Do the Media Encourage Terrorism??
2 SEP 2002
DO THE MEDIA ENCOURAGE TERRORISM
There has been a lot of thought put into finding a more effective way to build intelligence efforts to make a stronger product for decisions of national security. The use of the media and worldwide reporters can be used in the effort to build more information on the intelligence products, but the usage will be limited. It is not very likely that the government of Pakistan will sponsor a column disclosing a list of nuclear assets every week, or that the Irish Republican Army will endorse a schedule of events for next weeks offensive maneuvers; but it is likely that many countries in the free world will encourage the disclosure of movements and known associations of terrorists. The same type of efforts and non-efforts of disclosure exist within the United States. The one way that the media could be used in intelligence efforts is in the war on terrorism.
The news media of American society does not encourage terrorism. The only thing that the media encourages is knowledge of what is going on around the world. Unfortunately, some terrorist organizations use the news media to gain recognition for their group's causes and goals. Most of the time, the media will serve as a force to gain citizen support for the government's actions against a terrorist movement. The only problem with having the freedom of press that the United States enjoys is that everyone has a voice.
The press has been used sometimes in the past to try and deter governmental action against the criminal or as an avenue to spread the terrorist's message. This was the case after the September 11th events when the American people were forced to watch Osama bin Laden talk about his views on Americans, and gloat over his victory while firemen were still trying to dig up American remains. The majority of Americans were not ready to stand for any action against any citizen even if the ideas of bin Laden were practical.
Even when it comes down to an
DO THE MEDIA ENCOURAGE TERRORISM
There has been a lot of thought put into finding a more effective way to build intelligence efforts to make a stronger product for decisions of national security. The use of the media and worldwide reporters can be used in the effort to build more information on the intelligence products, but the usage will be limited. It is not very likely that the government of Pakistan will sponsor a column disclosing a list of nuclear assets every week, or that the Irish Republican Army will endorse a schedule of events for next weeks offensive maneuvers; but it is likely that many countries in the free world will encourage the disclosure of movements and known associations of terrorists. The same type of efforts and non-efforts of disclosure exist within the United States. The one way that the media could be used in intelligence efforts is in the war on terrorism.
The news media of American society does not encourage terrorism. The only thing that the media encourages is knowledge of what is going on around the world. Unfortunately, some terrorist organizations use the news media to gain recognition for their group's causes and goals. Most of the time, the media will serve as a force to gain citizen support for the government's actions against a terrorist movement. The only problem with having the freedom of press that the United States enjoys is that everyone has a voice.
The press has been used sometimes in the past to try and deter governmental action against the criminal or as an avenue to spread the terrorist's message. This was the case after the September 11th events when the American people were forced to watch Osama bin Laden talk about his views on Americans, and gloat over his victory while firemen were still trying to dig up American remains. The majority of Americans were not ready to stand for any action against any citizen even if the ideas of bin Laden were practical.
Even when it comes down to an
Cited: Bender, David. CURRENT CONTROVERSIES: URBAN TERRORISM. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1996. Grosscup, Beau. THE NEWEST EXPLOSIONS OF TERRORISM. Far Hills: New Horizons, 1998.