Media and Conflicts in the Digital Age
Celebritizing Terrorists: How the media unintentionally perpetuates terrorism
Jan 31, 2017
(Focus on satire news)
Celebritizing Terrorists: How the media unintentionally perpetuates terrorism
Jan 31, 2017
(Focus on satire news)
Terror today is quite different than expressions of the repressed before 9/11. Liebes and Kampf (2007) analyzed this phenomenon and wrote about the recent trend of humanizing terrorists and turning them into celebrities. In their analysis they examined processes since 9/11 and new genres of reporting terror that encourage such a status upgrade.
Four main processes in the 1990s enabled terrorists to find a greater voice. First, connections among terrorist groups tightened around the world and terrorist ideology was able to spread across space. Al Qaeda and ISIS could now impact not only their geographical region but regions elsewhere in the world. Second, revolutionary communications technologies transformed the media landscape, and in doing so, transformed the journalist profession. When terrorists communicate directly with their audiences they are not mediated by socially responsible forces. Third, new competing media channels that are broadcast around the clock and viewed internationally. Finally, live disaster marathons after terror attacks have come to signal the pinnacle of relinquishing control of news broadcasts to terrorists. Socially responsible editing and censorship of news is not possible when streaming live from news outlets. Media outlets pursue the terrorists as legitimate news personas disconnected from their violence rather than as backdoor deviants whose only claim to notoriety is their extreme violence.
Multiple new genres of reporting terror since 9/11 have created platforms for terrorists to leverage. Importantly, the “soft” story format, such as those in weekend magazines and biographical TV equivalents, propel terrorists to fame. Soft news formats personalize and humanize the protagonists in biographical stories, as these stories are sociologically and psychologically oriented. Soft stories gloss over the political issues of terrorist actions and ideologies and do not talk about the acts of destruction and their ramifications. The terrorists are separated from their crimes by psychological makeup and circumstance. Such stories create empathy between the reader/viewer and the story’s protagonist, the terrorist. The processes that began in the 1990s has enabled worldwide relevance and reach of an increasing number of soft stories that unintentionally upgrade the status of terrorists to stars (Liebes & Kampf, 2007).
A type of soft story that contributes to the celebritized status given to terrorists are the articles and videos of today’s increasingly popular satire news websites and shows. Not only is satire news a new platform for soft stories of terrorists, but they have a virality factor because of their humor and professional production. Not only are terrorists upgraded to stars in the eyes of those who watch mainstream news or read political magazines, but they are becoming a cultural phenomenon outside of the political sphere.
Eretz Nehederet, SNL, Comedy Central, and The Onion are examples of satire outlets that celebritize terrorists in these outlets’ quest to produce viral satire content. For example, Eretz Nehederet’s “ISIS at the Eurovision” glamorizes the ISIS terror group and depicts its terrorists as budding stars on a stage (Eretz Nehederet, 2016). Treating ISIS’s flag the same as the flags of other countries imbues it with added international legitimacy, and saying Aziz’s name not only to the audience who watches Eretz Nehederet, but to anyone who views the clip because of its viral content and production value, and universal relevance, gives the real terrorist increased fame. SNL’s “Shark Tank” skit, featuring ISIS shows two fake ISIS terrorists pitching their terror group as a legitimate organization (SNL, 2014). Even though the Shark Tank actors who are being pitched to rejected the investment, the fact that SNL showcased the terror group’s capital makes an effective video to encourage real ISIS supporters
Analyzing satire news is important when dealing with the issue of the celebritization of terrorists in the media. Williams and Carpini (2011) explain that young people these days learn about reality through comedy and shows like SNL. Noel Diem (2015) explains that satire news is trusted and informs viewers more. He mentions a 2012 study that found that people who watch The Daily Show are more informed on average than people who watch Fox News, and that The Daily Show viewers tend to be younger and more educated on average than the audiences of mainstream news sources. Familiarity with topics in politics is highest in those who watch satire news compared to those who watch mainstream news sources (Bode, 2014) (chart in Appendix: Familiarity with Net Neutrality Rules). Satire news may be most attractive to their target audience when creating dynamic visual content (video clips) compared with articles (charts in Appendix: YouTube Subscriptions and Facebook Likes). As satire news YouTube channels are subscribed to by an increased number of people than are mainstream news channels, shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, SNL, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Eretz Nehederet have a large and viral platform from which to produce socially responsible satire.
In today’s media environment we cannot avoid soft stories about terrorists. We should deal with them - but in a more sophisticated way. In a way that does not make us identify with them. Fortunately, some satire news is catching on to their socially responsible role with the public.
John Oliver delivers a socially responsible satire address after the Paris attacks that occurred on Friday the 13, November 2015, when terrorists targeted a concert hall, a stadium, and multiple restaurants and bars, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. He talks about the terrorists responsible as “gigantic fucking assholes” and “working in service of an ideology of pure assholery” (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 2015). He did not mention the terrorists or their terror group by name, thereby giving them no added notoriety, nor did he go into their psychological and sociological profiles, thereby not humanizing them or personalizing their stories. Instead he said, “F*** these a**holes,” delegitimizing their hateful justifications of their attacks and giving the audience no reason to empathize with them (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 2015).
It is important to recognize the implications of soft stories on the process of celebritizing terrorists and terror organizations. One important goal for most terrorist is to attract attention to their cause. Any terrorist’s emphasis of drama as a theatrical production aims not at immediate casualties but at exposure on the world stage of mass media (Yarchi, Wolfsfeld, Sheafer, & Shenhav, 2013). The more that the media, including satire media, personalize and humanize terrorists as the protagonists of their stories, the more we are giving terrorists a platform to vocalize and be celebrated for their violent goals.
BBC Two. [Boondoggle the Infidel] (2017). Real Housewives of ISIS. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHGgv6p7uVI
Beverly, T. (2016). Why I’ve decided to take a gap year before joining ISIS. Clickhole. Retrieved from http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/why-ive-decided-take-gap-year-joining-isis-4830
Bode, K. (2014). Yet another study shows US satire programs do a better job informing viewers than actual news outlets [Fig 2]. Techdirt. Retrieved from https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141113/06034829128/yet-another-study-shows-us-satire-programs-do-better-job-informing-viewers-than-actual-news-outlets.shtml
Comedy Central. [Comedy Central]. (2014). Key & Peele - Al Qaeda meeting. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHfiMoJUDVQ
Diem, N. (2015). Comedy or cable: Where do Americans get their news? Law Street. Retrieved from https://lawstreetmedia.com/issues/entertainment-and-culture/comedy-cable-americans-get-news/
Dunham, J. [Nexus Khan]. (2008). Achmed- I kill you. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gZ6-6RbSEg
Eretz Nehederet. (2016). ISIS at the Eurovision. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEzDD0dZU8U
Family Guy. (2010). [Rushabh Meshram]. Family Guy’s Stewie fights Osama Bin Laden the naked gun style. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jr5-Z7WPPg
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. [bdr_]. (2015). John Oliver Paris attacks. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glxh9ZgP7kc&feature=youtu.be&t=43s
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. [bdr_]. (2016). John OLiver - Orlando shooting. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS8cm3kmyWs&feature=youtu.be&t=1m11s
Liebes, T. & Kampf, Z. (2007). The PR of terror: How new-style wars give voice to terrorists. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242132947_How_New-Style_Wars_Give_Voice_to_Terrorists
Madigan, H. (2012). Satire, comedy or news? Comedy Central programs provide alternative to mainstream media [Graphic]. Coppell Student Media. Retrieved from http://coppellstudentmedia.com/26729/opinions/satire-comedy-or-news-comedy-central-programs-provide-alternative-to-mainstream-media/
Oshanani, J. (2016). Why news satire should be taken seriously [GIF]. Her Campus. Retrieved from http://www.hercampus.com/school/bu/why-news-satire-should-be-taken-seriously
SNL. [Saturday Night Live]. (2014). Shark Tank - Saturday Night Live. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4DOyAwN13U
The Onion. (2015). Non-denominational terrorist organization welcomes extremists of all faiths. The Onion, 51(25). Retrieved from http://www.theonion.com/article/non-denominational-terrorist-organization-welcomes-50742
The Onion. (2016a, Jan 20). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reluctantly accepts alternative sentence of coaching troublesome youth sports team. The Onion, 52(02). Retrieved from http://www.theonion.com/article/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-reluctantly-accepts-alterna-52203
The Onion. (2016b, May 6). ISIS starting to worry new recruit huge psycho. The Onion, 52(17). Retrieved from http://www.theonion.com/article/isis-starting-worry-new-recruit-huge-psycho-52886
The Onion. (2016c, July 15). “People are inherently good,” world halfheartedly mutters. The Onion, 52(27). Retrieved from http://www.theonion.com/article/people-are-inherently-good-world-halfheartedly-mut-53222
Williams, B. A. & Carpini, M. X. D. (2011). After broadcast news: Media regimes, democracy, and the new information environment. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Yarchi, M., Wolfsfeld, G., Sheafer, T., & Shenhav, S. R. (2013). Promoting stories about terrorism to the international news media: A study of public diplomacy. Media, War & Conflict, 6, 263-278. doi:10.1177/1750635213491179
A chart by Techdirt, in an article titled, “Yet Another Study Shows US Satire Programs Do A Better Job Informing Viewers Than Actual News Outlets,” shows differences in familiarity with an issue in the media regarding net neutrality rules. While viewers of all news sources have heard of the issue from their respective news sites, viewers of satire news sites have heard the most about it (Bode, 2014).
The youth interest in satire news over mainstream news may help to increase the virality of satire news content over mainstream news content. A look at the numbers of YouTube subscribers to mainstream news channels versus satire news channels in January 2017 shows that satire news channels are subscribed to by twice the amount of YouTubers than mainstream news channels (Appendix III.B). Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, has double the subscription count compared with the highest subscribed mainstream news channels, ABC News, and CNN. The second most popular satire news channels, SNL and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, have one and a half times as many subscribers and a similar amount of subscribers, respectively, compared with the highest subscribed mainstream news channels, ABC News and CNN. The virality of satire news videos on YouTube is leagues beyond the virality of mainstream news videos on YouTube. Humanizing terrorists in satire news media has far reaching effects at celebritizing terrorists.
Such virality may remain on YouTube, however. A look at the numbers of Facebook page likes for mainstream news channels versus satire news channels in January 2017 shows an opposite trend: that mainstream news channels are followed by up to six times the amount of fans than satire news Facebook pages (Appendix III.C). Top mainstream news Facebook pages, such as the BBC (36.7 million likes), CNN (25.3 million likes), and The New York Times (12.7 million likes) have an overwhelmingly greater number of fans than the top satire news Facebook pages, with The Daily Show, The Onion, and SNL bearing 6 million likes each.