Russian society needs 'anti-terrorist' model

'Today's Russian society needs a model of behavior that is alternative to terrorism.' This was the statement of Hofstra University (US) Professor Sergei Tsytsarev at the Rosbalt round table 'Mass Media and Terrorism-How to Break the Dangerous Connection'.

According to the professor, Russia needed this same model in the early 1990s when the 'criminalization' of society began. Nevertheless, the model cannot be founded on stereotypes, but on serious researching of problems. 'To say that the model means simply 'we won't kill anyone'-that is silly. We must present the culture, which we paint dead black, for what it really is-the culture of terrorism included,' says Tsytsarev.

He also noted that the detailed coverage of the results of terrorist acts in the mass media do not always play into the hands of the organizers of these crimes. 'In Japan, for example, the level of violence on the [television/movie] screen is tremendous, but the crime rate is one of the lowest in the world,' stressed Tsytsarev.