Bangkok--Feb 23--Weber Shandwick
21st Century Terror Part of National Geographic Channel’s Terrorism Week — airing every night @ 20:00 hrs from March 5 -11
There have been 3,000 terrorism-related deaths since 9/11. Terrorism in the 21st Century is changing. The targets, techniques and technology are evolving. Terrorists are bigger, broader, more dangerous, and more sophisticated. And just one mistake - one plot that slips under the radar — is all they need.
As part of National Geographic Channel’s exclusive ‘Terrorism Week’, airing every night @ 20:00 hrs from March 5-11 on UBC 24, Terrorism Week premieres on Sunday, March 5 with three back-to-back, hour-long episodes.
This intriguing new series explores modern terrorism's complex nature: Who are the new terrorists? What motivates them? How are they organised? What are the trends shaping tomorrow’s terrorist tactics today?
Each episode focuses on individual acts of terrorism and tells the story from the perspective of people on the inside. Intertwining real footage, compelling interviews with survivors and a first-hand account from a potential suicide bomber, Terrorism Week provides an in-depth look into global terrorism today.
Episodes include:
Al Qaeda Calling
Sunday, March 5 @ 20.00
Complex large-scale attacks have become the trademark of modern terrorism. Techniques have been tested and honed in attacks on New York (2001), Bali (2002), and Madrid (2004) and many other cities around the world. Terrorists don’t need Osama bin Laden’s organisation to finance or organise mass attacks on civilians. Their methods don’t need to be high tech or ambitious to have a lethal impact. Ubiquitous technology such as the mobile phone has become a weapon of choice for today’s terrorists. The small handset not only allows them to communicate, take reconnaissance pictures, but also to trigger bombs simultaneously, causing indiscriminate killing on a mass scale. Al Qaeda Calling looks in detail at the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, when ten explosive devices triggered by mobile phones on four busy trains killed 191 commuters, only four days before the general election.
Hostage TV
Sunday, March 5 @ 21.00
Modern terrorists now operate in an increasingly sophisticated manner - in terms of planning, targeting, equipment and execution of attacks. A crucial part of hostage-taking is the use of modern media technology, in particular the manipulation of Western media in an increasingly sophisticated manner, to get the terrorists' message across. These events are all taking place under the spotlight of the world's press. Detailing the Moscow Theatre Siege and the Beslan Massacre, this episode looks at the psychological warfare and power play tactics used to illustrate today's advanced hostage-taking strategies. It also examines the recent wave of hostage-taking incidents in Iraq. French journalists George Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot were held hostage in Iraq for 124 days. Now they reveal the emotional truth about the hostage experience, and illuminate how video technology and the internet have ‘revolutionised’ hostage negotiation in the 21st century.
Suicide Web
Sunday, March 5 @ 22.00
Terrorism in the 21st century exists beyond international boundaries. All that’s needed to establish a global presence is the most sweeping of today’s technologies - the internet. Within the World Wide Web, terrorist organisations like al Qaeda have found a powerful tool ideally suited to hooking new recruits, brainwashing them, and teaching them how to become foot soldiers for the terrorist movement. The most potent of all are the suicide bombers… ready to strike anytime, anywhere, and without warning. Suicide Web focuses in detail on the London suicide bomb attacks of 7th July 2005 to show how terrorist ideology is spread and acted upon across the globe, in the most shocking way imaginable. Following al Qaeda ideology and tactics, four men blow themselves up on London’s public transportation at the height of the morning rush hour. They kill 56 people including themselves, injure 700, and succeed in shutting down the public transportation and mobile communications systems in one of the West’s most important cities. The psychology of the suicide bomber is also explored through first-hand interviews with those whom fate has spared. Their fear may be gone, but the psychological impact they and their kind inflict on society is sheer terror.
Additional program airings:
UBC Channel 24
Al Qaeda Calling:
Sun, March 5 @ 24.00 / Wed, March 8 @ 20.00 & 24.00 / Sun, March 12 @ 10:00 / Wed, March 15 @ 10.00
Hostage TV:
Mon, March 6 @ 01.00 / Thurs, March 9 @ 20.00 & 24.00 / Sun, March 12 @ 14:00 / Thurs, March 16 @ 10.00
Suicide Web:
Mon, March 6 @ 02.00 / Fri, March 10 @ 20.00 & 24.00 / Sun, March 12 @ 15:00 / Fri, March 17 @ 10.00
For more information, please contact:
National Geographic Channel Asia Weber Shandwick Thailand
Ritthichart Silaraks Neal McCarthy, Managing Director or
Sr. Manager — Distribution & Sarinya Sarasuddhi, Consultant
Network Development Tel: +662 287 1000 ext. 238, 232
Tel. +852 2621 8890 [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]
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