Term paper on What To Do Terrorism And The Media

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What To Do?: Terrorism and the Media

Imagine you are a resident of Jerusalem, in the year 60 AD. You are taking

a walk throughout the marketplace doing your weekly shopping. You see a man

pull out a dagger and he yells ‘death to all Romans' and attacks a roman guard,

killing him in front of hundreds of spectators. The assassin quietly slips into

the crowd and is lost in a sea of people never to be found. The word of the

attack spreads and soon it is the talk of the town. Many more attacks on Romans

are made by the Sicarii and the Zealots. Sympathizers of the Romans slowly

disappear and their voices vanish from Jerusalem. The fear of terrorism grows

and Roman repression grows along with it, this in turn leads to the people of

Jerusalem to revolt in 70 AD (Miller V). If this attack had been made in some

dark alley with no spectators would the people react the way they did?

The marketplace of old Jerusalem, can be compared to the media of today.

What better place to get the public informed about your reasons and purpose for

attacks than the news. Albert gave a good definition of terrorist's objectives

when he stated: "Terrorists try to exercise influence over targeted officials on

nations through intimidation of the public and arousal of sympathy for the

social and political causes they espouse. Without widespread publicity,

terrorist acts can achieve neither of these effects" (Bandura, Albert qtd. In

Nacos 1). Terrorists need the news media to get the publicity, and the media is

a willing accomplice. The news media is an accessory to terrorism, and as such

they should develop a set of standards that will limit the terrorist ability to

get their message out to a large audience during terrorist situations; Also the

media should also point out police mistakes without over emphasizing them,

giving equal coverage to both sides of the issue.

Terrorism is the use of violence against innocents to bring about political

change through fear. It is a combination of indoctrination and drama. The

relationship between terrorism and the media is symbiotic. As terrorists

require widespread attention, the media needs news (Miller v-vi). Terrorism in

effect is a from of advertisement of the terrorists goals and what they want

accomplished. In 1980 the New York Times printed a total of 916 articles on

terrorist events. That means that terrorists were getting their message out

nearly three times a day to the American public(Miller 60). Terrorists have

usually used the media for four main reasons. The first reason is to have their

message heard and strike fear into their target group. The second is to win

over the publics support for their cause, by highlighting themes like, the

righteousness of their cause, and the assuredness of their victory. Third they

use media to disrupt government and security responses, by suggesting that they

are ov erreacting, and their efforts are counterproductive. Finally the fourth

is to raise the moral of their current members, raise recruitment, and encourage

more attacks (Alexander 30-31). John O' Sullivan gave this quote about media

and terrorism, "If the media were not there to explain their political and

social significance [their goals and motives], terrorism would cease to exist"

(Nacos 48).

With all the interaction between the media and terrorism an option being

considered by many governments is censorship of media's coverage of terrorist

events. During many terrorist incidents the police do not want all the

information that they have gathered to be released, for fear of the publics

safety, and the security of their future actions. One motive of terrorists is

to sway the publics belief in police forces dealing with the terrorist incident.

For that reason the printing of damaging articles and stories requires some

restraint (Alexander 36). An example of the media needing restraint occurred on

April 30, 1980, when a group of Arab secessionists captured the Iranian embassy

in London. As the SWAT teams began to move in their biggest advantage was the

element of surprise. But, that was almost destroyed by a cameraman from British

ITV (Independent Television) who got past the police barricade and broadcast a

live assault on the embassy. One can only speculate what would have happened if

the terrorists had been watching the television (Miller 28). Complete and total

censorship is not the answer. Schmid put it well in his book Violence as

Communication when he said:

In many countries it is likely that the level of terrorism will increase

rather than decrease after the introduction of terrorism. The increase is due

to the fact that...[terrorist] groups will feel freer to engage in terrorist

acts…since they can count on not being exposed and criticized by the local media.

The mass terrorism of Hitler and Stalin was possible because the people were

not fully aware of what was going on. Government imposed censorship on news of…

terrorism can, in our view, be a cure that is worse than the disease. (150)

A total blackout of media's coverage of terrorist events is not necessary,

if the media will reform its procedure for covering terrorist...

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