'Terrorism Is Aimed at the People Watching'
Tabloid-style coverage of mass murder helps those intent on using violence to stoke fear.
When an explosion killed 22 people at a concert in Manchester, England, late Monday, media organizations across the English speaking world rushed to break the news.
That was the right call.
An apparent mass murder of that scale is newsworthy. A self-governing people cannot shrink from facing the reality of terrorism. There are perpetrators to catch, victims to mourn, and survivors to help. And large majorities of the public want to be informed when a probable terrorist attack is perpetrated inside a major Western city.
Unfortunately, the very act of publicizing an act of terrorism cannot help but advance the ends of terrorists, who try to generate as much
