An interesting point came to light when the International Cricket Council (ICC) was deciding whether it was too risky to stage a cricket tournament in Pakistan. The point was that the alternative venue for the event was Sri Lanka.
Interestingly enough, if you look at the data on terrorism, Sri Lanka has suffered roughly 3,000 deaths since 2006 due to fighting with the Tamil Tigers. In pakistan, the number stands at 3,500. Even stranger, Sri Lanka is a much smaller country and terrorism is close to just about anyone. Yet, Sri Lanka is a no problem spot for cricket whereas Pakistan according to the South African Cricket Association (SACA) and the Australian Cricketer's Association (ACA) is a no-go area. A lot, i feel has to do with media and also the nature of conflict.
Pakistan war is part of a global conflict against terrorists from muslim countries..so it get LOTS of media coverage whereas the Sri Lankan fighting is against a seperatist group with not much of an international agenda so it gets barely any or no coverage.
So although Pakistan is probably just as safe if not safer to play cricket in, it is flagged as a dangerous country and a lot of that has to do with the freedom in the media. Where else in the world do well known terrorists even from organizations like Al-Qaeda are shown openly to viewers. Media freedom is great, but media carelessness is not.
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