An Analysis of the Bias Coverage on the War against Terrorism by the Media

Media Monitoring Proposal: Bias on the War on Terrorism For this assignment on media monitoring I am focusing on the bias shown in regards to how the war on terrorism covered in various news outlets. The first signs of this were after September 11" when Bush declared a war on terrorism. This led to a violent uproar against Muslims and other third world nations due to a fear induced stereotype. Currently, the Syrian war has the media under wraps with threats from numerous terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS etc.

This began in 2011 in Arab Springs, where nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad and his government sparked, this was responded to with violent crackdowns and eventually led to a revolutionary war. Five years later, the conflict is spread between four different groups struggling for power, all with different foreign backers. After Obama got involved in the war and sent troops and funds into Afghanistan and Iran, things quickly escalated in the media.

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Through watching how the stories are portrayed by news sites like CNN, or FOX News, I came to the rapid realization that the media coverage is extremely biased on this situation. CNN is highly guilty of media bias on terrorism. When looking at even the article titles such as, Brussels terrorists 'planned to attack France' written merely weeks ago, the bias is almost eerily obvious. Dating back to the Boston bombings, the media outlets have focused heavily on the casualties and injuries our side has faced. "Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction" .

CNN's coverage portrayed the vast number of people injured and the severity of their injuries in depth when discussing the terrorist attack. While this is the intended idea behind news reporting, we often forget that while terrorists have been making attacks such as the Boston bombing, or the attacks on France and Brussels, we've had a tremendous influence on the casualties of civilians in the third world countries that we've invaded. When searching for articles pertaining to the atrocities done to American's by terroristic attacks, there is no shortage of articles. "Jason Rezaian has been convicted by a Revolutionary Court in Iran... facing up to 20 years... been languishing in a Tehran prison for more than a year". This article is just one example out of dozens of articles pertaining to the ferocity of the treatment of Americans in third world countries. This particular article goes more into depth of four Americans who are either detained or missing in Iran. This has fueled the fear of terrorism amongst Americans, teaching us to fear and disassociate ourselves with people of Muslim heritage. One article quotes a marine veteran in a message sent to the United States government describing "confessions obtained by force, threats, miserable prison conditions and prolonged periods of solitary confinement". Upon hearing this the media sprung on the opportunity, pouring out articles on the cruel conditions and treatments Americans are faced with in Iran. However, when researching articles on the amount of casualties caused by American troops in Iran, it is almost impossible to find a solid figure.

The U.S. military is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, the news media just seems to turn a blind eye to it. Revolutionary and civil wars can't happen without the deaths of civilians, and when it's the death of American civilians the media covers it from every angle possible, "the jury saw bombs explode and people tear apart... streets splashed crimson with blood and littered with severed limbs and body parts". The articles written about terroristic attacks focus on one and only one thing, how many innocent are killed by terrorists, many do not appear to have any focus on the affect American troops have had on civilians in these countries. While it's safe to say the acts of terrorism are direct, intentional attacks on civilians, the effects of the weapons used and the gunfire used by American troops has had a staggering affect on the number of civilian casualties in the Syrian war. An article published in early January describes attributes that were not common knowledge about the conditions of the war in Syria, however these too lean heavily on how awful the terrorists are treating Americans, "hostages were beaten and tortured, and even underwent a mock execution". The oppression placed on Islam by the media covering the war on terrorism places a harshly biased view on Iran and Islamic states. Media bias has harmed the cause of the revolutionary war not only by failing to report the damage done to Islam by the invasion of U.S. troops but also of the attacks done in other areas of the world that don't directly affect the U.S. and therefore in the eyes of the media, aren't big enough to matter. Harry Smith has been quoted saying, "There was a range of attacks that happened week after week after week after week after week. And until it landed on our front doorstep, with our old best friend, Paris, then we go 'Oh my God'. Right? It had happened in Turkey.

It happened in Lebanon in the days before. Constantly" (Smith). Without us realizing it, the media has created a strong bias on the war on terror. Only reporting what and when they feel it would be the most relevant to what they want their viewers to believe. Every news channel is bias in one way or another. Whether it is more liberal or conservative, the stories reported will always be a little bias one way or the other depending on the issue. However, one topic all of them are extremely bias towards is the war on terror. While terrorism is a huge issue and the media's reports keep us up to date with the war on Syria, they always manage to leave out important details on the negative affect our nation has. Along with all of this, the media also covers Trump's presidential campaign, in which he pushes his extreme negative views towards Muslims on the American nation. With the backing of Trump fans and the bias in the media, the nation has become highly trained to see the negative impacts we have to face without thinking about how we've caused negative affects. While American troops are no terrorists, it is important to keep in mind that during the Syrian war and even before that, America has caused heavy casualties on the Islamic states. Not only on the terrorist groups they're focused on, but also the civilians who happen to populate the surrounding area. No one can argue that the current political stand point in Syria is the direct cause of all these casualties. However, news sites like CNN have victimized the American nation on large scales, failing to report the tragedies caused by American troops in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.