Selling Fear: Counterterrorism, the Media, and Public Opinion

259 Pages·2011·1.81 MB·English

by  Brigitte L. Nacos

Selling Fear
Chicago Studies in American Politics
A series edited by Benjamin I. Page, Susan Herbst,
Lawrence R. Jacobs, and James Druckman
Also in the series:
why parties? a second look democracy at risk: how terrorist
by John H. Aldrich threats affect the public by Jennifer L.
Merolla and Elizabeth J. Zechmeister
news that matters: television and
american opinion, updated edition agendas and instability in american
by Shanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder politics, second edition by Frank R.
Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones
obama’s race: the 2008 election and
the dream of a post-racial america the private abuse of the public
by Michael Tesler and David O. Sears interest by Lawrence D. Brown and
Lawrence R. Jacobs
filibustering: a political history of
obstruction in the house and senate the party decides: presidential
by Gregory Koger nominations before and after reform
by Marty Cohen, David Karol, Hans Noel,
in time of war: understanding american and John Zaller
public opinion from world war ii to
iraq by Adam J. Berinisky same sex, different politics: success
and failure in the struggles over gay
us against them: ethnocentric rights by Gary Mucciaroni
foundations of american opinion by
Donald R. Kinder and Cindy D. Kam
the partisan sort: how liberals became
democrats and conservatives became
republicans by Matthew Levendusky
Selling Fear
Counterterrorism, the Media, and
Public Opinion
brigit te l. nacos
yaeli bloch-elkon
robert y. shapiro
the university of chicago press chicago and london
brigitte l. nacos is a journalist, adjunct professor of political science at Columbia Uni-
versity, and the author of numerous books, including several on terrorism and the media.
yaeli bloch-elkon is lecturer/assistant professor of political science and communica-
tions at Bar Ilan University, Israel, and an associate research scholar at the university’s
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA), and at Columbia University’s Institute
for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP).
robert y. shapiro is professor of political science and ISERP faculty fellow at Columbia
University and is coauthor, most recently, of Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipu-
lation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness (published by the University of Chi-
cago Press).
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2011 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2011
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-56718-1 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-56719-8 (paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-56718-4 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-56719-2 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nacos, Brigitte Lebens.
Selling fear : counterterrorism, the media, and public opinion / Brigitte L. Nacos, Yaeli
Bloch-Elkon, and Robert Y. Shapiro.
p. cm. — (Chicago studies in American politics)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-56718-1 (hardcover: alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-56718-4 (hardcover: alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-56719-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-56719-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. War on Terrorism, 2001–2009. 2. War on Terrorism, 2001–2009, in mass media.
3. National security—United States—History—21st century. 4. United States—Foreign
relations—21st century. I. Bloch-Elkon, Yaeli. II. Shapiro, Robert Y., 1953–
III. Title. IV. Series: Chicago studies in American politics.
hv6432.n336 2011
363.325′160973—dc22
2010042779
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
chapter 1. The News as Commodity, Public Good, and
Political Manipulator 1
chapter 2. Selling Fear: The Not So Hidden Persuaders 28
chapter 3. Civil Liberties versus National Security 60
chapter 4. Selling the Iraq War 93
chapter 5. Preventing Attacks against the Homeland 125
chapter 6. Preparing for the Next Attack 152
chapter 7. Mass-Mediated Politics of Counterterrorism 182
postscript. President Obama: Underselling Fear? 201
Notes 211
References 221
Index 233
Appendixes are available online at
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/nacos/.

Illustrations
Tables
7.1 News messages by domestic sources on terrorism
(percentage) 184
7.2 Number of TV news segments and messages 187
Figures
2.1 TV news coverage of offi cial terror alert changes,
by placement 39
2.2 TV news coverage of offi cial terror alert changes, by airtime 40
2.3 TV news: Threat messages, by source 41
2.4 Concern about more major terrorist attacks 43
2.5 Concern about terrorist threat, by race 45
2.6 Concern about terrorist threat, by party (“Great deal”) 47
2.7 Concern about terrorist attacks 48
2.8 Presidential approval and terrorism 49
2.9 Concern about more major terror attacks, October 2001–
December 2004 52
2.10 Likelihood of attack in the next few months, October 2001–
December 2004 53
2.11 Worry about becoming a victim of terrorism, October 2001–
December 2004 54
2.12 Terrorism and approval of Bush, October 2001–
December 2004 55
3.1 News: Sources in security/civil liberties news 73
viii Illustrations
3.2 News: Positions on security/civil liberties 74
3.3 N ews: Specifi c counterterrorism/homeland security
|measures 75
3.4 Public opinion on trade-offs: Liberty vs. security 79
3.5 In order to curb terrorism in this country, do you think it will be
necessary for the average person to give up some civil liberties?
By party ID (“Yes, it is necessary”) 81
3.6 In order to curb terrorism in this country, do you think it will be
necessary for the average person to give up some civil liberties?
By race (“Yes, it is necessary”) 82
3.7 In order to curb terrorism in this country, do you think it will be
necessary for the average person to give up some civil liberties?
By education (“Yes, it is necessary”) 84
3.8 The necessity to give up civil liberties in order to curb terrorism,
October 2001–December 2004 86
3.9 Favor increased monitoring to prevent terrorism,
October 2001–December 2004 87
4.1 Sources in pre–Iraq War news 103
4.2 Subjects of news media messages 106
4.3 Saddam Hussein/Osama bin Laden: ABC and
administration 110
4.4 War on terrorism/terror: ABC and administration 111
4.5 Public opinion: Iraq and weapons of mass destruction 115
4.6 Public opinion: Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s threat,
October 2001–March 2003 116
4.7 Having U.S. forces take military action against Iraq to force
Saddam Hussein from power? By race (“Favor”) 117
4.8 Having U.S. forces take military action against Iraq to force
Saddam Hussein from power? By party ID (“Favor”) 118
4.9 Military action against Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein,
October 2001–May 2003 121
5.1 Sources in terrorism prevention news 134
5.2 Areas of evaluation in prevention news 135
5.3 News message evaluations of prevention efforts 136
5.4 Public opinion: U.S. doing all it can to prevent future
terrorist attacks 139
5.5 Confi dence in government protection of one’s residential area
from terrorist attack, by race 142
Illustrations ix
5.6 Confi dence in government protection of one’s residential area
from terrorist attack, by party ID 143
5.7 C onfi dence in the ability of the U.S. to prevent further terrorist
attacks, October 2001–December 2004 145
5.8 Confi dence in U.S. government to protect from future terrorist
attacks, August 2005–March 2006 148
6.1 Sources in terrorism preparedness news 164
6.2 Evaluations of preparedness efforts in the news 164
6.3 Areas of preparedness/fi rst responders in the news 165
6.4 News coverage of Hurricane Katrina and terrorism, September
2005–February 2006 168
6.5 Public opinion: Terrorist attack and community emergency
response plan 171
6.6 U.S. prepared for future terrorist attack, by race 172
6.7 U.S. prepared for future terrorist attack, by party ID 173
6.8 Community has adequate emergency plan, by party ID 174
6.9 Community has adequate emergency plan, by race 175
6.10 Terrorism and Katrina: Bush approval and stories citing
“Hurricane Katrina,” “failure,” and “response,” August 2005–
August 2006 177
7.1 Threat of terror attacks and support for military action
against Iraq 193
7.2 Civil liberties and worry about becoming a victim
of terrorism 195