The role of media in crisis negotiation with terrorist organizations

The Bachelor's thesis The role of media in crisis negotiation with terrorist organizations describes the complicated relationship between news media and terrorism. The first part of the thesis explains why media consider terrorism to be an attractive issue for media coverage and why terrorists need media. Furthermore, it defines the elementary principles of journalism ethics, which journalists should follow. The study focuses particularly on cases relating to negotiation with terrorist organizations for hostages' release. It also describes which roles media takes during the negotiation for hostages' release. In this context, the thesis deals with ethical issues concerning spreading terrorist's propaganda via media, censorship by the state of information about national security and terrorism, depiction of violence in media and invasion of victims privacy. In the second part of thesis, theoretical findings about media, journalism ethics and terrorism are applied to beheading videos of American, British and Japanese hostages, which were published by Islamic state in 2014 a 2015. The theses explains in depth, how media influence efforts for the release of Islamic state's hostages. It analyses ethical transgressions, which media committed in case of this issue