Chapel Hill: The US media's definition of a non-story
Guest blog: The deaths of three Muslims in North Carolina was ignored by many mainstream media networks. Social media was another matter, says Doja Dorad.
3 min read
12 Feb, 2015
The news might not have cared, but others did [AFP]
Nothing to see here. The death of three young Muslims at their home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was apparently not news for most media in the US, and certainly not to be considered terrorism.
After all, the mainstream US media defines terrorism as acts committed by Muslims, not against them. Everything else are isolated, lone gunman attacks.
Deah Shaddy Barakat, a 23-year-old Syrian man, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, both Jordanians, were shot dead at 5am on Wednesday.
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
But there was no initial coverage of the shooting. Nothing on Reuters, BBC, or CNN, let alone local or national US networks. I very much expected Fox News to ignore the story, given the network's strident anti-Muslim editorial line. It did not disappoint.
After a lapse of many hours, the story was picked up by British media, with the Independent's coverage standing out. Then CNN started mentioning it.
However, the breaking news slots on the websites of leading US outlets, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time was given to Jon Stewart's decision to leave The Daily Show later this year.
On social media, there has been widespread outrage over how the media dealt with the murder. The hashtag #ChapelHillShooting became one of the most-used on Twitter.
Thanks to the interest on social media, we learned that Yusor and Deah got married six weeks ago. We learned the victims habitually distributed food to homeless people, and raised money and donations for Syrian refugees.
The victims' families started collecting donations to continue their charity work after their death. One person wrote, "This will not be the death of your charitable deeds," on Barakat’s page on the online fundraising platform YouCaring.
Three Facebook pages were also set up honouring the victims. The admins on one of the pages wrote, "Our dear Deah Barakat, Yusor AbuSalha, and Razan Abu-Salha have returned to their God. They were examples to be emulated in life."
On Twitter, many asked, "where are the protests?" in reference to the outrage that followed the Charlie Hebdo attack. Others also asked why the Arab media was not covering the attack in the same way it had covered the shooting at the offices of the French satirical magazine.
Nothing can ease the grief of the victims' families. They also had to endure posts condoning the deaths. Someone wrote on Twitter "we need to kill them", in reference to what Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News commentator, once said about supporters of the Islamic State group.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.
After all, the mainstream US media defines terrorism as acts committed by Muslims, not against them. Everything else are isolated, lone gunman attacks.
Deah Shaddy Barakat, a 23-year-old Syrian man, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, both Jordanians, were shot dead at 5am on Wednesday.
Twitter Post
|
Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
But there was no initial coverage of the shooting. Nothing on Reuters, BBC, or CNN, let alone local or national US networks. I very much expected Fox News to ignore the story, given the network's strident anti-Muslim editorial line. It did not disappoint.
After a lapse of many hours, the story was picked up by British media, with the Independent's coverage standing out. Then CNN started mentioning it.
However, the breaking news slots on the websites of leading US outlets, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time was given to Jon Stewart's decision to leave The Daily Show later this year.
On social media, there has been widespread outrage over how the media dealt with the murder. The hashtag #ChapelHillShooting became one of the most-used on Twitter.
| Facebook Post |
Thanks to the interest on social media, we learned that Yusor and Deah got married six weeks ago. We learned the victims habitually distributed food to homeless people, and raised money and donations for Syrian refugees.
The victims' families started collecting donations to continue their charity work after their death. One person wrote, "This will not be the death of your charitable deeds," on Barakat’s page on the online fundraising platform YouCaring.
Three Facebook pages were also set up honouring the victims. The admins on one of the pages wrote, "Our dear Deah Barakat, Yusor AbuSalha, and Razan Abu-Salha have returned to their God. They were examples to be emulated in life."
On Twitter, many asked, "where are the protests?" in reference to the outrage that followed the Charlie Hebdo attack. Others also asked why the Arab media was not covering the attack in the same way it had covered the shooting at the offices of the French satirical magazine.
Nothing can ease the grief of the victims' families. They also had to endure posts condoning the deaths. Someone wrote on Twitter "we need to kill them", in reference to what Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News commentator, once said about supporters of the Islamic State group.
This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.
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