It is horrendous that terrorists murdered more than 30 people and injured hundreds in Brussels, Belgium. It’s a real story that requires good journalism to get to root cause of such attacks, and it requires objective analysis to understand the genesis of these types of events. Unfortunately, coverage of the event has been excessive—and dangerous.
Americans get a disparate view of ISIS-inspired terrorism. The excessive coverage would have one believe that ISIS is an existential problem for Europe and by inference, the United States of America. That impression could not be further from the truth.
Worse, the distorted coverage creates the illusion that those working on behalf of ISIS are having a bigger impact on society as a whole than they actually do. That emboldens them. Success breeds more action. More action breeds more success for them, as our hyperventilating media gives an outlet to spread fear—the fear of terrorism that is most impactful in the minds of most.
But there is another issue: Humans around the world are constantly under attack from terrorism. Western media coverage shows a bias in covering them in a comprehensive fashion. It’s that media behavior which creates the illusion that Brussels, Paris, and San Bernardino are unique.
PRI reports the following:
But this is not the first, or even the second, terrorist attack in that time — though certainly this will be the first- or second-most covered by Western media. Since the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, there have been literally hundreds of terrorist attacks around the world. Factor out the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and you still have dozens of attacks over the past five months.
Some like the attack in San Bernardino, California, were certainly well-reported. The attack in Ivory Coast earlier this month also was widely covered. But other attacks have flown under the radar.
The article went on to point out a number of different attacks that occurred between the attacks on Paris and Brussels.
- November 20, 2015: Bamako hotel attack in Mali, 20 dead
- November 24, 2015: Bus attack in Tunisia, 13 dead
- December 2, 2015: San Bernardino attack, 14 dead
- January 12, 2016: Istanbul bombing, 13 dead
- January 14, 2016: Jakarta attacks, 8 dead
- January 15, 2016: Burkina Faso Splendid Hotel, 30 dead
- February 26, 2016: Mogadishu hotel attack, 15 dead
- March 13, 2016: Ivory Coast Grand-Bassam resort shootings, 18 dead
- March 13, 2016: Ankara bombing, 37 dead
- March 19, 2016: Istanbul bombing, 4 dead
Yes, San Bernardino was covered ad nauseam. Paris was covered ad nauseam. Brussels is being covered ad nauseam. But the other attacks got comparatively less coverage. Most can infer the reasons why.
If Paris and Brussels are deserving of the coverage they are getting, shouldn’t the fact that 31 people are murdered every day with a gun in America be worthy of similar coverage? That is around 12,000 deaths per year. Shouldn't the fact that 91 people a day die from being shot with a gun warrant similar coverage? That is more 30,000 a year. Terrorism does not kill nearly that many people in the United States.
There are sinister reasons one could arrive at for this lack of reporting. The gun lobby won't stand for Americans learning about this national epidemic. And the defense industrial complex, with its various appendages, implicitly entices the promotion of fear to ensure their businesses continue to be well-funded—publicly and privately.
Excessive media coverage on Brussels and similar events provides a kind of smoke and mirrors. The news media must be fed. It needs content. It must, however, discriminate in its content. After all, the content distributed must not negatively affect certain sectors in an adverse manner. This has severe implications for society’s overall well-being.
There is a huge fish kill occurring in Florida right now. It’s likely a precursor to the future, given the anti-science nature of the government Floridians elected. Where is the coverage?
Many issues are left uncovered because of a shallow media that is derelict in its duty. The coverage of the Brussels attack and the lack of coverage of most other issues that materially affect more people is the reason crowdsourced alternative media must be the focal source going forward.
The American masses must invest in alternative media.