Unveiling the Nexus: How New Media Empowers Terrorism in the Modern World
Terrorism
is a social problem that has been on the rise. It has led to many attacks in
different parts of the world that has claimed many lives and caused damage to
property. The question has been “why have the cases of terrorist attacks been
on the rise in the recent past?†One of the main cause
for the rise of acts of terrorism has been attributed to the rise of new media.
New media can be described as any form of the virtual network through which
communication can take place. The development of new media is associated with
advancement in technology that has brought about new effective methods of
communication. It includes social media, internet, blogs and other new and
innovative forms of communication. The book report explores the relationship
between media and the rise of terrorism in the world. It has put the focus on
the developments of new media as great and innovative tools of communication
that have allowed terrorists to spread their propaganda and radicalize many
people into their cause.
According
to the book, the early developments of the internet in late 1990sand early 200s
provided terrorists with great opportunities for spreading their objectives and
propaganda to the world. The terrorists were very quick to understand and
utilize aspects of new media and as the new media expanded so did their
agendas. The use of the internet in the Middle East proliferated in countries
associated with various terrorist groups.
The
internet developed and terrorist found faster and efficient ways of spreading
their narratives to the world. Media corporations and governments had limited
control of the spread of these narratives because they had little to no control
over them. The new media made it easy for terrorist groups to pass information
to a greater audience across the world.
There
are other factors associated with the new media, and one of them is the
reduction in prices of network devices around the world. These devices became
cheap and very easily accessible. Other advancements in technology include
increased bandwidth and also increased the quality of communication.
The
development and advancement of the use of social media have had great influence
in the spread of terrorism. Twitter has become a tool highly relied upon by
terrorist. This is because of its capacity for instant communication, the
ability to spread information quickly and also the ability to offer instant and
front-line communication to a mass of audience. It is a social media platform
that has become highly accepted and information form it is considered
legitimate by many. In the world of today, even media houses quote information
from Twitter as legitimate. It is easily accessible and compatible with
smartphone devices.
New
media is different from old media because first of all it is faster and can
rich a mass audience quicker than old forms of media. Another difference is
that old media is usually controlled by a small group of people who then deal
with distribution of information that has been selected and targeted to a
particular audience. The information from old forms of media can be altered
through various forms of interactions with the people who control them, on the
other hand, new forms of media allow anyone to convey information to the public
in a manner that is uninterrupted. It has limited influences from governments
and other organization, and this makes it very powerful. The book report is,
therefore, effective in exploring the use of new media by terrorists in the
spread of their agendas to the world. It is one of the main factors that has
facilitated the rise of terrorism in the world.
References
White, J. R. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland
Security.
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