Essay/Term paper: What to do?: terrorism and the media

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

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 activities. A
leader in this movement of self-censorship is CBS. CBS has set up a list of
guidelines that all the reporters must follow during terrorist situations (Alali
10). One option for the media to take is that there should be a consensus of
standards for covering terrorism stories. There are several parts to this
consensus and they are as follows: don't over exaggerate events that are already
sensational; the media should paraphrase terrorist demands so they do not get
all their political messages out; also they should not broadcast live coverage
of terrorist situations unless the head of the news department allows it. News
reporters should also have permission to talk with terrorists, and if there is
permission these interviews should not interfere with the ongoing negotiations.
The reporters should also be attentive to the warnings and orders of law
enforcement officials on the scene (Paletz 108). When all the media can set a
standard to live by a total blackout of coverage will not be needed. But, if a
total blackout of media's coverage of terrorist events becomes policy, many
believe that there will be abuses made by the police forces, that will go
unreported to the public and the proper authorities.
There are mistakes that the police forces make that need to be brought out
and made known to the public and the courts, so proper actions can be taken.
Liberal democrats believe that the police is responsible for the publics
scrutiny through the news media. It is believed by most of the media that they
should not make accusations that the police can not respond to for legal reasons.
Police agencies feel that reporting, exaggerations, and the threat of due
dates should not drive the content of news stories. They wish for equal
coverage of the terrorism and police actions. The police also require support
of society and to get it they need the support of the media, this aids them in
their counterattacking of terrorism. The police admit that their actions are not
the only ones which will resolve the problem, but both the police and the media
are committed to the maintenance of democracy, and how they act reflects that
commitment (Alexander 36). An example of when the police agencies fowled up a
hostage situation was in 1972, at the Munich Olympics. There were more press at
that incident then at any other terrorist attack in history. When the hostages
were moved to a local Airport the police made several mistakes which led to the
deaths of nine hostages and one policeman.(Miller 96).The press was there to
cover those mistakes and bring them to the public's attention. If there was no
media around these events would never have been reported and would have been
long forgotten and those at fault would never have been reprimanded for their
mistakes. Despite all of their mistakes being made public the police do not
wish for a total blackout of media coverage during terrorist events. The police
believe that the media can be a very helpful tool in helping them combat
terrorism. The media is a powerful tool for vanquishing rumors, clearing up
misinformation, and combat fear (Miller 7). While the media can sometimes hinder
the police it is also a great asset their for their disposal in combating terr
orism.
In conclusion, when the media emphasizes terrorist events it helps to
facilitate two of the universal goals of terrorist. The first is that the
terrorists gain publicity and attention is drawn to their cause. The second is
that when the media shows events and over exaggerates it influences public
attitudes about the root of their politically motivated violence. Brian M.
Jenkins summed up what terrorism is when he said "Terrorism is aimed at the
people watching, not the actual victims. Terrorism is theater" (Jenkins, Brian
M. qtd. In Nacos 75). Total censorship of terrorist events is not the cure, it
will lead to abuses by the police forces handling the cases. The only solution
is that the media needs to work out a set of morals that they follow when they
are covering terrorist actives. They need to be objective giving equal weight
on the terrorist activities and the police forces dealing with the terrorists.
They should not place too much emphasis on the police mistakes, while bring them
ou t into the public. The media needs to remain subjective and not let either
the terrorists or the law enforcement take control of what they report
Theodore H. White sums it up with this statement " …power in America today is
control of the media of communication" (White, Theodore H. qtd. In Nacos 16).

Works Cited

Ala, Odasuo A., and Kenoye Kelvin Eke, ed. Media Coverage of Terrorism. Newbury
Park: Sage Publications, 1991.

Alexander, Yonah, and Richard Latter, ed. Terrorism & the Media. New York:
Brassey's (US), Inc., 1990.

Miller, Abraham H., ed. Terrorism the Media and the Law. New York: Transnational
Publishers, 1982.

Nacos, Brigitte L. Terrorism and the media. New York: Columbia University Press,
1994.

Paletz, David L., and Alex P. Schmid, Eds. Terrorism and the Media. Sage:
Newbury Park, 1992. (P. 24)

Schmid, Alex P. and Janny de Graaf. Violence as Communication. Beverly Hills:
Sage Publications, 1982.