Terrorism and the media

In yesterday's discussion we talked about Baudrillard and Zizek's theories. Their theories on terrorism and its relation with the media support that the media is part of the terrorist attack itself. The media not only decides what is shown, but ask how it is being transmuted, when, and how many more times.. This reminds me of the terrorists attacks in Bogota, Colombia during the drug wars in 1985. The media at the time would show Pablo Escobar (one of the most important drug trafficker of the time) as a candidate for a political position. They would show him in the poor areas giving very inspiring and promising speeches to the unprivileged who not only respected him, but believed in him and loved him. People in the poorer areas with less resources and access to education thought he was an exemplary person. They admired him and supported his political campaign. What the media in Colombia was showing was a respected, wealthy politician who was trying to make some changes in the government and help the poor. The footage shown was him giving money to the people in the barrios (poor, kind of remote areas) and giving them food, houses, jobs, etc.
This is why he wasn't framed for him crimes for a long time. He was committing all types of crimes from drug trafficking to massive murder. Furthermore, when La Toma del Palacio de Justicia (the attack of the palace of justice) took place, nobody wanted to believe it had been him. After they finally had enough proof to bring him down, that was when everyone knew the real him and everything he had done.
A recent south american TV show came out called "Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal". When my family and I started watching the show, we were very disappointed and a bit scared because of how Pablo was being portrayed: as a smart, clever, independent, perseverant, powerful man. Almost someone to look up to and follow; he got away with everything. But then the show takes a twist by showing his crimes, they show how many people and how he kills them. They start showing his criminal profile and all the malices he was involved in and there is when he becomes a disappointment and another version of Hitler.
This is exactly what I am expecting to happen in the new TV show Narcos. It is an americanized version of Pablo's story but I really hope the show takes the same turn the Colombian show did, otherwise Pablo will be portrayed as a hero and that would be heartbreaking.

It is scary how the media controls our perception on such important things! It is up to them wether criminals are either admired or looked down upon. It is up to them wether terrorism affects us, or not. If the footage of the attack of the palace of justice hadn't been so shocking and so repeated, it wouldn't have had the same effect on the way Pablo was viewed by the whole country.


Heres a link to a video of some footage of the attack (start on minute 1:00, and it's in spanish sorry!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUdYAAE_Qfw

By the way, here is an interesting article about drones (what we were talking about in class).
http://mashable.com/2013/12/02/amazon-prime-air/#TRk2BK2Dwmq1