Terrorists and their acts should not be given media publicity.
WMM CA10
Terrorists and their acts should not be given media publicity.
Terrorism is the act of targeting civilians with acts of violence intended to spread fear and coerce national populations and governments into fulfilling the terrorists’ political, religious or ideological goals.1 Often when these acts are carried out the mass media would be the first to report about these events. Often terrorism depends on media coverage to help spread its intended fear and spread awareness about its message and motives behind the attack.2 The relationship between terrorism and the media is still a relevant topic of today as terrorism is an ongoing threat that spares no country, and the media coverage it receives might be the reason it’s still alive and strong today. My stance would be that terrorists and their acts should not be given media coverage to a certain extent and I’ll explore the reasons why.
Terrorists should not be given much publicity as it gives terrorist groups false legitimacy. Terrorists are trying to become a legitimate representative of their own cause by having regular appearances in the media. By getting personal airtime through interviews and recorded videos and if the media frames their leader much like a “regular” leader would be framed, the audience might just believe they are as important as leaders. One example would be Al-Qaida’s Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri whom greatly used this tactic, by frequently sending videos to the media portraying themselves as leaders of the Muslim world. Many European media sources played these messages, and gave airtime for analyzing them. Some might argue that both sides in a war should be given equal airtime. But by proposing that the terrorist had equal arguments in a discussion, indirectly gave them equal footing with other legitimate leaders too. With legitimacy, it gives these leaders the strength to recruit more members who might have been slightly apprehensive about their capabilities before.
Hence,
Terrorists and their acts should not be given media publicity.
Terrorism is the act of targeting civilians with acts of violence intended to spread fear and coerce national populations and governments into fulfilling the terrorists’ political, religious or ideological goals.1 Often when these acts are carried out the mass media would be the first to report about these events. Often terrorism depends on media coverage to help spread its intended fear and spread awareness about its message and motives behind the attack.2 The relationship between terrorism and the media is still a relevant topic of today as terrorism is an ongoing threat that spares no country, and the media coverage it receives might be the reason it’s still alive and strong today. My stance would be that terrorists and their acts should not be given media coverage to a certain extent and I’ll explore the reasons why.
Terrorists should not be given much publicity as it gives terrorist groups false legitimacy. Terrorists are trying to become a legitimate representative of their own cause by having regular appearances in the media. By getting personal airtime through interviews and recorded videos and if the media frames their leader much like a “regular” leader would be framed, the audience might just believe they are as important as leaders. One example would be Al-Qaida’s Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri whom greatly used this tactic, by frequently sending videos to the media portraying themselves as leaders of the Muslim world. Many European media sources played these messages, and gave airtime for analyzing them. Some might argue that both sides in a war should be given equal airtime. But by proposing that the terrorist had equal arguments in a discussion, indirectly gave them equal footing with other legitimate leaders too. With legitimacy, it gives these leaders the strength to recruit more members who might have been slightly apprehensive about their capabilities before.
Hence,