Terrorism and the Media

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror or unpredictable violence against governments, publics, or individuals, to attain a political objective. It is the cruelty of killing mass number of people for illogical reasons. It evolved from numerous attacks in the 20th century, to less frequent but more destructive assaults in the 21st century. In the 20th century, terrorism went through some great changes. The use of new technology such as automatic weapons and electrically bursting explosives encouraged terrorists to act violently and provided them with an easier way of attacking. At the time, attacks were mainly from groups trying to undermine or overthrow existing political institutions.

For many reactionary groups what has caused terrorism can be a mystery, but for other groups the main causes can be historical, cultural, religious, economic, social, and psychological. Generally democratic countries have been proven to be grounds for terrorism because of the open nature of their societies. In such societies people have fundamental rights, civil liberties are protected, and government control and constant inspection of the people and their activities are absent. Also by through the same reasons repressive societies, where the government closely monitors citizens and restricts their speech and movement, have often provided more difficult environments for terrorists.        

But even countries with strict police-enforced laws have not been immune to terrorism, even though they limit civil liberties and are against free speech and rights of assembly .However; today terrorism exists with different causes and purposes in mind. It has been used in anti-colonial conflicts such as in Ireland, Britain, Algeria and France. It is used when settling conflicts between different groups in possession of homeland such as Palestine & Israel. It is also used in religious disagreements in the case of the Catholics & Protestants in Northern Ireland and in internal conflicts between revolutionary forces and established governments, for example: Malaysia, Argentina, Iran, and Nicaragua.

Over the past couples of years terrorist have developed new tactics such as; portable bombs, suicide operative and weapons of mass destructions. These have been known to result in thousands of people being wounded or killed. Without a doubt the media plays a critical role to the society by providing the needed information, making announcement and giving instructions and warnings on important issues. Nevertheless in one way or the other media may contribute to the rise of terrorism especially when used wrongly.

Most people believe the news given by the media. So the media should be very careful before giving any news to the public. Although they cover important happenings in the entire world through radio, television, newspaper and internet, there is no use in creating emotional feelings among any public by exaggerating the happening and giving sensational news The media should re-examine their policy of covering terrorist attacks and not to broadcast them in a way that might serve the aims of the terrorist group, even if they do so unconsciously.. The news should satisfy all men and women and children of various age-group and status.

Unfortunately it is true that most reported news is bad news. We don't hear about the plane that landed safely or the car that made it to and from its destination without incident. In general there are bad news which can even cause psychological problems to

Although people are aware of these dangers, many are unable to resist news coverage of terrorist attacks. It is not yet known why the information is hard to resist. Some say that people are hoping for information because they are fearful of future attacks and want to be prepared; others say that people are watching and reading in an effort to digest and process the event. whatever the reason, it is important to understand the effects on the community that this type of exposure may have.

Research finds an association between watching media coverage of terrorist attacks and stress symptoms. However, most studies cannot answer the important question of whether watching television of the event makes people worse or if people who have more severe stress reactions are the ones who choose to watch more television coverage of the event But should the media stop broadcasting this terrifying news? This could be a serious; people need to be informed about all what is happening. Our life will remain incomplete without the media .But this does not mean that the media should air just any kind of news.  The media should re-examine their policy of covering terrorist attacks and not to broadcast them in a way that might serve the aims of the terrorist group. Although they do so unconsciously, this would make terrorism and mass killing more likely rather than less likely.

Without a doubt the media plays a critical role to the society at large by providing the needed information, making announcement and giving instructions and warnings on important issues. Most people believe the news given by the media. So the media should be very careful before giving any news to the public. Although they cover important happenings in the entire world through radio, television, newspaper and internet, there is no use in creating emotional feelings among any public by exaggerating the happening and giving sensational news. The media should re-examine their policy the news should satisfy all men and women and children of various age-group and status.

Unfortunately it is true that most reported news is bad news. We don't hear about the plane that landed safely or the car that made it to and from its destination without incident. There is no way to churn it but we can control the content we get/view. Every thing that a child sees or hears in the media early on in their lives affects them in some way. Too much trauma-related television viewing can have a negative impact, especially in children. Significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children.

It also desensitizes them to violence and makes them believe that the world is worse than it is. When children begin to think that this type of violence is normal behavior it becomes hard to change this thought later on in life. Media coverage of violent behaviors in children seems particularly high causing fear. This is similar to the studies of domestic violence where children who are exposed to violence either become offenders or victims because they believe that what they are exposed to is the norm.

The greatest service that the media can perform in the fight against terrorism is to act freely, independently and responsibly. This is a challenging task .Most of journalists in different parts of the world have been intimidated, kidnapped and assassinated so that they could be silenced. Forcing the media pay a heavy toll to terrorism.

Raising children is hard task this days and age. In some cases most parents get too wrapped up in their own lives to be overly concerned about what their children are doing. It gets harder adding all the outside media violence. Never the less, There are helpful guide for parents that do monitor their child's form of entertainment. There are some responsible companies that are taking steps to inform parents about the content of the entertainment. For instance, Cartridge locks developed by one company in 1990 prevent unsupervised access to video games.           

Moreover, several companies have also developed their own rating system for violence to help parents monitor their child's free time.  X-Unfit and XV (highly violent), PG and G ratings are the ratings from The National Coalition on Television Violence to rate video game violence.  Parents need to pay attention to their children's lives and not just sit them in front of the television. There is need to control what we hear and watch. Especially young generation need to be well guided so that they can develop in a sober mind and not be carried away by some of the confusing news and believes aired through the media and and the press. Keeping in mind that we are responsible for our own lives and we can control whatever gets into our minds.