( Must Read) How do the media shape public opinion on Terror Attacks?

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On April 15 when Boston, U.S. and almost the entire world was shocked on learning the news about the Marathon attack that claimed three lives, the number of people dying in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq,Nigeria and other restive regions of the world was much higher. The latter, however, were hardly mourned by anybody except their dear ones. Reflecting on this phenomenon experts speak about a catastrophic value gap, global conspiracy and public stereotypes. 

Every tragedy in the US usually overshadows any other incident in another part of the world, even if the latter is a far more tragic one. Acts of terror are relatively rare in the West, where every citizen believes he is absolutely safe. And if he is unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time society is shocked.

Political analyst, researcher at the Institute of Global Economy and International Relations, Igor Khokhlov:“Naturally, people first of all notice what is happening next to them and are concerned only if there is a threat to their personal security, while tragedies happening in other countries that they are probably unable to locate on the world map will hardly make them worry. That is why an attack on US territory is an event worth paying attention to, while an act of terror somewhere else is just a sentence in the news feed.”

Many experts say the media are to blame for this. The press can turn one and the same story in either a tragedy or a farce, make it a No. 1 news item or ignore it. Igor Khokhlov continues: “And here the western media seem to be quite consistent. Attacks taking place in U.S. are used as a tool to mount psychological pressure on the population. Headlines say: “this may happen to anyone”, “this may happen to a person who attends a sports event or goes shopping with his children”. Of course, people get frightened and trust the authorities with their lives. This public fear is being actively exploited for political reasons since any attack in US is a weighty argument during political debates on Capitol Hill.

 Present-day terrorists know how greatly the authorities depend on public opinion. That is why the ‘effectiveness’ of an attack is judged not by the death toll but by the amount of media attention it gets. Ordinary Americans do not want being told about tragedies outside their country. An ordinary US citizen does not care about the life of an ordinary Afghan. But this is not his fault, this is his misfortune.
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_04_29/How-do-the-media-shape-public-opinion-on-terror-attacks/