NCJ Number
194841
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 19-32
Date Published
2002
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationship between tourism, terrorism, and the media.
Abstract
Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the study analyzed three terrorist incidents that involved tourists in different countries during 1997. The three incidents were a triple bomb attack at a shopping mall in Jerusalem in September; a truck-bomb explosion in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo in October; and the killing of 58 tourists near Luxor in Egypt in November. Various analytical techniques were used to examine a sample of news media coverage to determine the nature of the styles used to report the terrorist acts. The predominant use of descriptive characterizations that were emotional, judgmental, and often dramatic was a tactic frequently used to convey news in a sensationalist tradition; for example, the frequent use of the word "terrorist" to label the perpetrators tended to suggest violence and illegitimacy, and in turn to increase alarm and fear among readers. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis found that there was no significant difference between the extent to which each daily newspaper used the sensationalist tradition to report the events; nevertheless, the number of articles appearing in the broadsheets was higher than in the tabloids, which may lend weight to a contention that in terms of heightening public awareness of these terrorist acts, the broadsheets may have had a greater impact. Given that the majority of the information received by the public is disseminated through media channels, and taking into consideration the nature of the media coverage of the terrorist attack in Egypt, which killed a number of British tourists, and the subsequent decline in tourist numbers, it is possible that the news media may have an impact on travel decisions. Evidence that the media coverage of events in both Israel and Sri Lanka was less prolonged than the media coverage of the Egyptian incident, coupled with the less drastic drop in tourism in Israel and Sri Lanka, lends support to this theory. This suggests that the challenge for the tourism industry is to find ways to mitigate the media's exploitation of terrorism. 11 tables and 39 notes