Terrorists in the News
After 9/11 Greg Mortenson received a message from the American embassy ordering U.S. "civilians to immediately evacuate the country the embassy called ' the most dangerous place for American nationals on Earth'" (Mortenson and Relin 273).
As Greg Mortenson noted earlier, the media circus descended on Pakistan, "a solid mass of caffeine and deadline-fueled humanity" (262) where "green reporters who know nothing about the region stand up on the roof in flak jackets and act like their backdrop of the Margala Hills is some kind of war zone instead of a place to take kids on the weekends" (264). When Mortenson met with reporters he "tried to talk about the root causes of the conflict--the lack of education in Pakistan, and the rise of the Wahhabi madrassas, and how that led to problems like terrorism" (266).
Do you think the media helped draw attention to the root cause of terrorism, or the lack of education, as Mortenson describes it, or do you think the media had another agenda? Why?
As Greg Mortenson noted earlier, the media circus descended on Pakistan, "a solid mass of caffeine and deadline-fueled humanity" (262) where "green reporters who know nothing about the region stand up on the roof in flak jackets and act like their backdrop of the Margala Hills is some kind of war zone instead of a place to take kids on the weekends" (264). When Mortenson met with reporters he "tried to talk about the root causes of the conflict--the lack of education in Pakistan, and the rise of the Wahhabi madrassas, and how that led to problems like terrorism" (266).
Do you think the media helped draw attention to the root cause of terrorism, or the lack of education, as Mortenson describes it, or do you think the media had another agenda? Why?
It is my belief that the media by and large had no interest in the root causes of the conflict and, pressured either by the fast approching deadlines or their own prejudices and fears, had no interest in finding out. That the average Pakistani or Afghan hates America and wants to blow it up makes a far better (or at least more audience attracting) story then the lack of education and so the media pursued its own agenda of appealing to its audience and ignored the truth altogether.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the media doesn't interested in looking for the cause of terrorism. This happens because the media don't wan to risk itself to go against the U.S. government. It will be dangerous for the media to do so. As a result, they prefer to be a cow which follow what other says instead of standing on their own feet.
ReplyDeleteI think the media barely touches on the real facts and truths going on with the whole terrorism subject. The media shows just a small factor and sometimes their stories aren't true, but, I believe the media is also filtered on what they can say so it cannot be completely their fault for this. Now with news being easily spread across on social networking sites people can see the real news for themselves which proves media on TV to not being 100% true.
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