Essay - The Effects of the Media on Terrorism Introduction Acts of...

The Effects of the Media on Terrorism

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Acts of anti-American terrorism are becoming increasingly common, and more and ***** are occurring on American soil, according to Columbia political scientist Brigitte L. Nacos (Nacos, 1995). According to *****, ***** rise in ***** is not a matter ***** flawed national security. It has more to do with the success that terrorists have enjoyed in exploiting the relationships among the media, public opinion and political decision-making (Nacos, 1994).

Nacos believes that ***** media is "the crucial link in the terrorist's 'calculus of violence,' particularly terrorist spectaculars--large actions aimed at Americans, like the Iran hostage crisis, the bomb*****g ***** PanAm Flight 103, and the hanging of hostage Lt. Colonel William Higgins in Lebanon (Nacos, 1994)." In these cases, she says, the terrorists "exploited the free American media. They got an extraordinary amount of attention--up ***** two-thirds ***** the network evening news devoted to the events. Newspapers were similarly devoted." This manipulation of public opinion can be very harmful, she says.

This paper will address the effects of the ***** on terrorism. ***** to Nacos (1995), government policy is ********** shaped by terrorist action, even in cases where a conflict of ********** between the safety of *****s and ***** interests of the nation exists. In *****se cases, the media presents political leaders with a dilemma.

***** opinion polls reveal that a majority of Ameri*****s agree that we should never ne*****iate with terrorists, but in a time of crisis ***** opinion flip-flops. The media's efforts usually enhance ***** public siding with victims. As this shows, terrorists have achieved their objective. ********** coerced government officials indirectly through the media (Nacos, *****)."

***** paper aims to examine ***** media's influence on *****, to determine whether or not the media should provide less coverage of terrorism or if they should c*****tinue to report the *****.

How ***** Media Works

In order ***** understand how terrorists use and manipulate the ***** to further their cause, it is important to look at how the media works (Morgan, 2002). For the television industry, the most important factor of business is ratings. News stations rely on rating points, which are determined ***** how many people watch their programs. News ***** make money through advertisers, so it is important to keep ***** high so ***** they can attract high-paying *****.

***** the television *****, new stations experience "sweep" months, which occur during February, May, July, and November (Morgan, *****). During these months, *****s stations broadcast ***** special reports, as they compete for viewers. If the news stations are unable to score enough ratings point, they may replace their news departments with fresh faces.

It is up to ***** stations ***** show the public what they want to see. Many people complain that there ***** too much sex and violence in the news, but the media argues that they are simply *****ing the public what it wants to see. If people did ***** ***** *****, the news ***** would not show it. In many