"One of the main conditions of terrorism is active involvement of the media. The TV screen has become a battlefield for modern terrorism," said Mr. Sobolev at an international media forum, Media Against Terrorism and Drug Threat.
Terrorists are not demanding money first of all, but TV cameras, recalled Mr. Sobolev. "Their target is to affect society so that it could issue an ultimatum to its leaders. A typical example is Nord Ost [hostage taking during the Nord Ost performance in Moscow in October 2002]," said Mr. Sobolev.
"Today the most popular and effective terrorist methods - violence not in regard to the authorities, though this is taking place too, but against peaceful defenceless civilians, who have nothing to do with terrorist targets, and certainly the demonstration of the tragic consequences via the media," said the deputy secretary of the Security Council.
As for the rules reporters should stick to when covering terrorist acts, Mr. Sobolev named the following: to inform the population and avoid instigating panic; to take it into consideration that the international community denies links between terrorism and any particular religion, race or nationality; and information reports should contain no information that could foster terrorists' positions.
This is important to avoid turning the public opinion and the media into the instruments of terror.
