Manama: Muhannad Sulaiman, the head of Bahrain News Agency (BNA), believes the media has a responsibility to stifle the voices of terrorists by not giving them a platform to air their views.
“The media writes the first draft of history and therefore, the way they cover an event is very important. It is now a highly complex world, where lines have been blurred and concepts manipulated and the media have to assume a huge responsibility. We in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are fully aware how media can be used by terrorists and their sympathisers and supporters. When your partners and associates agree with you, you feel more at ease and less concerned.”
Muhannad said that media in Bahrain and other GCC countries have been facing, with the dramatic increase in terror-linked incidents throughout the world, the formidable challenge of how best to deal with the tragic events as they unfolded and what kind of coverage they should give them.
“The dilemma of the media that are genuinely committed to accurate and objective information is how to reconcile between the people’s right to know what is happening around them as well as in other parts of the world and the traps cunningly placed by terror groups to use the media and obtain the maximum publicity for their ideology and for their deadly acts,” he said.
“The problem is that media cannot just ignore what happened. The proliferation of mobiles and tablets across the world has turned almost every person into a journalist ready to provide pictures and videos within minutes and sometimes seconds of the unfolding event.”
Faced with such fierce competition, the public media run the high risk of losing their credibility and importance if they do not cover events. “However, the public media have a deeper sense of responsibility towards society and the nation and therefore have to contemplate issues before they make decisions that could have disastrous effects. They need to make sure that their coverage meets their professional criteria and that it is accurate, comprehensive and well-balanced.”
In terrorism cases, the media has to make sure that they are not publishing any kind of propaganda, no matter how small it is, for those who perpetrated the attacks, Muhannad added.
“We see all acts of terror as evil, regardless of who is behind them or whom they are targeting. They cannot be explained or excused and they do not deserve to be highlighted in a way that gives extra points to those who plot, prepare or carry them out. Studies show that terrorist attacks provoke emotional responses from viewers. By covering these events, terrorists ensure they receive subtle publicity,” he said.
“Reporters should be well trained on how to draft a story that is not remotely sympathetic to terrorists or their supporters or sponsors. Editors should be able to read both the surface structure and the deep structure of international reports to make sure there are no loaded words or malign terms that, intentionally or unintentionally, glorify or praise terrorism, terrorists or terror groups.”
For example, Bahrain like other prominent media groups operating in the Gulf, refuse to call Daesh “Islamic State”, which is the term used by most western media outlets.
Muhannad Sulaiman |
“The group is neither Islamic nor does it have an official state,” Muhannad said.
“By repeating this name we are playing into the terrorists hands and helping them propagate their false ideology.”
He pointed out that various media outlets are unwittingly allowing themselves to be used as a mouthpiece for the terrorists.
Laure Sulaiman Sa’ab |
“The media should never accept to speak on their behalf, even if it means on losing a so-called scoop.”“Media can be a double-edged sword as it can also give terrorists the media aura that they did not deserve,” Lebanon National News Agency Director Laure Sulaiman Sa’ab said.
“This is especially so given that many media outlets competing for direct transmission of terrorism-related events to score a scoop and increase the number of readers and viewers, all at the expense of moral values and humanity.”
Zakaria Abdul Wahab |
Sharing the Malaysian experience, National News Agency (Bernama) Editor-in-Chief Zakaria Abdul Wahab said the agency was very careful about posting terror-related news.
“We have never carried any news that is deemed to benefit terrorism, and even the slightest unintentional hint towards glorifying terrorism is, strictly, no, no,” he said in his paper on “The Role of the Media in not Marketing Terrorism,” he said, quoted by Bernama.
The news agency, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary later this month, had been playing that role long before terrorism made the front pages worldwide, he added.
“Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religious country, Bernama and the mainstream media recognise the importance of promoting tolerance and harmony among all Malaysians,” he said. .
“No terrorist or extremist groups survive in Malaysia, and isolated cases that occurred were well-handled by the authorities,” he added.
Gulf media people have regularly voiced their opposition to letting the media guard down when confronting terrorism.
Bahrain’s former Information Minister Sameera Rajad last year said in Jordan that some Arab media outlets had indirectly promoted terror groups and their ideology.
“This helped them look much larger than they are,” she said at a conference.
“Terror groups are actively engaged in using social media to spread their poison, which calls for smart ideas by traditional media to counter them and to resist all dark ideologies and hate speeches. In fact, the media should highlight the fallacies of the claims made by terror groups. It is unfortunate that some media carry the messages of terror groups without even verifying their content or checking the claims thoroughly.”
Kuwaiti journalist Bader Al Khodhari insisted that the media has to assume their responsibilities in combating extremism through programmes and article promoting national unity and togetherness.
“The media is at the front of the fight against extremism and terrorism and we should all be aware that the combat is not purely military,” he said.
“The real fight is winning hearts and minds and the media is the most important tool to affect people’s emotions.”
Lebanon’s Information Minister Melhem Riachy, said that protecting media ethics was a serious challenge for mainstream media as digital media developed further.
“The evolution of mobile phone media applications has rendered every citizen a journalist; but unfortunately, this has somehow led citizens’ to lose their sense of humanity. For instance, people nowadays prefer video recording of incidents rather than helping the accident victims,” he said.
