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Ada Peter is an Assistant Professor, Media, Peace and National Security, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. She explores the processes of terrorism, violent extremism and conflicts to help governments curb terrorist acts and violent extremism and conflicts in her region. As a lead researcher of investigations on online communication and social change in developing nations, her research covers an array of topics, including civil wars, terrorism, insurgencies, cyber terrorism, cyber resilience, and security by other means. For instance, she uses algorithms to analyze online big data, which she thinks may help predict acts of terror and armed conflicts in some African countries. The principal settings of her study include Libya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, DRC and Nigeria; which have relatively high internet penetration but have experienced or are experiencing varying degrees of extremisms, violence-criminal violence, election-related violence, armed conflicts, short term crisis-in different political contexts-restrictive and collaborative contexts. She has received several regional and international fellowship awards on her research. The most recent award in 2017 was from the U.S Department of State, recognizing Dr. Peter as SUSI Scholar on U.S National Security and Policymaking in 2017.
Killing in the Name of Air Time? Global Mass Media’s Representation of ISIS
The relationship between the mass media and terrorist outfits, particularly ISIS, as symbiotic; that is, terrorists provide bloody emotional news, which the mass media uses to sell their products. Another, less convincing but prevalent criticism of the press, is that the attention they accord terrorist groups fuels further violence. Still others argue that globalization of the mass media, in a sense, contributes to the spread and enhancement of terrorist outfits’ ability to extend their reach, even to countries as far afield as Southeast Asia. This essay shows that, on the contrary, global media’s skewed reporting of terrorism serves to manufacture popular revulsion of terrorist acts and opposition to jihadists’ agendas.
