The role of media exposure on terrorism fear and the impacts on tourism

Abstract:
This paper analyses the relation of media exposure on terrorism fear in the 21st century. Furthermore, impacts on the tourism sector were identified and evaluated.


Keywords:
Terrorism, Media, Risks, impacts tourism


„Without television, terrorism becomes rather like the philosopher's hypothetical tree falling in the forest: no one hears it fall and therefore it has no reason for being. And television, without terrorism, while not deprived of all interesting things in the world, is nonetheless deprived of one of the most interesting."
Koppel (1996)

With the present terrorism, a new risk has entered the life of the people in the western cultural environment. However, the majority of our knowledge regarding regional and international happens is brought to us by the media. According to the Social-Amplification-Model of Kasperson in 1988, the media as well as the communication with others are playing a huge role towards the perception on risks. The characteristics of media have impact on the chosen information given to the public, as well as the risks and threats which are reported on. The past however has shown that depending on the type of media, as well as the extent to which it spreads information concerning destinations, perceived risks can lead to serious declines in the number of tourists (Mansfeld and Pizam 2006).

Terrorism has always been a part of modern history, as the examples of terrorist organizations ETA, IRA or RAF have shown and still sometimes show. However, the attacks of September 11 have brought an unexpected dimension of terrorist activities and brought the perception of a terroristic threat to Europe (Wittmann, 2003). However, although Germany has never been affected by a terror attack itself, terrorism is very present in the minds of the public. The public feels more threatened by a terroristic act than by a deadly car accident. In statistics, terrorism can always be seen in the top of the most perceived dangers of the public. However, according to statistics about deaths, terrorism is not listed in any case (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2011). It is therefore noticeable, that there is a discrepancy between the fear of terrorism and the actual risk to be involved in an attack (Nellis, A. M. Savage, J. 2012).

The media plays an important role for terrorism. Terrorism tries to produce psychological effects like terror, panic and feelings of insecurity. This cannot be achieved by the terror act itself, but only by the media coverage of the act. Fears can mainly be promoted because terrorists have a medial approach. It is not of great importance for the terrorists how big the real damage of an attack might have been. It is more about the perceived threat which has been spread and cannot be measured in numbers of injured or death people. The success of a terroristic act therefore does not result out of the overall damage made, but from the emotional effects which arise due to the terror act (der Freitag, 2013).

Mass media on the one hand offers the public information about terrorism and terroristic attacks. On the other hand, it gives terrorism the possibility of gaining the attention of the public from all over the world. It however still needs to be examined, to which extent a different way of information handling could withdraw the effects of terrorism. However, the irritations caused by terrorist attacks are usually prompt and violent but seldom longer lasting. Interruptions are - like the stock market - relatively quickly forgotten. Even if individual tourist destinations can be ruined by terrorism, tourism usually remains a stable system with its winners and losers (Bundeszentrale fpB. 2004).

It is however noticeable, that a kind of habituation effect has occurred. After the terrorist attacks on tourists in front of the Egyptian Temple of Hatshepsut in 1997, it took another two years before the tourists came back. Nowadays, the time of absence after attacks is only four to six months. Since the 11th September, tourists are aware of the terror - and many tourists cannot be frightened by a general risk of an attack anymore. The fact that Arab countries since the 11th September appear almost daily in the media, reflects not only scepticism about the region itself, but also the interest in it. If tourists understand tourism as more than a cocktail at the beach and want to meet new people and cultures, this interest may perhaps even contribute to a long term deactivation of the problem (Spiegel 2006).



Important References:

Bundeszentrale fuer politische Bildung (2007). [Online]. Terrorismus setzt auf psychologische Effekte. Accessable at: http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/islamismus/36388/interview-schneckener . Accessed: 06.05.2013

Mansfeld, Y., Pizam, A. (2006). Tourism, Security & Safety. From theory to practice.

Nellis, A. M. Savage, J. (2012). Does Watching the News Affect Fear of Terrorism? The Importance of Media Exposure on Terrorism Fear. Crime & Delinquency. Vol. 58 Issue 5, p748-768.

The main reason of choosing this topic is due to the fact this author has done study closely related to the research that I had undertaken. My study was based on destination's image after the revolution, this study relates to media, fear and terrorism impacting the tourism. This study had reflected more light on the topic I had researched, as media creates more positive or negative image for a destination.

The main focus of this topic is on the media and how it has affected the image of terrorism in the minds of the common people and how they see terrorism. The author has also clearly identified the motives of the media, which is not to put fear in mind of the general public but make them aware of the destination where terrorism has been taken place. This topic is much broader and engaging so more research and analysing is needed.

As the topic opens further it was shown clearly by the author that media does spread concern about destination's so the tourist do not travel to these destination. But images shown by media could actually put off people from visiting that destination; it could give negative image to a destination such as Egypt after the revolution, which has gone down 10 places in safety of public.

The author has also expressed the past attacks which has lead the terrorism to be widely known around the world especially the 9/11 attack, which made more people aware of terrorism and through media they created fear in minds of the public. The authors have also explained if the terrorism effect is not critical, the media make it look more horrific, which creates fear in the local public of the destination. The author has also explained that the terrorists are using the media a way to keep an eye on the public and what affects it is has on them.

The author has explained the media sometimes help the terrorism to reach out to people worldwide and create fear in their minds, the terrorism attack might not even pose a real threat but through media it causes panic in public, which can be said terrorism only want to create fear in minds of public which is more damaging than physical. A person living in fear though mentally is more successful for terrorism than actually posing a higher threat.

"If individual tourist destinations can be ruined by terrorism, tourism usually remains a stable system with its winners and losers" I quote this reference by the author, which I do not agree with because tourism does not remain stable after terrorism has taken place at a destination, take my research on Egypt for one. The revolution took place in 2011 yet after 2 years there still remains sign of tourism not picking up.

The author has shown clear understanding and interest in the topic which highlighted upon main issues in the tourism industry, the topic chosen is very interesting and more research into topic as such is needed, mostly based of physiology of people into terrorism.

Author: Jigna Patel University: University of Wolverhampton

The reason in choosing to commentate on this discussion paper is because it relates closely to the topic erected in my dissertation, with many similarities being considered: media portrayal, terrorism and tourist perceptions.

As the author illustrates clearly, the paper analyses the relation of media exposure on terrorism fear in the 21st century, highlighting the role of terrorism 'needing' the media, and the media's impact on terrorism. After revising the discussion paper as a whole, it is clear to understand that the past decade has witnessed the reciprocally beneficial relationship between terrorists' organisations and the media. It has provided the world with plenty of examples becoming increasingly globalised (Rohner and Frey, 2007). In agreement with the author, terrorism is attracted to media coverage, as they have the power to make the viewer ratings surge, being the goal of most if not all television channels (transnationalterrorism.eu, 2008).

The author argues that the motives of the media is to not put fear in the mind of the public but to make them aware of the destination in which terrorism has occurred. Although I do agree with this, I believe more so that a terrorist organisation needs the media to publish their messages and, in a sense, do their work for them (Thompson, 2008). Therefore, terrorism can be triggered even more by gaining the attention of the media (Frey and Rohner, 2007). While the author does acknowledge this, stating that the psychological effects of terrorism are achieved through a medial approach by the terrorists, I do feel this is more the case than the media making the public aware of the affected destination.

In regards to the concern of destination, several earlier papers studied the synergetic relationship between tourism and the effect terrorism has on tourism. One study considered the influence of mass media connected to the synergetic relationship, deliberating the tourist choice of destination due to the impacts terrorism has had on a destination's image. However, the impacts of terrorism or political violence on destination image (Witt and Moore, 1992) and its link between the mass media (Butler, 1990 and Ehemann, 1977) have both received very limited attention in former research (Sonmez, 1998).

In the concluding paragraph, the author stated that 'Nowadays, the time of absence after attacks is only four to six months' and I have some issues with this statement. My concern is that it hasn't been referenced and there is no evidence or statistics proving this bold statement. Not only that, but tourism and terrorism, the two are highly connected with one another, especially with the recent phenomena of terrorist attacks having imposed and unprecedented threat to the global tourism industry (Law, 2006). Such events are unpredictable and provide major difficulties for the industry, having either stopped or hindered some areas severely. It was only during the 1980's that terrorist organisations started to direct their attacks on the industry, and the tourists themselves became the main target of these attacks (Kucukaltan, 2006), affecting not only the economy, but residents, countries, events and airlines (Shahrestani, 2008).

I found this paper to be of a great read and I appreciated that the author didn't only look into the more major terrorist attack of the 21st century, the September 11 attacks in the U.S, but also looked into the Egyptian Temple of Hatshepsut in 1997 and the perceptions of Germany's residents after the 9/11 attacks. Terrorism will always be of hype and worthy of consideration as it is an on-going phenomena.


References:

Kucukaltan, D (2006). TOURISM AND TERRORISM. Nebraska: iUniverse Inc.

Law, R. (2006). The perceived impact of risks on travel decisions. International Journal of Tourism Research. 8 (4), p289-300.

Rohner, D and Frey, B. (2007). Blood and ink! The common-interest-game between terrorists and the media. Public Choice. 133 (1-2), p129-145.

Shahrestani, H. (2008). Protectivity Versus Productivity And Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence From Selected Countries. International Business & Economics Research Journal. 7 (10), p43-51.

Sonmez, S. (1998). Tourism, terrorism and political instability. Annals of Tourism Research, 25 (2) p.416.

Thompson, A. (2008). Terrorism's effect on Tourism: Developed vs. Developing. American Economic Review. 3 (2), p4-8.

transnationalterrorism.eu. (2008). Terrorism and the Media. Available: http://www.transnationalterrorism.eu/tekst/publications/WP4%20Del%206.pdf. Last accessed 16th Feb 2013.