A Comparative Analysis of Media Variances in Covering Terrorist Activities in the Middle East and the West

Abstract:

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and up to date, media has influenced and at times shaped history in different directions especially in regard to the interpretation and coverage of stares and mess. As an important agent of democracy, the media has shown the relevance of its transparency and equality principles in the coverage of events. With the ongoing war on terror, there is a need to have accurate reporting from the media since the information obtained goes a long way in not only helping in the fight against terrorism but as well as influencing different public opinions. However, there are variances ad instances of unequal coverage of terrorist activities that occur in the Middle East and the West. Therefore, this study taxied out an extensive comparative analysis of media variances in the coverage of terrorist activities in the Middle East and the West. The findings identified significant variances that occur in media reporting terrorist activities in the Middle East and the West. For instance, the international media tend to cover terrorist attacks in the West more sensitively, but terrorist activities and attacks in the Middle East are treated with normalcy, downplaying the suffering of the victims. The study also found out that the different variances created by the international media has significantly shaped the war on terror, mainly through the coverage of profiling. Subsequently, leading to the war on terror being inclined towards the Middle East, leading to effect like racial profiling, Islamophobia, violation of the sovereignty of Arab states and injustices inflicted on innocent people.