The media's increasingly global reach, and its strong democratic potential for social and political engagement, have led to some academic and governmental concern that terrorist groups may also employ this useful tool to distribute information, promote ideas and organise their activities. This paper will concentrate on the struggle that the British and American governments have engaged in during the course of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq to successfully harness the potential of information and the media in order to counter the perceived rise in global terrorism. The paper will firstly present a brief discussion of terrorist attempts to harness this media potential, and how effectively they employ their methods to influence public opinion. It will follow this with an analysis of the British government's efforts to create an effective opposition to the perceived terrorist attempts influence media content, placing this within the context of its relations with Europe and America during the global War on Terrorism. The paper will stress the need to maintain the delicate balance between security and liberty in the media realm and will highlight some possible areas for concern in recent government media and information policy.