The Media Threat to Security: Rights without Accountability?
“It goes without saying that virtually all editors and reporters would rather not have these stories to cover and all of them understand they are being used. They are aware that the language they employ in these stories is crucial…”
I recently read the above quote for a class on the Psychology of Terrorism, where the topic of discussion was the role of media and terrorism. The article compares specific major disasters in U.S. history, specifically the Three Mile Island disaster, with 9/11. The overall premise of the article being that the media is bound by an ethical framework and a duty to report the facts and not offer opinion. At the same time, their job is complex because they are also subjected to the psychological impacts of events such as 9/11 that can cloud their ability to report responsibly. It concludes that although the media is aware that terrorism is not just an act of political violence, but also a form of communication and political theater, the media still has the ability to report responsibly.
All well and good I say — if in fact the media was exercising that ability. I put this simply, knowing full well that not every journalist is an “opinonater” — an awesome phrase coined this week by one of my colleagues here at the White Hat Syndicate— but as an institution, if the media is “aware that the language they employ in these stories is crucial…” they continue to use sensational language, incorrect information, and political narrative in a news cycle that has gone from days to hours to seconds. This seems more intentional, premeditated, calculated, deliberate… yes, words matter, and you get the point.
We live in a world of mass information that needs to be twitterfied faster than the 24-hour news cycle could process. Information and events now run on a second-by-second news cycle with tools available not only available to traditional journalists and reporters, but complicated even more by citizen journalists and photographers, creating information and misinformation in a competition for content distribution. At the same time, these tools are also information and marketing mechanisms for terrorists and as frightening as this is, it is not new.
Last week’s terrorist act in San Bernardino is the latest in what is not only a real threat, but yet another point where the media involvement demonstrates the need to ask more questions on this point. On any given day, the media is free to put out for public scrutiny and accountability the actions of law enforcement, government entities, individuals, institutions, corporations, and yep, even Congress. They can serve as judge and jury as well as legislator and advocate based on the rhetorical and discursive rubric they choose to use on any given day. They are aware that words matter and they understand the role that they play, but at the same time, they aren’t experts, and they are unprepared.
By no means am I casting the first stone in thinking the role and job of the media is an easy one. But at minimum, I pose the question on accountability. Most recently Brian Williams was suspended for exaggerating a story about a helicopter mission during the war in Iraq, and Dan Rather has also been scrutinized for his distortions of the “truth,” but where is the wider accountability that the media calls for — for everyone else, except themselves? While striving to hold other institutions accountable for collateral damage, lapses in judgment, mistakes, or hell, even their successes, theirs seems to be a lack of broader acceptance and responsibility for the role they play, same as any actor in national and homeland security. And for me this is where I believe the media is most culpable.
Dominique Tarpey is a transportation security manager with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. You can follow her on Twitter: @dtarp525
She is part of The White Hat Syndicate, a Medium account launched on October 26 that aims to publish thought-provoking articles about cutting-edge homeland security topics. The six authors come from a diverse array of professional and personal backgrounds: legal, fire, environmental health, federal transportation security, and law enforcement.
The Syndicate invites you to engage us in conversation, either here on Medium or via Twitter. We look forward to the discussion.
The opinions and ideas expressed in this article are that of the author alone, and although a current employee of DHS and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, the ideas represented above are not those of TSA, DHS, or the United States government.
