Social representation of threat in extended media ecology: Sochi 2014 olympics, jihadist deeds, and online propaganda

The links between media and terrorism have been researched extensively. Yet, research on propaganda content spreading throughout online media environment and across media platforms is still emerging. Particularly, there needs to be an analysis of how messages are developed across media on reactions to extremist attacks and propaganda as seen in the conversations of microbloggers---users who exchange content via short texts, images, or links. This dissertation employed semiotics, social representations theory, and minority influence to explore how the images and language content from the terrorist attacks (29 -- 30 December 2013) and their extremist online propaganda video (18 January 2014) against the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics translated to mainstream media platforms and Twitter. This exploration unveiled themes of martyrdom, patriotism, and the call to jihad; and how these concepts translated to different media platforms. Of note is the emphasis on fear and resilience as psychological constructs; both displayed throughout the prescribed timeline among different audiences across media. This provides an ecologically valid transmedia representation and serial reproduction of the jihadist message-spreading phenomenon in question. This dissertation adapted Cantril's study of fear and informed skepticism, as well as Bartlett's study in conventionalization and serial reproduction methodology. The application of these early theories in psychology related to cognition, along with contemporary media platforms and dynamics, provided a needed revision of these two studies---particularly in the research field approaching jihadist online activities within social media. Additionally, from a violence standpoint, findings from this study suggest that (a) the threat is nearly as effective as the act itself---especially if they complement each other; (b) succeeding threats may augment the threat level perception, increasing the footprint of the threat created by the video propaganda; (c) extremist organizations can benefit from amplified media platforms prior to high profile events (e.g., Olympics, elections, etc.), despite the assurance of high-level security provided for these events. Lastly, having designed a time series study looking at cross-media platforms will not only advance media psychology scholarship but should also prove to be applicable and relevant to the research community as a whole.