Keeping terrorist faces out of the papers does not prevent new attacks

30-07-2016
Judit Neurink
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The French paper Le Monde has decided to stop publishing pictures of terrorists so as to deprive them of a hero status. The idea being, terrorists gloat on getting exposure and to be known as martyrs after their departure to paradise.

Other French papers are considering whether to follow the example, and elsewhere in the West the discussion has started on the subject too.

At the same time, people have for some time been warning each other not to share videos of the Islamic group ISIS on Twitter and Facebook, especially those of executions and of foreigners in the group's captivity.
 
This is to make sure the exposure is limited, and propaganda will not reach those who might be vulnerable to the message of radical Islamic groups like ISIS.

The question is whether it works that way. Can you really limit the exposure, when a group like ISIS and others too have an active PR policy?
 
The problem is that those who have become interested in the discourse of these groups, will find their way to their publications anyway. They do not need to find them through the social media.

And if in the very first beginning of their infatuation they want to know more, they only need to search on the internet and will find all the propaganda that is freely available out there. Even through internet sites like Clarion.com, that archives videos and magazines of ISIS for research purposes.

Trying to keep information from people does not fit in this age of internet and social media. One of the consequences of this new way of life, in which internet in all its aspects plays such a big role, is that you cannot just switch it off.
 
I was part of a panel in the Netherlands recently where people talked about escaping from the news. Since attacks have become a regular phenomenon, more and more people in Europe cut themselves off from watching en listening to news programs.
 
Some even go as far as banishing their TV to the attic, stating that it has given them a lot more time and freedom.

But they admit to be in contact with friends through Facebook, so the news still reaches them that way.

And I guess the problem is, that what reaches them now are mainly headlines, so they are no longer informed in such a way that they understand what exactly is going on. Which could just work in the opposite way they intended, because being badly informed will just feed the fear. Fear for strangers, for violence, for the unknown.
 
It is the fear terrorist groups like ISIS feed on. On the one hand they want the world to be scared and worried about new attacks, to destablize it, create hate and division and thus be able to attract more people to the so called security of their so called ideal Muslim state. 

And the policy of the French press? Will it really work to deny the terrorists a hero status. Perhaps it would, if we were still living in the age of print media, and all information still reached us through printed newspapers next to perhaps some radio.

But in this age of internet, the pictures will reach the consumer in another way. And even if all news sites would agree on this policy, they would still reach many through social media and sites of radicals and their organizations.

And another reason why I fear it does not work is the fact that those terrorists who die will still be recognized as martyrs by their friends and fellow radicals. And that really is the most important for them in the first place.

If you want to be a hero, you do not die killing others. Even those who do so, know that for most of the western world they will be seen as crazy and religiously misled.

They do not drive into crowds with big lorries to get their face in the paper; they do it because they have been told they will be a martyr, God will be happy and they will go to paradise.

And copycats do not get inspired more because a newspaper publishes a picture of a guy they consider as their example, or social media post about him.

It is clear that the whole concept of why people conduct the attacks, how they are influenced, needs more explanation and research.

Not only to help media to make the right decisions, but even more importantly to help prevent the very thing these media worry about: that young people get attracted to radicals and feel obliged to kill and be killed.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.


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