The Paris Attacks and the Western Media’s Response
When tragedies, like the recent terrorist shooting in Paris, France occur the world seems to pause in shock. Articles from online news sources, as well as national tabloids and television programs begin broadcasting ‘breaking live news’ coverage of the scene that continues for hours after the event has ceased. Social media networks are flooded with well-meaning hash-tags and messages of sympathy and condolences; the same pictures are ‘shared’ countless times, with thousands of ‘likes’ thrown around the web. It is not always clear whether people take part in this social media campaign because they truly care about the tragedy that took place in another part of the globe, or whether they are simply swept up by the wave of empathetic sentiments that flood their social media feeds and don’t want to be left out.
I understand the role of the media not only as a reflection of the culture of our country, but also as a tool that shapes and propagates our values. As such, when I arrived home Friday evening and noticed that the CBC was broadcasting prolonged coverage of the tragedies in Paris, I couldn’t help but ultimately feel discouraged on behalf of all of the human suffering in non-Western nations that were not being reported. The anchor was spitting out statistics such as, “this is the largest attack on Paris since World War II” to seemingly fill airtime, as there was no development happening on the screen. However, the cameras continued rolling, even though all that could be seen now were stationary emergency vehicles on the scene. I felt disappointed, as other Canadians likely did, that the CBC would choose to fixate on a tragedy that occurred in another Western nation, whereas other news, such as the suicide bombings that took place in Beirut, Lebanon and claimed over 50 lives just hours before Paris, remained unmentioned.
In the aftermath of this event, the same arguments have arisen on social media and online news platforms recurrently. There are two emerging sides. One side is choosing to blatantly politicize this horrific event and bring to light critiques of the Western world media—media that seems to pick and choose what events we should be shocked and terrified about, and ultimately, which lives deserve our mourning. The other side of this debate argues that to develop such an assessment is inherently disrespectful to the victims in Paris, and that such critiques should wait until France has had time to mourn their loss.
The terrorist attack that occurred in Paris should by no means be diminished, nor is it an event that does not deserve media attention. It is, however, quite difficult to ignore the fact that there were also bombings in Palestine, civil unrest leading to deaths in Central African Republic, and rising death tolls as a result of Burundi’s civil war—to name a few from this month—that garnered nowhere near the same amount of media attention nor symbolic support. Even the bloody Syrian and Iraqi conflict has failed to initiate a global response of sympathy to the degree that the “#prayforParis” solidarity has shown. No one changed the colour of their profile picture after the horrific attack in a Kenyan university earlier this year.
This terrorist attack is itself a political maneuver allegedly used by the extremist Islamic State to entrench fear in the Western world, and as a side effect, to subvert Syrian refugees’ attempts for finding safe housing in Western nations. Political actions demand political responses. French Prime-Minister Francois Hollande has already closed the borders to France and declared that military retaliation is imminent. Our own Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, claimed that it was too soon to tell whether Canada’s foreign policy on welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees before the year end and the decision to withdraw fighter jets in the US-led coalition to bomb militants in Syria and Iraq would remain unchanged.
Calling critics disrespectful for making this a political issue is not only unfounded, it potentially silences very important critiques of national and social media. If the media is meant to form a symbiotic relationship with our culture, these timely politicized critiques are going to help reform media reporting so that it is truly reflective of our values as Canadians and Western world inhabitants. Surely, no one is committed to the argument that “if people are killed in Paris, it matters more than if they are killed in Libya, because people are killed in Libya more often than in Paris”. The frequency of attacks in non-Western nations should not justify a failure to report just as critically on these matters. The location of these attacks, the religion of the victims, and their skin colour, should never be a factor for determining how extensively a horrific event will be covered. It is not a matter of “us” versus “them”, but a matter of universal respect and concern for human suffering.
If we are committed to universal human rights, we should be committed to equal and fair media coverage of important events throughout the world and show sympathy for all fellow earthlings. All human suffering deserves critical media coverage so that we can stay informed about the state of the world, learn more about differing cultures and thus, be better able to reach out and help to the best of our abilities. This is especially poignant for us, Western-world dwellers, who are seen by the rest of the world as economic leaders with boons of resources that we have the power to redistribute. Part of this power is reflected in the national media’s selection of what is worthy of reporting, which is meant to mirror our values. The recognition of the occurrence of a tragic event is a significant first step for allowing the citizens of a democratic nation, like Canada, to decide where resources are most needed and what they can do to help.
The modern global society is no longer as divided by arbitrary borderlines as it used to be: people travel and relocate more frequently now than ever before. It has become rare to meet someone who identifies only with one nationality, especially in Toronto. Due to the widespread use of technology and the Internet we are now able to intimately connect with others from every corner of the world. The borders have blurred. It is time that we stop being selective about which lost lives are worth reacting to more strongly than others, or which color to turn our towers when certain people are hurt, rather it is time to show unlimited empathy if we are to truly be respectful of human suffering and work together on finding solutions.