For more than a century our world has seen violence almost in every country on the planet in the form of wars, religious strikes, atomic bombing and what not. This makes us wonder as well as analyse the way it is covered by the media on the screen. Media these days is bent on twisting the truth and portraying it in a way which covers every angle when not all of them would be necessary. Displaying sides of a story only for gathering views often stirs commotion in the world which have zero positive outcomes. So let’s know about media coverage of violence in New Zealand.
Two consecutive mass shootings occurred at mosques in a terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15 March 2019. The attack, carried out by a single gunman who entered both mosques, began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton and continued at Linwood Islamic Centre which killed 51 people and injured 49.
John Wihbey, who is an assistant professor of Journalism at the Northeastern University says news media have a responsibility to ensure their coverage of broader issues, such as religious conflict, is proportional to how those issues bear out in the world.
The attack in the mosque was tragic and the man who did it deserved to get the worst punishment ever. However, we can’t deny that the issue was telecasted in a way that it seemed more widespread than it originally was. It is an observed and known fact that exclusively covering a particular should always focus on the whole news in general and not just the religious or violent angles of it. Sometimes giving the religious angle more attention, encourages communalism and major conflicts.
Therefore, as responsible citizens, we must showcase national as well as international news in a way which encourages us to be less like the cruel people out there and become more responsible and careful instead of scared and hateful.
Shivangi Sinha