Director-General, State Security Service, Mr. Ekpenyong Ita, has said terrorists crave media attention in order to intimidate and instil fear into people.
Declaring open a workshop for media professionals at the Institute for Security Studies,Bwari, Abuja on Monday, Ita explained that the objective of terrorist groups was to maximise publicity for their attacks in order to have a larger than life reputation.
He said, "Publicity is the oxygen craved by terrorists. When they carry out attacks, they want as much publicity as possible and when the media sensationalise such an attack, the terror groups have achieved their objectives of getting wide media publicity which is aimed at intimidating and installing fear into people."
He therefore urged journalists to avoid sensationalism as they provide information to the public.
The DG, who said many terrorist groups pursue the interests of their sponsors, noted that nobody knows the interests being pursued by Boko Haram members "as they do not represent Muslims."
According to him, terrorists often get more attention from the media than security agencies that strive to protect the nation from the evil machinations of such violent groups as Boko Haram.
He added, "Acts of terrorism are over-covered by the media while the activities of security agencies were under-covered. Terrorists strive to project the interests of those they are acting for but we don't know the interest Boko Haram members are fighting because they don't represent Muslims."
The Director-General, Nigerian Television Authority, Alhaji Musa Maiyaki, on the occasion called for a cordial relationship between the media and security agencies.
