Media

Estonian Radio: Too many terror warnings only create panic

By Andrzej Vilenski November 26, 2015

A man carries two children after panic broke out among mourners who payed their respect at the attack sites at restaurant Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia) and the Carillon Hotel in Paris, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015. Thousands of French troops deployed around Paris on Sunday and tourist sites stood shuttered in one of the most visited cities on Earth while investigators questioned the relatives of a suspected suicide bomber involved in the country's deadliest violence since World War II. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Too many terror warnings only create panic

The media are caught up in a race to provide news updates on the terrorist attacks that do little to clarify the situation, the website of the Estonian broadcaster ERR complains:

Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves if the race among the media – above all among the online media with their ability to provide quick updates – serves any purpose at all. Does it help us, and above all does it help our audiences? That is the question that must guide us, regardless of profit margins. This is particularly relevant at times when the mood is very tense in many European countries. What is our moral duty to our readers, listeners or viewers – to pour even more fuel on the fire, or to make events more understandable to them?