Public Fear of Terrorism

IntroductionTerrorism has become a global challenge, which must be fought by collaborative efforts. Indeed the war against terrorist act takes numerous a nonher(prenominal) forms and shapes. For instance plot of land traditionally the fatherland security has been bear on with fighting terrorism from a military point of view t here(predicate) is a need for it to be empowered to better deal with terrorism from different dimensions. A impudent challenge is emerging that is, the way the media is handling the terrorism and in particular how it reports and covers terrorism incidences.Media plays a rattling important role in shaping mankind opinion in many issues including terrorism. Media coverage of terrorist activities shapes how terrorism events are constructed in the minds of the public. Of late there are clear indications of general attention in the public to the extent that, whatever the media reports, is seen as a representation of the echt situation on the ground. The re is alot of givingdom in the media. With so many freelance journalists who are eager to make an extra dime at the expense of the general public.Indeed, there is little control over the journalists particularly the freelance journalists. The sad referee has little control over the travel of claimation to the general public. The seemingly free-flow for intelligence activity in the media means that, whoever comes emerge with the best intelligence information is likely to receive the close to attention. The desire for news has seen the freelance journalists keen on making quick money wound journalism code of conduct and thereof failing to put into reflexion professionalism solely become only concerned ab away getting the most enticing news.Unlike in the past when the media would take the time to censor the news they released to the public, nowadays around television channels air round unexpurgated images. This has massively impacted negatively on the media authentici ty. Some media houses are slight concerned about the moral implications of such images to the general public. Irresponsible coverage of terrorism activities affects the public by inflicting timidity amongst the public especially the unexpurgated images and broadcasts zoomed by television channels and the earnings. The consistency with which such images are airy has also come to prevail a bearing on the increase fear levels amongst the general public.Indeed most media houses flout media rules and are only concerned with getting the mission accomplished. The criminal justice has largely become incapable of reigning on the media. This domiciliate be explained by lack of powerful laws to deal with emerging challenges. One area where law enforcers are cladding challenges when it comes to reigning on offenders who violate the media laws is the fact that, some of the sources of the media images and reports which turn out to have negative effect on the general public embark on ou tside the US and those local media houses which air them bear no province as they act as third parties and are in no way responsible for the contents of the reports (White, Jonathan, 2006).With globalization the world has become a small village whereby information is exchanged within a very short time. As a result, most of the information which reaches the Ameri lowlife public, does not necessarily originate within America media. The truth of the matter is that, Americans have a choice to tune into any media channel they feel free to. This is not in any way regulated by the enunciate and as such, what the public consumes in terms of information cannot be filtered by state law enforcement agents (Nicholas, William, 2005).Taking the example of international media houses, which broadcast, to the whole world, they are in the first place not bound by the American laws nor can the American public be denied access to such. As a result, whatever information they broadcast concerning terro rism ends up being consumed by the American public. This is very hard to regulate. The advancement of the net has brought with it very complex challenges especially in terms of authenticity.It is very hard to know which source to trust. With the craving for news, the public tends to search for any site, whether incredible or not which purports to inform the public. There are many bogus websites which go to the lengths of capturing live some terrible terrorism activities such as beheading of those captured by terrorists. As a result, this has really formed a great avenue for fear amongst the general American public. In addition, there are not many programs or efforts designed to pre-empty the propaganda which some websites linked to terrorists desire to perpetrate in the American public.The other major problem is the fact that, the laws governing the internet use are at best lax and are not effective to deal with those who decide to use the internet as a media of perpetrating fear a mongst the general American public. Efforts of the government to curb the use of Internet as a propaganda tool led to the introduction of amendments to the privacy acts. As a result, the government has come under fierce criticism for infringing on the rights of people to access information. This shows how challenging the fight against the phenomenon has become.In addition the media has strong unions here in the US which means that, it is not easy for the criminal justice to intervene even in cases where it is evident that, the media is causing a great measure of suffering to the public through the broadcasting of information which is uncensored. The homeland security has a duty to intervene in the dilemma but only to the extent whereby the source of such negligence lies within its jurisdiction. globalisation and a culture of consumerism in the American society makes it impossible for the homeland security to impose any meaningful checks and balances to protect Americans from suffe ring from the fear that has gripped the general American public (Nakaya, Andea, 2005). Indeed, the public cannot be practically protected from the effects of bad media practices today. It is up to the public to learn to choose what they can listen to or watch.Recommendation for solving the above problem include the portraiture of tough laws which would see only the most professional media houses get the licence to broadcast in the US. In addition the homeland security should take up in awareness campaigns meant to make the public to understand that, not each media source has credible and correct coverage on terrorism and that some media sources are actually being used by terrorists for propaganda purposes and believing in them is giving credibility to the terrorists. In conclusion, there is a need for the criminal justice to work with the information department to reign on the media houses which if unbridled are likely to continue inflicting fear on the public and therefore af fect public support on the war against terrorism.ReferenceNakaya, Andea, C. Ed (2005). native land Security. Detroit Greenhaven Press pp. 191.Nicholas, William C. ed. (2005). Homeland Security Law and policy. Springfield. Pp. 377.White, Jonathan. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Wadsworth (5th ed.). calcium Thomson.