Week 11

This week we discussed terrorism, its media coverage, and its impact on foreign policy. We looked at what terrorism is, how it is covered, and the images behind terror. We learned that there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism, but how one chooses to frame the threat of terrorism suggests the possible ways to solve it. Most politicians and media have come to a sort of consensus of what terrorism is: "Terrorism is the use of force involving the killing of civilians to advance a political cause. We then discussed how both media and government frame terrorism policy and terrorist attacks by using the same terms as the other one does. The larger packaging of terrorism is the same by both, even though the critique and the impetus may be different. The packaging of terrorism by media or government is also all about power. We also discussed how the media needs to think independently and not become another tool of authority. The fact that the media take their cue from how government officials frame terrorism gives government tremendous power in directing the public debate. The book suggests that we need to rebuild these institutions from the ground up and ask as many questions as we can because we don't have all the answers.

1. How can we go about rebuilding the institutions from the ground up?
2.