As I watch the news media fall all over themselves to report every atrocity that the so-called terrorists commit, it seems to me that there are two components of terrorism. First there is the act; then there is the terror.

I submit that the media are responsible for the terror and are the real terrorists. They can't wait to report every minuscule detail of whatever these murdering lowlifes want the world to hear. Why there isn't an uproar over this issue is a shame and a sorry comment on our humanity.

These talking heads who view the tapes of the atrocities and then look glum as they describe what happened in gory detail are the real terrorists. Is there any network manager out there with enough compassion and intelligence to recognize that without the media, the terror component of terrorism would be restricted to limited local geography?

If just one network president announced that his network would no longer act as a shill for the terrorists, perhaps the other networks would agree, and the media in general would see the light and admit the role they play. To make this effective, governments around the world would have to cooperate.

Without the media blasting terrorists' every whim all over the world 24 hours a day, there would basically be no terror. When I was a kid in the '50s, I was terrorized by Peter Lorre playing a nasty-looking Arab in a movie. However, I was not terrorized by anything actually happening in the Middle East, because every detail of every atrocity was not being broadcast instantly around the world.

This issue needs to be brought before the public and discussed. Please help me start the process.

David Polley lives in Shorewood.