The Role Of Media Under Anti-terrorism Background And A Review Of It

Reporting truth is the responsibility of the mass media, while running after violence is the essence of them. To some degree, the mass media are one of the important external factors which influence contemporary terrorism. The irrespective characteristics determine a kind of "partnership" among them. Under anti-terrorism background, on one hand, terrorists try every means to use the mass media to propagandize their political ideas; On the other hand, they can also be regarded as one kind of valuable strategic resource in a government's anti-terrorism endeavors. So the mass media have been thrown into a dilemma. They want to play their part instead of being used as an instrument, but encounter numerous obstacles. Otherwise, the extensive media coverage has boosted the development of terrorism and has had some negative influences on the anti-terrorism operations by governments, although they play good roles in anti-terrorism operations sometimes. All of these make a demand to review the freedom of the press and the restriction on the freedom in anti-terrorism operations: freedom of the press isn't limitless, but anti-terrorism operations shouldn't restrict on freedom of the press either.