Terror, Media, and Moral Boundaries.

The relationship between terror and its presentation in the media is examined. The process of presenting terror is characterized as a method of challenging, negotiating, and redrawing moral boundaries. On the one hand, examining the terror-media relationship in this fashion enables us to transcend issues involved in taking a stand regarding the contents of specific acts of terror: On the other hand, making a stand regarding the nature of terror requires a moral decision. Any such stand regarding the content of terror, in terms of its explanation and justification, is thus based on a moral agenda that can be deciphered from the way it is presented. I use the case of political assassinations and executions to illustrate this terror-media connection through the conceptualization of negotiating moral boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]