Terrorism violence: assessing the impact of education programs through mass media on the adoption of security measures in Burkina Faso

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of mass media education programs (MEP) on the adoption of security measures in the context of terrorism in Burkina Faso. Using a questionnaire and guided interviews, we collected information from a sample of 412 individuals living in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The results suggest that caution was the most important security measure learned by the participants through MEP (39,6%), followed by collaboration with the army (30%) and reporting suspected behaviors to the authorities (20.8%). More importantly, individuals who were educated on terrorism through MEP display higher intentions to adopt security measures and tend to have positive attitudes toward the role of media in fighting terrorism violence. This finding clearly shows that for developing countries and all countries facing terrorism and lacking adequate counter-response tools, such as Burkina Faso, MEP should be an integral part of the system of public awareness to succeed in effectively countering this global threat.