ID: 2141251061 (Sec: A)

Name: Zubair Hossain

Book Review on “CONFLICT, TERRORISM AND THE MEDIA

IN ASIA” by Benjamin Cole

In the last few years the use of the media to run political transactions of all kinds including
separatist movements, revolutionary groups, inter-communal violence and terrorist groups has
grown in countries across Asia. From these, some questions has been arisen, such as “How do
non-state combatants in a number of Asian countries get access to the media and influence its
output?”, “How does the 'War on Terror' affect media coverage of these conflicts?” “How does
the media play a role and have an impact on these conflicts?” etc.
Across Asia, there are a lot of different kinds of sub-national conflicts that have different causes.
Since September 11, 2001, many of them have been more and more seen as part of the global
terrorist threat, and the 'War on Terror' has been used to fight them. Among the conflicts this
book looks at are those in Malaysia, the Philippines, China, and India. It shows how even though
they have a lot in common, the roles of the media as an intermediary between the combatants,
the government, and society are very different. It also looks at how the media, including new
media like the internet, does this. Several issues are raised in the book about how the media
report different types of political violence and conflict, such as how the focus on the "War on
Terror" has led to some forms of violence- especially those used by states. It says that while the
media plays a big role in sub-state conflicts, its effects, including those of new media, are usually
limited. Even the US hasn't been able to use the media effectively to change the media in the
region. Overall, this book is very in-depth about the role of the media in Asia when there is
conflict or terrorism.
The media is the main way that those communications are spread. It's more than just a passive
conduit for passing messages on. The media is a political actor in its own right, and it can play a
number of different roles in politics. These roles include being an agent of stability, an agent of
restraint (through monitoring and challenging the government), and an agent of change.
For people who are involved in political violence, the goal is to get more attention from the
public, politicians, and policymakers, so that they can start a debate about their goals. Violence is
a universal way to get attention from the media and get publicity, so non-state combatants can set
the media agenda. Fighting people use media and political debates to turn their violence into
political power by setting them up. In the same way, governments use their own messages to
question the legitimacy of the methods, ideology, and goals of their opponents and to keep
people and politicians on their side. This is usually done by reporting on their opponent's
ideology and goals in a negative way, and then reporting on the good things that the government
is doing in politics and security. Again, the mainstream media is the main way these messages
are spread.
The first article by Toby Miller “US Journalism: Servant of the Nation, Scourge of the
Truth?” in which it's shown that how that correlate with the declaration of national interest by
the government, the mainstream US media particularly network and cable television have served
as effective spokesmen for nationalism Support for the Iraqi invasion was nearly three-quarters
in the United States of America. It's important to remember, says Miller, that the way the US
government and media conduct themselves has an effect on the rest of the globe. He claims that
mainstream journalism has turned into a ravaging scourge of truth in the service of the nation.
The second chapter "Al Qaeda and the struggle for moderate Islam in Malasyia" by
Benjamin Cole, examines the role of media in Malaysian society. There are multiple cross-
cutting information flows from militants and governments through the mainstream media and
new media, he claims. As for the impact on community activity and the expansion of militancy
in Malasyia, one must remember that Malasyian Muslims tend to adhere to moderate
interpretations of Islam, making Malasyia an inhospitable recruiting ground for militant groups.
Malasyia's lack of direct political participation makes it impossible to measure the impact of
media on community action. When the government and mainstream public opinion agree, the
mainstream media works as a stabilizing force. There is some indication that some sectors of the
media do seek to play a limited role as an agent of restraint in questioning the administration, but
there is little evidence that this has any effect on the government.
However, even in Indonesia, where media and information control obviously played a role in the
rise and fall of Suharto's Indonesia and his new order, there is still a lack of clarity on how the
two are connected. Third chapter " Perning in the Gyre: Indonesia, the globalised media and
the ‘war on terror" by Jonathan Woodier argues that while national censorship has officially
been eliminated, the old power elite are still trying to use the media to further their own interests
and ambitions as a result of the collapse of Suharto's regime and the highly centralized state
authority. Even though the end of the Suharto era produced a dramatic change in the freedom of
media, Woodier says that many Journalists, especially the international media, are under attack at
the borders of diminishing governments. It is now clear that the political elites are making
aggressive efforts to restore control over the flow of information in and out of the state through
criminalizing the job of journalists and using defamation laws to stifle opponents.
There has been some substantial development in the mainstream media's reportage of sub-
national conflicts over the last few years. To determine the extent to which the various groups
and communities involved with the government have been able to influence media output and the
impacts on subnational conflict, Benjamin Cole examines Chapter 4, “The Philippines media:
agent of stability or restraints?' The media's coverage of these subnational conflicts since
2000.
Media's negative stereotyping and profiling of other cultural and religious groups, especially the
Muslim community, prior to 2004 worsened their sense of marginalization, according to
Benjamin Cole. 'Muslim bandits' and 'Muslim kidnappers' were frequently referred to in the
media. However, by 2004, such headlines had all but vanished from the pages of newspapers. JI
and ASG reporting is one-sided, and the cockfighting analogy remains common in portraying the
military components of all of these conflicts to some degree. This is not a new phenomenon.
Some segments of the Filipino press have taken on the role of restraint, but neither the
independent nor the new media can act as agents of change when it comes to reporting on these
conflicts. In spite of the fact that this reporting has had some success in the political arena, the
practical impact of this reporting has been minimal. Only a few of them have generated any
substantial pressure on the government. As a result of this, the political and public sphere were
able to talk with former groups like MILF, the CPP-NPA, and the ASG and JI in order to find
answers. However, Cole reminds out that the media's proclivity to link indigenous disputes to the
'war on terror' puts negotiations at risk again.
In Gujarat, the media's role as a check on power has been undermined by a strong pro-Hindutva
bias. Fiveth Chapter "Shooting the messenger? Political violence, Gujarat 2002 and the
Indian news media" explains when it comes to the media, Prasun Sonwalkar notes that a
group's or community's amount of access can have a significant effect on how their messaging is
perceived by audiences. Two of Gujarat's most popular local newspapers had a strong pro-
Hindutva bias and were read by segments of the Hindu community that formed the state's
politically mobilized mob. As a result, the media's power to rein in violent perpetrators would
have been severely limited.
According to Michael Dillon's sixth chapter "Uyghur separatism and nationalism in
Xinjiang," media coverage of the unrest in the region has been uneven at best. Because the
Chinese government has tight control over the media, foreign journalists residing in Beijing have
been forbidden from traveling to Xinjiang for years for fear of losing their credentials. For the
first time since China's declaration of its support for the "War on Terror," the authorities have
organized carefully regulated trips for groups of journalists, but access to regular Uyghurs,
particularly those living in remote areas, has been severely limited. However, a lack of usage of
the internet to disseminate material on the separatist cause has made it easier for people outside
Xinjiang to get their hands on it. As an important factor in building up Xinjiang's independence
movement, the media has played a minor role. China's mainstream state-controlled media have
no access to the underground movement's activities since they are deemed illegal and secret.
Finally, Benjamin Cole examines how groups and communities involved in or affected by
violent political activity across Asia are striving to gain access to the media for similar goals in
this book's conclusion. Violence has been used by all of these organizations and communities to
get access to the media and influence its agendas. However, the extent of mainstream media
access that different groups and minority communities enjoy varies greatly from state to state and
even within the same state itself. A group's access to the media is largely controlled by how free
the media is in the state in which it exists. This is because most governments actively strive to
restrict media access and exert control over its content.
A collection of varied chapters provides a comprehensive image of the media's position in South
Asia as an intermediary between the government, non-combatant organizations, and society.
There has been a wide range of media coverage of the conflicts discussed in this book.
According to the chapters, there is no correlation between media outputs and the expansion of
militant ideology, nor has media reporting caused broad public or political pressure to comply
with the demands of any of these groups. Though the state's participation in media manipulation
is highlighted in nearly every chapter, the emphasis is placed on press freedom and the growing
acceptance of media by a broader civil society.