The
international media gives short shrift to terrorism outside the West as it
spends vast amounts of time, ink and money to cover royal weddings. Journalists
who report on terror
came together in Bonn to discuss why.
Sixteen
people were killed in a series of terrorist attacks on the offices of the
French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and other locations in Paris on January
7-9, 2015. It was headline news around the world for days, if not weeks. Across
the globe, presidents and prime ministers took time out of their busy schedules
to express their outrage and condolences. The slogan "Je suis
Charlie" was born to signify support for press freedom.
As many as
2,000 people were killed in a series of terrorist attacks in the northeastern
Nigerian town of Baga and the surrounding area between January 3 and 7, 2015.
Even today the number of dead remains unclear. The city of 300,000 on the banks
of Lake Chad became a ghost town. The news hardly made a dent in the
international media, which was avidly reporting about Charlie Hebdo. The
president of Nigeria played down the death toll.
This, said
Malam Umar Sa'id Tudun Wada, is an example of how inequality permeates media
coverage. The managing director of Nigeria's Kano State Radio Corporation was
one of four journalists called upon to discuss reporting on terror at the
Global Media Forum, an international media conference hosted by Deutsche Welle,
in Bonn on Monday.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario