Citation

Scott JL. Def. Peace Econ. 2001; 12(3): 215-227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10430710108404985

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the early 1980s scholars and laymen expected an explosion of terrorism fed by media attention. Instead, the quantity of terrorism settled into familiar patterns, rather than spiraling upward. This paper attempts to explain why the dire predictions did not come to pass. We develop theory that explains how terrorists compete for media attention. We find that in equilibrium terrorists congest the media, limiting the benefits of additional terrorist incidents. Data from 1969 to 1984 substantiate our theoretical result. During the period, when the media provided more coverage to one terrorist incident, they provided less coverage on other incidents.