Excerpts: Media outfits should fight terror October 07, 2015

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 7 Oct.’15 Media outlets should join war on terror —
experts”By Mohammad Ghazal

SUBJECT:Media outlets should fight terror

QUOTE:Using traditional and social media to counter terrorist groups’campaigns
and propaganda is as equally important as military strikes ---experts say”

FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Using traditional and social media to counter terrorist
groups’ campaigns and propaganda is as equally important as military
strikes, experts said on Tuesday[6 Oct.].

Terrorist groups, including Daesh, successfully use social networking sites
to recruit fighters from across the world. They even use any available media
outlets to spread their message of terror and draw peoples’ attention to
their criminal acts, which necessitates coordination and systematic efforts
to counter such campaigns, they said.

Speaking at a pan-Arab conference here Tuesday[6 Oct] on the role of Arab
media in facing terrorism, Arab media experts and officials said it is
fundamental to educate the public on social media usage to protect them from
terrorist groups’ “relentless efforts to promote their ideology”, stressing
that the media have a pivotal role in this respect.

Assistant Secretary General and Head of the Media and Communication section
at the League of Arab States Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said terrorist organisations
use media to mislead the public. “Some do not even consider a terrorist act
successful if it does not grab the attention of media.”

Abu Ghazaleh added that these groups need media like a living organism needs
oxygen, and as such “media outlets should face this danger because they are
capable of influencing the masses”.

Stressing that coverage by some media outlets of terrorist groups’ attacks
helps indirectly promote these groups, Jordan News Agency, Petra, Director
General Feisal Shboul said the war on terrorism is the war of Muslims and
Arabs.

“Daesh is very successful in using Twitter in particular for new recruits
and promoting its ideology. Media war on such terrorist groups is as
important as military operations,” Shboul said at a session during the
two-day conference held by the Arab League and the Jordan News Agency,
Petra.

He added that a key focus area should be TV channels as they play an
important role in raising awareness, noting that 70 per cent of content
shared on social networking sites comes from TV channels.

Shboul said there is need for coordinated efforts across the Arab world
spearheaded by key figures, intellectuals, religious leaders and opinion
leaders to counter messages promoted by “terrorist” groups including Daesh.

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said
there is a need for more coordination when it comes to efforts to counter
terrorist groups’ messages in media and through social media.

“We need to see more efforts. Current efforts are sometimes sporadic. There
is a need for greater efforts by the Arab and Muslim world through media as
the war on terror is ours,” said the minister at the opening of the
conference.

“Media outlets should have programmes and strategies… the war on terror is
also through media,” he said.

The minister added that telecom operators and Internet service providers
have an important role to play, stressing the need for regulation as these
entities have a moral responsibility to stop terrorist groups from promoting
their ideologies through the digital world.

Issues to be debated by participants representing various Arab countries
include the challenges facing media organisations in countering terrorism in
the Arab region and globally.
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA