Examining Changing American Perceptions of the Terrorist Threat: From the Oklahoma City Bombing to Al Qaeda - News Media, Web, Popular Culture, Politicians, and Terrorism Industry Creating Psychosis

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The American public's fear of becoming a victim of terrorism significantly increased after 9/11 and remained elevated much longer than one might expect. This thesis explains how and why Americans' perception of the terrorist threat bears little relation to the dangers Americans actually face. Several factors influenced that shift. First, the news media landscape changed dramatically due to structural factors such as increased competition for audience share among traditional news sources, cable news networks, and the Internet. Second, the Internet allowed terrorist organizations, especially Al Qaeda and its affiliates, to propagate threats and messages directly to the public. Third, popular culture, especially film and television drama, affected Americans' stereotypical understanding of terrorism. Finally, politicians and members of the terrorism industry were incentivized after 9/11 to inflate concerns about the terrorism threat. These factors coalesced, reacting with innate human sociological and psychological characteristics, to create a prolonged collective psychosis. This thesis finds that future policies and research focusing on risk communication, counterterrorism economics, and intelligence transparency may be essential to breaking this collective psychosis cycle.

I. INTRODUCTION * A. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION * B. THE PUBLIC'S PERCEPTION OF THE TERRORIST THREAT * C. ASSESSING CHANGES IN THE TERRORIST THREAT IN THE UNITED STATES * D. POTENTIAL EXPLANATION AND LITERATURE REVIEW * 1. The News Media * 2. Popular Culture * 3. The Internet * 4. The Political Elite * 5. The "Terrorism Industry" * 6. Sociological and Psychological Response * E. SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT * F. THESIS OVERVIEW AND CHAPTER OUTLINE * II. ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF THE NEWS MEDIA, THE INTERNET, AND POPULAR CULTURE * A. ASSESSING THE NEWS * 1. News as Public Drama * 2. Reporting Terrorism in the News * 3. Setting the News Agenda * B. TERRORISM, THE INTERNET, AND MASS SELF-COMMUNICATION * 1. Americans' and Terrorists' Use of the Internet * 2. Propagating the Terrorist Threat through the Internet * C. TERRORISM IN POPULAR CULTURE * 1. Related Themes in Terrorism and Popular Culture Literature * 2. Terrorism in Film * 3. Terrorism in Television Drama * D. CHAPTER SUMMARY * III. ASSESSING TERRORISM INDUSTRY INCENTIVES-POLITICIANS, BUREAUCRATS, AND OTHERS * A. POLITICAL INCENTIVES * 1. Terrorist Threat Inflation * 2. The Terrorism Threat and Political Agendas * 3. Using the Terrorism Threat for Electoral Gain * B. BUREAUCRATS AND INDUSTRY * 1. Economic Incentives * 2. Institutional Factors * C. CHAPTER SUMMARY * IV. CONCLUSION * A. CREATING AND SUSTAINING A COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS * B. RECOMMENDATIONS * 1. Risk Communication * 2. Counterterrorism Economics * 3. Intelligence Transparency * C. CLOSING REMARKS