Social and Emotional Intelligence as Factors in Terrorist Propaganda: An Analysis of the Way Mass Media Portrays the Behavior of Islamic Terrorist Groups

Claudiu Coman, Felicia Andrioni, Roxana-Catalina Ghita and Maria Cristina Bularca
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Claudiu Coman: Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036 Brașov, Romania
Felicia Andrioni: Faculty of Sciences, University of Petroșani, 332006 Petroșani, Romania
Roxana-Catalina Ghita: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania
Maria Cristina Bularca: Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036 Brașov, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: In the era of speed and technology, mass media has an important role in keeping people informed about events happening all around the world, but also in shaping their opinion. One of the main issues that mass-media focuses on is represented by terrorist propaganda. Nowadays, terrorist attacks have become more frequent, and we argue that, due to their social and emotional intelligence, terrorists have the power to manipulate not only people but also mass media. The purpose of our paper was to assess the way Romanian and foreign online mass-media channels present information about Islamic terrorist groups and the activities developed by them, in order to raise awareness about the matter of propaganda and the role of mass media in promoting it. In order to conduct the research, content analysis was used as a method. A total of 36 news presented online by Romanian and foreign mass-media channels were analyzed. The result of the research revealed that Romanian mass-media channels focus more on using words with aggressive content, and that foreign mass-media channels focus on religious and cultural-geographic content. Therefore, the results of the research revealed that the way mass media presents terrorist attacks can unintentionally contribute to the promotion of terrorist propaganda.

Keywords: mass-media; propaganda; terrorism; social intelligence; emotional intelligence; communication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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