COMMUNICATION BY TERRORISTS
More ideas about what Corporate Communicators can learn from the effective terrorists’ communication and what communication means are available in case of a terrorist act in the book (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811304019#otherversion=9789811304026)
Although Terrorism can be seen as a strategic form of communication or public relations, (Corporate) Communication and terrorism are conceptually totally different forms of communication.
The terrorists’ ultimate goal is to exercise terror having an ideological (religious), political, psychological (perverted character), or emotional (e.g. personal revenge) goal in mind. Explicit intentions make terrorist communication strategy and tactics in two ways different from Corporate Communication:
- First, as far as the distinction between spectacular (terrorism) and participatory (CorporateCommunication) types of public sphere are concerned; and
- Second, in terms of the distinction between values-based (Corporate Communication) and power-based (terrorism) modes of address.
But terror constitutes a message, even if we do not like it, it is not legitimate, and even if the terrorists’ goals are not shared or approved by an overwhelming majority of people.
Still, the terrorists’ messages are frequently brought forward successfully, also because the terror activists are using state-of-the-art communication tools in an extremely effective way.
However, in times, in which the media have “to invent“ drama or scandals and in which morale and decency have lost their importance because the medias’ main goal is to sell copies or to increase the number of viewers, there is little optimism that the public will be willing voluntarily to neutralize the killers’ triumph by refusing to watch what is made available.
EFFECTIVENESS
The IS-killers address their multiple audiences and present their messages with utmost effectiveness. They achieve this by using smart manipulation of the common social media to ensure that their video appears on the screens before the viewers even knew what they are watching. In fact,the power of the terror messages is emerging from the reception, which they receive from their targeted audiences. This means that the whole terror strategy would totally fail when the terror videos would not be distributed, shared and watched.
The gruesome 2014 beheadings of six Western hostages by ISIS-fighters proved to be an important element of a chillingly effective communication strategy developed by cynical Islamic militants.
The killings were barbaric from a human standpoint but uniquely modern in terms of communication.
The ISIS-killers knew that millions of voyeuristic people would watch them, no matter how horrifying their actions and the pictures of these were. Even those people who sensibly decided not to watch the IS-videos were hardly able to avoid the mushrooming media analysis following the events.
In addition, there are two messages, which lie behind the entire gruesome spectacle:
- The terrorists’ communication is supposed to denote the powerlessness of the victim, and, by extension, the powerlessness of their families, fellow-believers, and governments to intervene;
- The other message, the importance of which must not be ignored, is to reassure the killers’ terrorist comrades and supporters, to gain new support, and to motivate other terrorists to engage in similar barbarian action.
LESSONS TO LEARN
LEARNING AND DEFEATING
There two aspects of dealing with terror communication:
- First, it needs to be analysed whether there is something to learn from the terrorists’ successful communication strategies and tactics; and
- Second, it needs to be analysed what the practical communication / PR challenges are, which society, governments and (affected) companies face in response to and in their struggle against terrorism.
CORPORATECOMMUNICATION AND TERROR COMMUNICATION
It does not need to be emphasised that, on the one hand, the killings by the ISIS terrorists are barbaric from a human standpoint. Obviously, the ultimate single communication goal of terrorists is to exercise terror on the majority. This barbaric objective makes their communication strategy totally different from Corporate Communication activities.
There are two reasons why one should have a closer look at this stunning communication success:
- First, the question must be asked, whether there are lessons to be learnt by Corporate Communication practitioners from the terror communication’s success;
- Second,the terrorists’ communication practices must be carefully analysed in the process of defying an effective counter-communication strategy and plan.
One lesson is that Corporate Communication experts, if not have done so yet, must understand and use online media as professionally as terrorists to create better reactions from their target groups. Their goal must be that the company message reverberates technically as effectively as a terrorist’s message through the cyber-crowd.
Of course, a company message will never have the deplorable attraction of “horror“, but the principles are the same. The company’s objective in terms of communication effectiveness and impact must in principle be the same as for the terrorists’:To craft a message, which is so exciting (negatively, in the case of the terrorists), and positively (in the case of a company), that the online world takes note of it despite the information overload.
More ideas about what corporate communicators can learn from the effective terrorists’ communication and what communication means are available in case of a terrorist act in the book (https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811304019#otherversion=9789811304026)