By HAYLEE BATES
Student Writer
One loud explosion, and chaos begins to spread as people start screaming and debris starts falling.
This is a scene that can be viewed in every part of the world, in every household and on every mobile device. Today’s media coverage and technology allows acts of terrorism to be spread at the push of a button. People from one country can view video clips of terrorist attacks that happened in another country by simply turning on the TV or logging onto Facebook.
A calm fall night in Paris was filled with the loud buzz of a crowd at a soccer game or a concert hall filled with fans cheering turned into a terrorist attack in November. Citizens of the United States could view footage of flashing lights and victims running franticly through the streets live from news channels covering the event.
When the media covers events like this, it makes it seem close to us when it’s far away, said Cristina Gordon, psychology department chair.
The media was one of the sources that gave people throughout the world the opportunity to stay up to date on the information coming out of Paris.
“Sometimes the media shows the angle that they want people to see, and they show the gruesome side of things,” Gordon said.
Social media also had an impact on the Paris attacks. Facebook showed support by creating a filter of the Paris flag that Facebook users could place over their profile picture.
“The Facebook flag was unifying, and it brought people together,” Gordon said. “It has the power to connect us globally instead of locally.”
Social media can make it easy for people to stay informed and have the freedom to voice their opinions without having to pay for the access, but it can also be taken advantage of. “Terrorist groups and their sympathizers are exploiting the freedom of cyberspace,” said Ted Poe from CNN, after the arrest of a man who posted online about wanting to shoot President Barack Obama and his desire to join ISIS.
Terrorist groups like ISIS use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to display their messages to a large amount of people in a short amount of time. “In August, when ISIS released the gruesome beheading of American journalist James Foley, it also used social media,” Poe said.
Social media is so easily accessible, and they can influence people from afar without people actually having to experience firsthand what they are doing, said Shalyn Farrington, Northwestern student.
Terrorist groups can use social media to accomplish their goal of instilling fear into people with a small amount of effort. Groups can use social media like YouTube to make it easier to get the messages out to the world, said Jeff McAlpin, instructor of sociology.
These groups can use the Internet as a tool to help benefit their push for a specific cause. “The Internet can be used as a recruiting ground for these groups, and it makes the process of recruiting easier,” McAlpin said. “They can recruit people who feel like they don’t belong anywhere, and they can then provide them with a sense of belonging.”
While terrorist groups are using social media to show their images and recruit others to join their cause, the United States government is not closing the accounts. Legislators believe that it could infringe on their free speech rights.
“My own belief is that the Constitution does not apply to terrorists. These thugs gave up their right to free speech the first time they killed innocent civilians,” Poe said. “Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations should not be allowed to use private American companies to reach billions of people with their violent propaganda in an instant, all for free.”