Media and Civil Society/ Week 10: The Internet and Uncivil Society

Media and Civil Society/ Week 10: The Internet and Uncivil Society

Daniel Ruiz de Garibay- 0407756

The Internet and Terrorist Organisations

Introduction

Some scholars have argue that the nature of the Internet: the ease of access, the chaotic structure, the anonymity, the international character, the vast potential audiences and the fast flow of information, make of the Internet an easy and effective arena for terrorist organisations.

This essay focuses on the uses of the Internet by terrorist organizations and addresses the following question: Is the use of the Internet by terrorists different from that of other, "conventional" means of communication?

Political communication and terrorism are intimately related. In fact, terrorism can be defined as violence used to articulate a political message (Reilly: 234). For communication scholars terrorism can be can be analyzed much like other media of communication, consisting of four basic components: transmitter (the terrorist), intended recipient (target), message (bombing, ambush) and feed back (reaction of target audience). However other authors argue that