The Media and the War on Terrorism

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Recommended: Influence of media on public opinion

Look at the word terrorist. Think about it. Bisect it. A terrorist calls for terror. A terrorist builds fear, paranoia and anxiousness into people. The number of people who are effected by terrorism depends on who hears about it. Terrorists hope everyone will hear about their terrorist act. Through media's portrayal of terrorist attacks fear is instilled in a huge number of people. Media then aids the terrorist in sending terror and fear to all corners of the earth. One hundred, even fifty, years ago a terrorist act would not be publicized the way it is today. If the September 11 attack had happened in 1901 Europeans, Asians, Mexicans, Californians, all would not have heard about the acts to the same extent they did in 2001. The media brought the news of the terrorist attack to them. They may have gone about their lives, unaffected by events thousands of miles away. Through media's constant broadcasting of the events, the terror of September 11 has reached more people then if the media had not discussed it as much. The implications are controversial, hypothetical and difficult to resolve.

Television: the stage for terrorists

"Many of today's terrorists have learned an important lesson about this technological age: that television news organizations can be forced into becoming the link between terrorists and their audience" (127). All a terrorist needs is a crime that's newsworthy. Possibly calling for more dramatic and outrageous terrorist crimes then ever-seen in September 11's events. Combs wrote that "Terrorists benefits from what has been called the amplification effect" (128). When the media exposes the masses to their terror, it effects more people, therefore creating an amplification effect. For this reason they are more likely to commit crimes in large cities where more people will be exposed and more forms of media will be there to witness and broadcast the events. "Students of terrorism have suggested that the media today are in fact a contributing factor, a weapon, in the hands of modern terrorists" (128). If this is true then it is possible the media needs to rethink how it exposes the world to terrorist attacks.

The media's right to report

Combs reminds us that members of the media often claim the unlimited right to have access to and report on all news, including terrorist events (129). Without that right, the media, as a business, would fail to be up on breaking news.

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