Faculty Bulletin

Rasha El-Ibiary, Adjunct Faculty Member in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, has published an article entitled “New Media, Geopolitics and Terror: Discursive Analysis of Bush and bin Laden’s Rhetoric,” Arab World Geographer, Vol. 14, no. 2 (2011) 215-233.

Abstract: Analyzing the mediated rhetoric of bin Laden and the United States and their media-utilization techniques, this study argues that both sides made use of mass media in promoting their respective ideological dichotomies of the world to further purely radical goals. To advance their respective political/military stratagems, both George W. Bush’s and Osama bin Laden’s geographical divisions of the world amplified their radical discourse, since the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric intersected with bin Laden’s conceptualization of the “two worlds,” stressing the disparities between Muslims and the West, inflating fear, and intimidating and destabilizing the world. Three media-related factors have aided this process. The first is fixing the label “terrorism” on non-state actors while excluding state violence from being treated as such. Second is the extensive use of the media by “terrorists,” aided by the symbiotic relationship binding the media with the terrorists. Third is the convergence of media and communication technologies—allowing the Internet to carry text, audio, and audio-visual messages, downloadable in multiple formats.