Packaging Terrorism: Co-opting the News for Politics and Profit

Packaging Terrorism is the account of a very simple idea: it’s not the acts of terrorism that most matter in the post 9/11 world, it’s what we are told to think about the acts of terrorism. Politicians tell us what to think. The media tell us what to think. Even terrorists tell us what to think. They all want to attract our attention, and all have reasons for wanting us to think in a certain way. They all want to tell us why an act of terrorism matters. They all have agendas. They all are packaging terrorism for our consumption and we are the audience for all those disparate actors.

Terrorism has become an everyday global event—in Iraq, in Israel, in India, in Indonesia, and also in the United Kingdom and United States. Packaging Terrorism investigates how Western media have identified and covered international terrorism and violence since September 11, 2001. Comparing US coverage with that of British and of Arab media, Packaging Terrorism not only explores media coverage of terrorism around the world but also explains the priorities, assumptions, political debates, deadline pressures, and bottom-line considerations that will continue to influence this coverage in the future.