study considers the information battle field in the war against terrorism and how the U.S. emergence as the primary economic, political and media superpower ensured its position as a terrorists' target during the late 20th Century. This also notes that the exponential growth of the U.S. news media market paralleled the increasing brutality of terrorism directed against U.S. interests. As a result, leaders past and present have sought to engage the U.S. information dimension of national power to communicate American policies and capabilities, though in recent months that effort has been mostly directed toward the 'Arab Street' of public opinion.