Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Ex Input:
Defusing Taliban publicity. Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message . The first such collective action was taken during the presidential elections when the Taliban were completely boycotted . This is a strategic decision according to Fahim Dashty, the chief executive of Afghanistan's National Journalists Union (ANJU) . The decision follows the recent heavy escalation of attacks in Kabul . "Our media is saturated with images of Taliban attacks," says a joint press statement by ANJU, and the media watchdog, Nai . "Taliban spokesman Zabihula Mujahid is active on TV and social media round the clock, he is in every home 24 hours a day, we need to confront his messages," says Nai's director, Sediqulah Tauhidi . Afghan journalists feel they need support from policy makers and the international community alike . "We will be calling on the new president, Ashraf Ghani, to consider blocking the sites that Taliban use for their publicity," says Dashty . Confronting publicity . The call by journalists in Afghanistan echoes international concerns about the need to confront publicity by armed groups such as ISIL, and the attempts in several countries including Britain to block these groups' use of the internet and social media to advertise, publicise and recruit . British Home Secretary Theresa May acknowledged the extent of the problem in her latest policy speech:"We need a counter terrorism strategy that is comprehensive and coherent." Among the measures to curb the activities of the Islamist terror groups she introduced restrictions on the use of the internet . "We are engaged in a struggle that is fought on many fronts," she said, naming terrorist groups in several parts of the world including Afghanistan . Police and intelligence agencies will be given new powers to track down those who plot terrorist attacks over the internet . "They enable the authorities to limit a subject's access to telephones and the internet," she said . Terrorist attacks have been complex but many are used for sending a specific message either to the local population or to the international community . Once these messages are turned into images on TV and internet across the world their impact is amplified . Broader audience . According to UN counterterrorism research, terrorist-related propaganda hosted on popular websites containing user-generated content has the potential to reach a significantly broader audience than content on traditional specialised websites, bulletin boards and web forums , which generally appeal to a self- selected group of individuals . "Their sophisticated use of the internet and social media means they have a significant propaganda reach across the world," said the British home secretary . "The scourge of ISIL should not mean that the Taliban are forgotten or seen as the milder terror group," stresses Dashty . There are serious reservations when British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond states at the opening of the London Conference on Afghanistan that "The terrorist threat from the region has been substantially reduced," when there are almost daily attacks in Kabul . "Taliban are blocking the fledgling democracy that has been built over the last decade," says Nai director . "They are attacking our liberty, they are targeting freedom of speech, they are targeting press freedom and we must have a counter offensive." Dashty says as journalists we must ask ourselves whether in our endeavour to provide information we are turning into communication channels at the service of the Taliban . The arguments are not straightforward . On the one hand , the media needs to report to inform the population and on the other hand , reporting terrorist attacks has increasingly become publicity for armed extremist groups . On the one hand freedom of speech and civil liberties should be preserved at all cost , and on the other hand ,  terrorist messages have traumatised societies and increased militant recruitment around the world . Credible counter-narrative . These issues must be discussed in depth and collectively around the world . There is a need for coordinating a credible counter narrative both at the local and the global level to confront the banality and cruelty of terrorist messages . Take for example their claim, believed even by some analysts, that they are fighting to save Muslims while facts tell us that they have killed tens of thousands over the years . Since 2009, there have been over 17,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan alone as documented by the UN - 75 percent as a result of Taliban attacks . Or the contradictions in the Taliban claim that they want foreign forces out while targeting British interests one month after British forces left Afghanistan, or inviting foreign Islamist fighters and al-Qaeda to set up camp in Afghanistan during their rule . "Confusion and contradictions among the various terrorist voices" are common according to the latest State Department report on terrorism . Journalists, media analysts, communication experts and policy makers need to come together to discuss how best to build a framework for a new counterterrorism narrative that at the same time reveals the falsities of terrorist assertions . Once formulated, it could then be used as any public service broadcast messages woven into drama serials, discussions, debates and news coverage alike . The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which created a counterterrorism task force, says that despite increasing international recognition of the threat posed by terrorists' use of the internet,"there is currently no universal instrument specifically addressing this pervasive facet of terrorist activity" . 'Psychological security' . The joint statement by ANJU and Nai calls on the media and the reporters in Afghanistan to refrain from competition over who shows more pictures of the gruesome Taliban attacks . It says that the "unprecedented" frequency of the footage shown on TV and social media have undermined the "psychological security" of the nation . "Our first boycott of the Taliban was successful," says Dashty . "Attacks were reduced and over 60 percent of the population took part in the elections." He says they would really benefit if journalists in the West supported their campaigns, especially those who frequently report from Afghanistan . "We would also welcome an international framework that sets an example for us," says Dashty . A coordinated global plan to counter terrorist media propaganda would be a useful tool for journalists in areas adversely affected by terrorist attacks . Attacks plotted on the World Wide Web need an appropriate worldwide media response .

Ex Output:
Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message


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State of the Union: Advice for Joni Ernst. Here's a suggestion for Joni Ernst, the new Republican senator from Iowa , who will deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union address Tuesday night . Get a chorus together and open with this old Sammy Cahn-Jule Styne number:"It seems to me I've heard that song before; it's from an old familiar score, I know it well, that melody." Advance leaks of the president's address indicate he will call for higher taxes on the wealthy and successful in order to pay for programs for the poor and middle class . This is boilerplate Democratic wealth redistribution we've heard since New Deal days , which appeals more to emotions than it does to principles with a long history of success . Since the advent of modern "anti-poverty" programs 50 years ago, according to an analysis by The Heritage Foundation, "U.S  taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs." And yet the poverty rate remains essentially unchanged . One might conclude then that if you've spent 50 years and $22 trillion trying without success to fix something , perhaps you're doing it wrong and should try a different approach . If the goal is more successful people who can take care of themselves , incentives must be put in place to encourage people to make right decisions . First on any anti-poverty help-the-middle-class list must be a stable family life . A two-parent home where adults love and are committed to each other and in which their children feel loved creates a climate in which moral and economic values like hard work, self-control, personal responsibility and accountability flourish . To help achieve this, parents must be educated and they must have jobs . Government can make this easier by reforming the tax code to remove the "marriage penalty," which in too many instances charges higher taxes to married couples than to singles, and increasing the exemption deductible for children, which might make it possible for one parent to stay home with young children; allow college tuition to be deductible to incentivize more people to obtain a college education and ease their debt upon graduation . Better yet, scrap the tax code entirely and replace it with a flat tax or consumption tax that allows people to save, invest and spend more of the money they earn . Economically, there must be a change in attitude from working to pay bills, to working to build wealth . Bills, like the poor, we will always have with us, but in building wealth one moves toward independence and personal satisfaction that pays dividends in liberty and personal choice . Government should also make it easier for people to move in pursuit of new opportunities . My late grandfather worked for the B and O Railroad for 50 years . He retired with a pension, a gold-plated watch and a lifetime train pass . Those days are long gone . People need to be ready to move to places in pursuit of opportunities that can bring economic and career growth . Earning more produces more in taxable income and more income means more tax money for federal and state treasuries . My wife and I have moved eight times (so far) and each move provided new opportunities, more experience and eventually higher incomes . Here's another suggestion for Sen  Ernst and the new Republican Congress . Let the Democrats focus on misery, poverty and failure . You promote hope, opportunity and achievement . Begin featuring people with stories to tell of how they overcame difficult circumstances -- from poverty, welfare, addiction, single motherhood, and so on -- and are now independent, strong and if not prosperous, then at least free of their addiction to government . Leaders should inspire others to follow examples of people who have succeeded in life . Instead ,  the Democrats' mantra has been that the poor and middle class can't succeed without government help . If that were true , the money spent on programs aimed at the poor and middle class would have succeeded by now . It's long past time for a new direction and for a new "song" with different words . In the month we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr , how about "We HAVE overcome"?

Ex Output:
Here's a suggestion for Joni Ernst, the new Republican senator from Iowa


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The Paris unity march shows we must protect freedom of expression, not curtail it further. I was just one Australian face in a human sea of more than one and half million Parisians yesterday . I was trying to comprehend what I was a part of when the placard thrust in front of my eyes made it clear : "La liberte d'expression n'a pas de religion"- freedom of expression has no religion . This was a rally to defend the essential global human right to free expression . A right that should not be bound by religious, cultural or political strictures . We were marching to remember the victims of the Charlie Hebdo newsroom massacre and the Kosher grocery store siege . We were marching in sympathy with those in mourning who joined us . We were marching in defiance, determined to rise above the fear and chaos the terrorists inflicted on our city . But ,  overwhelmingly, we marched to defend our right to freely express our views . The main march stretched three kilometres between Place de la Republique and Place de la Nation, tracking down Boulevard Voltaire . When I cried "Je suis Charlie, nous somme Charlie!", it was in the spirit of the French philosopher Voltaire's revolutionary words:"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." The props of the rally - giant pencils supporting the French flag, a flood of demonstrators holding pens aloft and bibs emblazoned with the faces of the massacred Charlie Hebdo staff - told the story . Paris has been my home for a year . I am a research fellow with the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers which is based in the city . It's a long way from the University of Wollongong in Australia , where I am on staff as a journalism academic . But the principle of freedom of expression we were marching to defend binds journalists, writers and artists, and by extension all citizens, globally . It transcends national borders, distance, culture, language, class and religion . That's why, as we marched, we saw Paris residents hanging models of pencils and banners carrying free speech slogans from their balconies . And it's why we paused to listen while a little African girl bellowed "Je suis Charlie!" from a third story window at her mother's side . We were a calm sea of over 1.5 million people pouring through the grand boulevards of central Paris . Led by the families of those killed and over 40 world leaders who walked with linked arms, it was a significant moment in history, a moment triggered by outrage at the act of terrorists who massacred journalists and cartoonists in the middle of a weekly editorial meeting and ordinary citizens doing their shopping . It was also a moment fuelled by a collective determination to display unity and defiance in the face of terror and fear . The attack on Charlie Hebdo and the climate of fear and anxiety it created are, sadly, regular occurrences in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Mexico, where journalists are frequent targets . The western media too often turns a blind eye to the murder of journalists elsewhere . The Paris unity march represents a watershed moment in the struggle to protect journalists and defend freedom of expression globally . Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists took the fight into the heart of a newsroom in one of western Europe's biggest cities . If that doesn't wake up complacent democracies to the need to vigorously defend the right to report , nothing will . Once the news cycle moves on from Paris and the cries of "Je suis Charlie" fade, we must harness the levels of public support and political will to enact significant and lasting change globally . We must be on guard against the already audible attempts to justify a further curtailment of media and internet freedoms in the interests of national security in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks . The threats posed to investigative journalism by mass surveillance, data retention and the criminalisation of reporting certain information under anti-terrorism legislation are already significant . Especially in Australia . It would be an enormous tragedy if the lasting legacy of the Charlie Hebdo massacre was ultimately a further undermining of privacy and freedom of expression rights . Let us honour the victims and survivors of the Paris terrorist attacks by finding a sustainable balance between the need for anti- terrorism measures against our collective human right to freely express our views . As the murdered editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, told Le Monde in 2011:"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees."

Ex Output:

A right that should not be bound by religious, cultural or political strictures