Is the Media inadvertantly helping terrorism?

Question

My dad said a few interesting things to me yesterday. He said that some tapes that terrorists make and distribute to others almost always are spoken in code. As in, the terrorists are using codes to give messages to eachother and sometimes those messages can be orders to put terroist plans into action. Then he said that when the media gets a hold of tapes of .... let's say Osama Bin Laden speaking they run them almost 24/7 and announce to the people what was said in the tapes. Now lets switch gears a bit....

My dad also brought up one more good point. The main target of terrorism is to create... you guessed it, terror and fear. The kind of terrorists like Osama Bin Laden know that the best thing they could probably do is to get onto American Tv to create that terror and paranoia through their tapes.

Now, between using tapes to potentially send codes to other terrorists over public TV and using the tapes to cause fear and widespread terror, is the media not being used as the perfect tool to spread terrorism?

Maybe news stations should not air certain tapes or convey certain messages that were on the tapes to the country and world.

I am not saying they should keep us in the dark, but maybe they could mention tapes that were made and not go into the full context of every word on the tape.

Could the media possibly aid terrorism after all?

I dont want any personal attacks towards my father or me so please dont. If you dont agree then state so firmly and give educated and unbiased reasons please. No slandering.

now, the 3rd answer brought up the same question i did to my dad:

People would turn this into a censorship issue, right?

sadly yes but i am not trying to promote censorship, just proposing a theory here.

Answer 1

They aid terrorism every day.

I wish the media wouldn't give key information about the location of US troops. It puts the US troops in danger as well as the US citizens.

Though they do have to report the news, I don't need to know the position of US troops in Iraq. Let the troops do their job.

Answer 2

Your dad is right on, in both points.

I'll add a couple of other examples:
1.
The news media tends to borrow reports from other news organizations, many times without checking the facts (thinking that if its already been printed or broadcasted, its true).
This has bitten the media many times when it was later discovered that the so-called facts were fabricated.

2.
News media who are given permission to cover events say, in Lebanon (like last summer) are usually shown staged events which make Israel look like terrorists.

Finally - I believe it was stupid to have let the media go with the troops when we invaded Iraq.
Our troops had a hard enough time protecting their own without having to worry about journalists.
Besides, while I am ad advocate for a free press, I do believe that in wartime, there should be a blackout to protect the troops.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure we are not the only ones on American TV and here on the internet. Information shared as aide? In my opinion, it is truly possible. Your Dad sounds kool. Atleast he is thinking and asking questions like yourself. Good job!

Answer 4

It's not just your father. The media has been helping terrorism from day 1.

Answer 5

This is silly at best and a rationalization for censorship at worst.

It was Ronald Reagan who was fond of saying that there has never been a right taken away by government that has ever been restored. Think hard on that.