The media plays a huge role of entertaining, educating as well as informing the masses of matters going on around them. As a result, the media plays a role in various sectors and groups in the community, which also includes playing a particular role in terrorism and international terrorism. Various authors, as well as scholars, have written articles and pieces on the role media plays in terrorism and have expressed particular sentiments and facts about the same. In the recent history, it has been established that the media and terrorism appear to have some symbiotic relationship, whereby both mutually benefit from the activities of the other. Among the roles that the media plays with regards to terrorism is providing or enabling terror groups and terrorist activities to be given recognition and attention. By covering terror attacks, the events, misfortunes that face people and how these individuals are being terrorized, the media gives recognition to the terrorists since it makes such people known to the public as well as their activities.
According to Jason Burke (2016), terrorists have identified the media as a platform for making known their existence as well as their activities of terrorism. Burke argues that terrorists conduct terror attacks and record the footage knowing very well that they will get an audience because of media’s attempts to attract viewership as well as readership by showing such footage an example being the renowned TV Station Al-Jazeera. Burke (2016) writes that Merah was self-assured that the material would be broadcasted by Al-Jazeera. This repeatedly revealed “massacres and bombs and suchlike” (Burke 2016). This goes to show that terrorists are confident that they would gain recognition as well as attention through the media thus the media’s role in facilitating recognition and attention gaining for terrorists thus terrorism. However, in the article, Burke mentions that Al-Jazeera did not play Merah’s clip for lack of new information, which goes to show another role of media in terrorism, which is to try and diminish the availability of horrible terror videos and images (Burke, 2016).
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The media attempts to protect the members of public from graphic images that may cause emotional distress, thus playing the role of diminishing terror activities by denying terrorist airtime (Burke, 2016). Besides, when the media fails to cover or broadcast terror attacks as well as other activities by terrorists, those activities fail to gain meaning to the larger population, whom the terror attacks are directed to. Based on that, it has been established that the media also plays a vital role in giving meaning or significance to the activities of terrorists. Also, the media plays an essential role in aiding or facilitating the goal achievement of terrorists.
According to research, the main aim or goal that is primary to the interest of terrorists is an audience, not the victims, and the emphasis is usually on how that audience reacts is of equal significance to the act of terror itself. Therefore, when the media gives terrorists the attention and recognition they want through broadcasting terror attacks, it aids in the achievement of some of the primary goals of terrorists, thus media’s role in terrorism. However, the media has a responsibility to its viewers to disseminate all information to them including that of terrorism. Therefore, the media also play the role of informing the masses or public of terrorist activities making them more vigilant. Making the masses more vigilant enables them to better prepare for terror attacks thus preventing or reducing the number of causalities during terror attacks thus the role of media in curbing terrorism.
In conclusion, it is hard to define what is meant when discussing terrorism majorly because of two major facts. The first fact is that defining terrorism is challenging regarding specifying the difference in motives, targets as well as methods in different cases (Clarke, 2009). The second fact is that there are many complexities in the untangling of the overlaps within each of the mentioned categories that make it difficult or virtually impossible to define terrorism. Therefore, the interplay of the various angles and dynamics of terrorism such as motives, targets and methods employed, defining terrorism has been virtually impossible thus the controversies surrounding various terror attacks .
References
Burke, J. (2016, February 25). How the changing media is changing terrorism. thegurdian . Retrieved July 12, 2017, from, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/how-changing-media-changing-terrorism
Clarke, L. (2009, May 14). Why has Defining Terrorism Proved so Difficult? E-International Relation Students . Retrieved July 12, 2017, from, http://www.e-ir.info/2009/05/14/why-has-defining-terrorism-proved-so-difficult/
