A Media Walking on Egg Shells

The attacks in Mumbai have been on the front page of every paper, on the all the TV talk shows and on the radio news reports. What I have notice is how careful the media is being about labeling this an Islamic extremist attack. The media seems to be very mindful of Pakistan. They seem to either report that attackers came from Pakistan or that they were Islamic extremist. You rarely see the two words used in the same article. The media is playing this very carefully.
Yesterday there was an article in the New York Times about the attacks. It only mentioned that there were ten gunmen and that they were thought to have come through Pakistan. Relations between India and Pakistan have never been close; they have fought three wars in the last fifty years. Neither is the US relationship with Pakistan on the best of terms. The US believes that many Taliban insurgences are crossing the border from Pakistan to cause trouble in Afghanistan. The Media seem really to be making an effort of not ruffling feathers. If the New York Times, the Washington Post and many other large papers and stations were to come out and call this an Islamic extremist attack from Pakistan the repercussions could have the potential to be huge. The media is being more careful. They are making no assumptions and framing this carefully.
MSNBC had an article on its website about the Muslims world reaction to the attacks in Mumbai. It went into how the Muslim world immediately condemned the senseless terrorist attacks, yet they once again found themselves in the position of defending their religion against the bloody acts of indiscriminate violence that is link to it. MSNBC though is giving them a calm voice. They are not leading the country blindly into fear. They are being much more cautious of what they write and who they label. The media is aware that Pakistan and India both have nuclear weapons and that US needs Pakistan’s cooperation because of it borders with Afghanistan. Because of this we see the media reframe from painting Pakistan in any negative light.