How Kenya has Fallen Prey to the Terrorist's Strategies

Terrorist attacks are useless if no one knows about them. A terrorist's goal is to spread fear, panic and instability through a populace. Without a media to inform the public about terrorist attacks, a government can simply suppress news of the incidents and negate the terrorist's strategy. A terrorist act in and of itself is often not nearly as significant as the public and government reaction to it.

The propagation of televisions and the television media, particularly international news services like CNN, have proved a boon to terrorism. This is what is happening in Kenya today. Remember the West Gate Attack, Mpeketoni and Mandera massacres. All the major news stations assembled the so called experts to have their say. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" serves to illustrate this point very well. Images, especially video images, of bombed buildings, bloody corpses and frightened hostages are much more memorable than print or audio reports of those same incidents. In a nation where the government maintains tight control of the media, terrorist tactics are nearly useless Uganda is a good example in our case.

Media coverage of terrorist incidents invariable draws world attention to the group which perpetrated the attack, along with its cause, demands and grievances. Committing a terrorist attack is one of the most effective ways to obtain free, global publicity for one's cause.

Democratic nations are the most fertile settings for terrorist insurgencies. A free media ensures widespread coverage of terrorist attacks and therefore ample publicity for the perpetrator. Secondly, democratic governments are constrained in their response to terrorism by having to respect individuals' civil guarantees of privacy and protection from illegal search and imprisonment. If security forces disregard these guarantees, the media will certainly publicize that fact leading to a public backlash against authorities. So democratic governments like Kenya faced with terrorist insurgencies are forced to decide what is more important—civil liberties and freedom of speech, or public safety, Mr President, it is for you to decide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!