Hysteria against Terrorism:

Malpractice of Journalism in
Covering Terrorist Attacks
Catherine, Tingyu CHEN 26257408

Introduction
Journalism is meeting new expectations and challenges since the
beginning of 21st century, when terrorist attacks keep casting massive
shadows and trauma to the world (Elliott, 2004). Zelizer and Allan
(2003, p.2) suggest that when the outside world darkens, journalism
takes on its true colors. Journalism has a responsibility to help the
general public get out of past shadows.
However, some media have been overreacting to terrorist attacks.
Instead of presenting a gathering of chronological moments and
information, they are covering terrorist attacks in an inflammatory
way, which either cheerleads the hype, or deliberately exaggerates the
danger to create a sensation. The overreaction even brings negative
influences to gentle Muslims who are not threatening to social
harmony.
The hysteria of media regarding terrorist attacks does no good to
trauma recovery. When people are irritated or overwhelmed by the
reporting, the experience and comprehension become irreconcilable

and communication breaks down (Maclear, 1999). For a better

coverage of and recovery from the trauma, journalists should find a
means of appropriate expression.
In this essay I will talk about three different ways in which media have
been overreacting to terrorist attacks, which are improper assumptions
after attacks, inappropriate linkage between terrorism and Islam, and
inadequate language during the coverage. Journalism roles and its
relationship with terrorism will be enunciated.

Public

perception

and

the

coverage

of

terrorism
The process of public perception is influenced by the information they
receive. The process involves a construction of cognition shaped by
mass

media

sources.

In

the

context

of

political

and

mass

communication, frames influence how people understand, remember,

evaluate, and act upon a problem (Reese 2001).
The news is responsible for providing the pseudoenvironment upon
which we rely to experience and understand events we cannot observe
directly (Lippmann, 1965). In covering attempts by terrorist groups or
terrorism attacks, the theory of pseudoenvironment suggests that
readers build their own frames of the whole event out of the
information depicted by media coverages. However, media holds more
authorities in the coverage of terrorist attacks compared to other
issues, because readers are less likely to be on the spots in person due
to the abysmal living conditions in attacked areas. Under a similar
reason, the amount of other resources is also limited. With limited
information approaches, audience would believe in media more,
because they don't have alternative sources to depend on, either for

verification or for investigation. News frames are important in how

these events are reported, as they reflect a process of recurring
selection and emphasis in communicating perceived reality (Entman,
1993). So if a reporting is done with some predilection or assumptions,
audiences will probably be misled. In other words, readers see what
media portrays them, which is unnecessarily the real truth or the whole
truth.
In other words, on the issue of terrorist attacks, the pattern of media
coverage is able to influence public perception, either directly or
indirectly. However, some media are reacting to the issue in a radical
way. They are actually providing stage and exaggerating interest of
terrorists, which is to create panic and terror in the population or to
achieve recognition, legitimacy or publicity for views or grievances.
The malpractice of media can give legitimacy to terrorists, alienating
segments of the population (e.g. Muslims and non-Muslims) and
bringing excessive anxiety and panic.
Media controls the flow of information and is able to affect public
perception as well as creating public opinion (Allan, 2010). A calm tone
and accurate reporting help to stabilize publics mood and settle down
their emotions. Exaggeration or ungrounded assumptions should be
excluded from the coverage of terrorism attacks.

Three Kinds of Media Malpractice in Covering

Terrorism
Predilections and Improper Assumptions
During the process of delineating terrorism threats, some media tend
to highlight one interpretation while de-emphasizing a less favored
one (Papacharissi and de Fatima Oliveira, 2008, p.54). Media

highlights interpretations which causes more social response in order

to

get

more

attention

and

social

eminence.

Less

favored

interpretations are often the ones that can have less influence on the
public or less attractive to the public: media put less weigh on them so
media can make the most of their limited resources and make the most
profit. The imbalance of reporting or predilections is able to bring out
emotions, and the emotions activated by reporting can lead to
resultant trauma.
In the coverage of Lindt siege, which took place in Sydney, Australia in
2014, when more than ten customers were held hostage in a cafe by a
gunman who was believed to have Islamic religions because hostages
were seen holding an Islamic flag against the window of cafe, many
media infer that the incident may have underground linkage with ISIS
(Blacktown Sun, 2014), although there were no concrete evidence
suggesting that the gunman was a member of ISIS (Simon, 2014). The
coverage highlighted assumptions towards ISIS, while ignoring the less
favored lone-wolf explanation.
In this case, media acted as mouthpiece of ISIS although it wasnt their
original purpose at all. The inflammatory coverage acted as a free
advertising of ISIS. There werent strong evidence suggesting the corelationship between the gunman and ISIS, yet the media coverage
helped ISIS take credit of the whole event. This free advertisement was
adding to peoples fear towards ISIS, and fear was what the preestablished assumptions were catering to. Excessive public anxiety
was generated during the process which could lead to excessive
trauma. The trauma can worsen the wound and hurt the public again.
When media attributes lone wolf attacks to terrorist organisations,
they are amplifying the influence of the terrorist organization. The
attribution caters to publics fear against terrorists, whose attacks aim

at ordinary citizens indistinguishably, while every person has a

potential to be attacked. Besides, anti-terrorism is argued by Chomsky
(2002) as a filter of propaganda model. After the collapse of Soviet
Union in 1991, terrorism is gradually replacing communism as a social
control mechanism, provoking the general public and creating a sense
of bond and empathy.
Inappropriate linkage between terrorism and Islam
Another mistake emerged from the coverage of terrorist attacks is a
false linkage between terrorism and Islam. Since the 9-11 perpetrators
were Arab, Muslim brown others became the symbol of Islam to the
agenda setters in media, and thus becoming representative of Islam
(Powell, 2011). Since then, media has been repeatedly accusing
Muslims of all cases of terrorist attacks, and this kind of behavior is
emphasizing the stereotype that terrorists are Muslim at the same
time.
One way to link terrorism together with Islam is to label all attackers
are Muslim. Media may keep trying to dig out the Muslim background
of attackers, no matter the interpretations are strained or not. For
example, in 2009, a mass murder took place at Fort Hood, near Killeen,
Texas. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally
shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. The violence was
believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military
base (Cbsnews.com, 2009). Although military record listed no religious
preference on Hasans personnel records (McFadden, 2009), media
kept linking Hasan with Islam. The Telegraph stated that Hasan
attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church,
Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11
terrorists (Sherwell and Spillius, 2009). The Wall Street Journal stated
that Hasan communicated 10 to 20 times with a radical Islamic cleric

in Yemen (Perez and Johnson, 2009). Although The New York Times
pointed out that Hasan had no religious preference, it still interviewed
staffs at The Muslim Public Affairs Council on their comments on the
riot (McFadden, 2009). The link was finally made between al-Awlaki and
al-Qaeda (Esposito, Cole and Ross, 2009).
The label Muslim was applied early in coverage, regardless of the
degree of proof. For those who were Muslim, this identity was
repeated in every story, solidifying the connection between terrorism
and Islam (Powell, 2011). Media reinforces the bond between
terrorism and Islam, and is emphasizing the stereotype which may
have been generated from the previous biased coverages and has
been deeply embedded in the bottom of hearts of the general publics
since then. The prejudice and fear against normal Muslims in life is
enlarged by media, although normal Muslims are not threatening to the
nation at all. Besides, under long terms of biased reporting, Muslims
may be unconsciously influenced by the imbalanced coverages so that
they may start to regard themselves as anti-society and begin to be
harmful (Mamdani, 2002). The interaction between media coverage
and Muslim feedback may end in alienation between Muslim group and
non-Muslim group, leading to irreconcilable conflicts.
One possible reason to explain the tendency to link Muslim to Islam is
journalists lack of knowledge in Islam. Saidi (2007) argued that some
journalists may suffer from lack of knowledge about the faith and
people who believes in Islam. Besides, journalists themselves may be
influenced by the stereotype against Muslims as well. Powell (2011,
p.92) argued that western journalists, who were born under Orientalist
culture, may regard Muslims as the other. The suggestion is that
Muslims and westerners (no matter they are Christians or not) stand on
opposite grounds. In the last few decades, Arabs or brown, once
the signifier of an exoticism, now represents an negative Other

image when antagonisms are cast in cultural terms (Semati, 2010,

p. 257). The malpractice of consecutively linking Islam to terrorism
adds to peoples misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Muslims,
and may finally leads to huger social disturbances.
Inadequate language:
patriotism

paradox

of

cheerleading

and

Schmid (1983) stated that one of the major differences between

terrorist attacks and assassination is that assassinations have direct
target, yet terrorist attacks aim to create violence generally. For
terrorist attacks, their immediate human victims of violence are chosen
randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative of
symbolic targets) from a target population. The human victims can
serve as message generators (Schmid 1983, p.70) at the same time,
spreading fear towards the general public.
Because of this characteristic, terrorist attacks are able to generate
huge anxiety among the crowds. The huge influence and negativity are
good news values and a large number of stories from different
prospective are generated.
However, many news organizations have utilized inadequate language
to convey the message. They are doing what Cooper (2001) said as
Cheerleading rather than simply get the information across. Such
attempts have blurred what otherwise should have been a clear
distinction between editorializing and reporting (Zelizer and Allan
2003, p.11). Right after the 9-11 attack, several networks carried on-air
banners, logos or graphic with US flag flying, while some journalists
and news anchors began wearing ribbons of red, blue and white or flag
pins on their labels. Journalists and news anchors attempted to use
national flag or national flags color to cheer-up the crowds (Zelizer and
Allan, 2003). However, as Cooper (2001) said, journalists roles are not

to join the flag-wavers, but to report whats happened and ask

questions. Cheerleading ignites the public, yet delineates from
journalists role.
Cheerleading focuses more on expressing emotions rather than
revealing the truth. It is understandable why reporters and anchors
would wear ribbons or flagsbecause the trauma caused was
tremendous and they wanted to give their audience strengths. There
are ways to express support, and its definitely appropriate to engage
emotions and cheer-up the crowds in editorials. The boundary between
reporting and editorial should be clear, that editorial can have strong
explicit emotions but reporting should be neutral and balanced.
Editorials are written by individuals, yet reporting represents the
standpoint of the whole news agency. When cheerleading is conducted
in news-reporting, which is expected to be non-biased and neutral,
publics attention would be led to go from the incident itself to
sadness, fear, and even hatred. Cooper (2001) concluded this kind of
behavior as beating the drum of war.
After 10 years of 9-11 events, the malpractice is still performed today.
Right after the massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo on Wednesday January 7 in Paris, CBS put up huge photos with
flags waving on its websites (Cbsnews.com, 2015). Premier of France,
Manuel Valls, asked the media to report on the attack carefully, not to
influence the process of police investigation (Erlanger and Bilefsky,
2015).
Glassner (1999) suggests that media may help to perpetuate a
culture of fear. In a messy, uncertain, and violent world, patriotism
provides a ready-made discourse of safety (Allan and Zelizer 2003,
p.215). Public may turn to patriotism to find safety and a unified
identity. When media cater to this tendency by attributing more

sensationalized reporting, they are catering and fostering these

emotions at the same time. When emotions and contradictions are
aggravated, they can be out-of-control and do harm to the society.
Patriotism may finally evolve into Chauvinism, and other ills including
xenophobia, jingoism, violence, conquest and intolerance may also
apply (Allan and Zelizer, 2003).

Conclusion
Terrorism is a threat to human beings (Powell, 2011). Media, journalism
and terrorism coexist, where terrorism causes trauma and journalism
reveals the trauma terrorism has cast. Media and journalism bear the
responsibility to inform the public, alleviating the fear and warn the
possible attacks if possible.
However, when covering terrorist attacks, there are malpractices of
media which aggravate contradictions and cause hostility among the
crowds. In this essay three kinds of malpractices are discussed, which
are improper assumptions after attacks, inappropriate linkage between
terrorism and Islam, and inadequate language during the coverage.
The three ways, either delineate different social sectors, or sharpen
social panics. These are all pathological patterns of media reactions
towards terrorism and should be avoided.
As Hartcher (2014) states, They (terrorists) turn to terrorism to win
attention, to cause fear, and to use that fear to produce an
overreaction. That overreaction is the measure of their success.
Terrorism is a tool of the weak against the strong. It is designed to turn
the enemy's strength against itself. Media should never assist
terrorists to cause secondary attacks. Ungrounded assumptions and
inflammatory words should be totally dispelled from the coverage of
terrorism.

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