US media capitalizing on UAE flight

The fear that was produced after a United Arab Emirates (UAE) airplane bound for America was claimed to carry “suspicious” parcels from Yemen serves the mainstream media, says a journalist.

On Friday, fighter jets accompanied a UAE plane into New York’s JFK airport after a security alert.

Emirati authorities, however, rejected the claim by US-Canadian military agency NORAD that flight 201 carried “suspicious” cargo from Yemen.

The North American military agency caused a media hype after reporting the security alert.

“Media thrives on conflict. Media thrives on fear. I mean fear in a sense sells, because it brings people who are insecure or frightened to the television. And that raises the ratings and the revenues of the TV companies,” Danny Schechter, editor of Mediachannel.org, New York, told Press TV on Sunday.

“So, clearly, issues like this attract a tremendous amount of media attention,” Schechter added.

While “suspicious” packages from Yemen were claimed to be on two cargo planes, one in Britain and the other in Dubai, the FBI said two suspicious packages intercepted in Britain en route to the US contained no explosives.