Media and Terrorism

Media and Terrorism

This case with terrorism is that for the purpose of spreading fear and for advancing political aims, terrorist organizations require the help of the media. In more cases than often, terrorist attacks are often localized and end to affect a few people only (Thussu & Freedman, 2012). The main goal and aim of terrorists and terrorist organizations is to spread messages to much more people than to those who were targeted and directly affected in the terrorists attacks. The media plays a crucial role in attaining this by spreading news of future attacks that are anticipated, attacks that have already been carried out, the aims and goals of terrorist organizations, and different news and stories about terrorists and terrorist organizations. The media can also be blamed to spread fear and advance the terrorist organizations by means of showcasing interviews of terrorists and of people who are involved in terrorist activities.

Margaret Thatcher, who is a former British Prime Minister famously referred to the publicity of media as the oxygen of terrorism (Sixth Framework Programme, 2008). According to her, this relationship is not one way, but rather encompasses a lot than what is seen and assumed. However, it is important to note that even though terrorism itself cannot be called the definite oxygen of media, the media does get a lot of profit and advantage from terrorism . The reason why media cannot be explicitly labeled as the oxygen of terrorism is because even if terrorism ended, the media would still exist and there would not be any radical changes in the way media platforms and organizations function. Media is greatly considered to be an attractive way of earning profits for the media organizations and coverage, and this is primarily due to the fact that that most of the ...