JOUR90027 Chap.5 Terrorism, Moral Panic and Bearing Witness
Terrorism, Moral Panic and Bearing Witness
This chapter covers the terrorism week, framed in the subject guide around the national interest and how to spot an invented crisis or a moral panic. Its core is Soyeon Lim's analysis of how mainstream outlets should report terrorist videos in the social media age, from the precedents of Abu Ghraib and the Berg video to the Foley and al-Kasasbeh cases, and her nine guidelines.
It then addresses the framing of women who joined ISIS, the subject of essay prompt 6, with a counter-example clinic on using moral panic as an analytical test, and points to Tait's work on bearing witness. Lim's cases also give you a set of precedents to cite whenever an essay asks when graphic material should be published.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Three transformations of the media environment and the end of gatekeeping
- 02
Symbiosis or exploitation: terrorism and publicity
- 03
Precedents for publishing violence, from the bin Laden tapes to Fox News
- 04
Minimising harm: dignity, propaganda and gratuitous violence
- 05
Framing the women who joined ISIS and the moral panic test
- 06
Lim's nine guidelines as a coding checklist
Worked example · free
Deciding how to report a terrorist video
- 1Acknowledge the video exists and give context, so readers are not left to find it elsewhere unexplained.
- 1Withhold the footage itself, citing propaganda by deed and the dignity of the victim and family.
- 1Use a photograph of the victim from before captivity and verify the facts independently.
- 1Explain the editorial decision to readers, as Lim's ninth guideline recommends.
Key terms
- Propaganda by deed
- Propaganda by deed is the idea, used by Lim, that a terrorist act and its filmed record are themselves messages designed to be spread.
- Self-censorship
- Self-censorship, in Lim's analysis, is an outlet's deliberate decision not to show material it could publish, which she judged most ethical for the Foley video.
- Gatekeeping
- Gatekeeping is the traditional editorial power to decide what reaches the public, which Lim argues social media has weakened.
- About-to-die image
- An about-to-die image is a still showing the moment before a killing, which several outlets avoided and one tabloid ran on its front page.
Terrorism, Moral Panic and Bearing Witness FAQ
What does Lim argue about terrorist videos?
That mainstream outlets should acknowledge and contextualise such videos but generally not show them, because they serve the perpetrators' propaganda and harm victims' dignity. She judged self-censorship most ethical for the Foley video and Fox News's full embed of the al-Kasasbeh video ethically indefensible.
Is a moral panic the same as biased coverage?
No. A moral panic involves alarm out of proportion to a threat that marks a group as a danger to shared values. Calling coverage a moral panic requires evidence of that disproportion, not just disagreement with its tone.
Which readings support essay prompt 6?
The terrorism module lists Martini's study of how women who joined ISIS were made into jihadi brides, Tait on bearing witness, an ABC documentary and two Times reports by a correspondent who interviewed one of the women, plus further reading on moral panic and framing.
Why was the Fox News decision criticised?
Fox embedded the full al-Kasasbeh video online, defending it by viewer autonomy and transparency. Lim argues the harm outweighed the benefit, the explanation was inadequate and supporters of the group shared the link, so online tolerance did not justify a lower standard.
Assessment move
Read Lim's guidelines first, then her cases, so you see how each rule was earned. Build a two-column note: arguments for showing violent material and arguments against, each with the case that illustrates it. For prompt 6, collect two stories about the same woman from different outlets and code which frame each uses before you decide whether the term moral panic fits.
If you write on terrorism coverage, quote Lim's test of whether violent material adds to public enlightenment and apply it to your own example. For the seminar, watch the documentary set for the week and note how often the women are given their own voice rather than being described by others; that count is a simple, defensible piece of evidence.
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