Any info/input on how the role of media relates to Bill Buford's Among the Thugs?

From the text:

"They were used to the fact that the world was interested in them and accustomed to dealing with television and newspaper journalists in a way that few people, however educated in media matters, could hope to be. It was a perverse notion, but they believed that they were involved in a historical moment, that they were making history. And now that they didn't have to hide from me that their thing was violence - now that the pretense of being a good supporter could be abandoned - they all wanted to talk about it."