While we've long known that the strategies of terrorism rely heavily on media coverage of attacks, "Selling Fear" is the first detailed look at the role played by media in counterterrorism - and the ways that, in the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration manipulated coverage to maintain a climate of fear. Drawing on in-depth analysis of counterterrorism in the years after 9/11 - including the issuance of terror alerts and the decision to invade Iraq - the authors present a compelling case that the Bush administration hyped fear, while obscuring civil liberties abuses and concrete issues of preparedness. The media, meanwhile, largely abdicated its watchdog role, choosing to amplify the administration's message while downplaying issues that might have called the administration's statements and strategies into question. The book extends through Hurricane Katrina, and the more skeptical coverage that followed, then the first year of the Obama administration, when an increasingly partisan political environment presented the media, and the public, with new problems of reporting and interpretation. "Selling Fear" is a hard-hitting analysis of the intertwined failures of government and media - and their costs to our nation.

About the Author
Brigitte L. Nacos is professor of political science at Columbia University and the author of five books. Yaeli Bloch-Elkon is assistant professor of political science and communications and an associate research scholar at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, both at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Robert Y. Shapiro is professor of political science at Columbia University and the author of two books.

Reviews
"Destined to be the source for media coverage and polling trends during the Bush-Iraq era." (Lance Bennett, University of Washington)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226567198
Author Brigitte L. Nacos
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 397g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 15mm * 2mm