In response to the conventional yet untested wisdom that a greater amount of mass media publicity contributes to the increasing legitimization of in surgent activities which in turn results in the prevalence of political violence, this study provides a systematic analysis of both quantity and quality media coverage of the terrorist violence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the character of this violence, and the relationship between media publicity and this violence over time. This study suggests that the media are not willing conduits of terrorists' campaign for violence. However, the fact that they are not supportive of terrorism does not necessarily exonerate them from being considered useful by terrorists. The implica tions of this study to media institutions are discussed.
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