Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism

Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism1
Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism
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Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism2
Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism
Introduction
If we have a look around the world we realize that violence is being staged by various
actors against the civilians and the main intent is to foster suspicion of others and fear among the
general public. Political violence is a phrase that is commonly used to refer to any form of
violence either perpetrated by the governments or individuals to achieve political goals.
Terrorism on the other side has a definition that is closely related to political violence. According
to the dictionary, terrorism refers to the unlawful use of intimidation and violence, specifically
against citizens, to pursue political aims and objectives. The acts of terrorism and political
violence are very common in many countries all over the world and it is a dirty political strategy
that has even been used to influence the public perspectives on certain issues (Nacos, 2016). The
political class can use terrorism or perceived terrorist acts to push their agenda to the public
consciously. The media plays a critical role in reporting the acts of terrorism to the civilians. This
essay is a discussion of how the media should report the acts of terrorism. In discussing this I am
going to focus my attention on the historical media responses, changing media landscape and the
existence of several alternative ways the media can report the acts of terrorism. How the media
reports these acts of terrorism to the public plays a very crucial part in shaping the public
opinion. The media reporting does not only dictate what the civilians should think about but also
how they should think about terrorism.
Discussion
All over the world political violence and acts of terrorism have always been taking the
top priority in media reporting. Civilians in many countries perceived terrorism to be the most
significant threat to their routine activities. Politicians and political movements have taken

Role of Media in Political Violence and Terrorism3
advantage of this perception of terrorism to create suspicions among the citizens in order to gain
the support of their personal political agendas. This tense climate created for political purposes is
likely being contributed by the media reporting on the acts of terrorism hence it is very critical
for us to analyze and elaborate how the media is doing the reporting and recommend the
alternative ways they should take to alleviate this situation.
Let take an example of a historical terrorist attack that raised some concerns about how
the media reporting and the political authorities’ actions escalated the situations. The
Westminster attack that occurred in 22nd March 2017 can serve as a good example in this case.
Several famous personalities in journalism came out to raise their concerns on how the media
and the government reacted to this tragedy. Simon Jenkins who is a journalist in his statement in
the Guardian he wrote, “The actions of the authorities and the media in response to Wednesday
have ramped up the hysteria of terror this was ostensibly a random act by a lone player without
access even to a gun. To over-publicize and exaggerate such crimes is to be an accomplice after
the act. London’s response to the Westminster attack is an open invitation to every crazed
malcontent to try it again. ... ” According to Jenkins’s arguments, how we respond to terrorism
has a more prominent impact on the most decisive changes in the society than the terrorism act
(Walters, Mair and Lim, 2016). He argues that the media reporting was just a day after day
fascination with the terrible incident and the proprietor and this does not have any constructive
contribution to the society.
The reality of the matter is that terrorism historically does not always achieve the primary
goals of the perpetrator but it always achieves publicity from the media reporting and through it,
fear. Taking a close look of the London attack and how the media handled the situation then
anyone with the intentions of dramatically and swiftly publicizing an agenda or and find