The Biases Behind News Coverage
How the media coverage of the Notre Dame Cathedral Fire and Easter Sunday Massacre in Sri Lanka reveal cultural biases
Any person owning a device with access to news heard about the burning of the Notre Dame, most likely as it happened, on April 15, 2019. Six days later on April 21, three suicide bombers killed hundreds of people at churches, hotels, and restaurants in Sri Lanka during Easter Sunday mass, but news coverage of the attack and follow up pales in comparison to the Notre Dame fire.
Both Paris and Sri Lanka still feel the effects of the tragedies, and the rest of the world mourns with one of them as well; with the country that lost no lives to terrorism.
A quick internet search of the Notre Dame fire will show multiple articles from the day of, along with numerous articles from two days ago, three days ago, and so on. The coverage hasn’t stopped since April 15. When the Sri Lanka massacre is searched, new articles are few and far between.
There are numerous reasons as to why the one event is reported on more. The day of the fire, social media was flooded with pictures of people in front of the Cathedral with words of sympathy and heartbreak. People feel a greater connection to the Notre Dame because of the rich history and beautiful architecture that makes it a popular tourist destination.
Also because it’s in a developed country full of white people.
Sri Lanka is an island in South Asia and is considered a developing country with a population of 21 million. Buddhism is practiced by 70 percent of the population, Hinduism 12 percent, Islam 9 percent, and Christianity 7 percent.
Statistics like that are not “the norm” for Western cultures. People in America are more drawn to the Notre Dame tragedy because it hits closer to home, or closer to what looks like home.
Todd Laufenberg, a human rights professor at Waubonsee Community College, remembers that the attack in Sri Lanka was not featured as prominently in the news as the Cathedral fire.
“I didn’t see a lot about it” Laufenberg said. “It’s kind of interesting. You have this tragedy where hundreds of people died, and then one where no one was hurt, but no ones really paying attention to the people that died.”
People were quick to speculate that the fire was the result of a terrorist attack. “Some idiot called it Frances 9/11. No one died, it was an accident, the two aren’t even comparable. I hoped people would think it was idiotic right away.” Laufenberg said. After the terrorist theory had been debunked, updates still continued.
The massacre in Sri Lanka ended nearly ten years of peace following their 26 year long civil war. Many citizens initially assumed Buddhist Nationalists were behind the attack due to residual tensions between religious groups leftover. It was later found out that the attacks were carried out by Muslim extremists affiliated with ISIS.
After the attack, the Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency. Social media was banned to prevent the spread of false information, however many saw it as stifling the peoples thoughts and feelings about the situation.
Weeks later, Sri Lanka is still engaged in conflict, this time pointed towards Muslims. Where Notre Dame updates tell of how the church will be rebuilt and when, Sri Lanka is in the midst of a government mandated state of emergency.
Muslims are being targeted by both locals and government officials. Many prominent Muslim churches in Sri Lanka have denounced the attack and offered their sympathies to the Christian community, but anti-Muslim riots have already taken the life of at least one man.
Sri Lankan officials were warned days before the attack that an extremist Muslim group was planning to attack major churches and tourist destinations. The government is facing backlash from citizens from not taking the threats seriously.
The media gives the people what they want to hear, and people don’t want to hear about violence anymore, especially if it doesn’t affect them personally. French Billionaires have pledged millions to rebuild the Cathedral, however three Christian churches and many Muslim owned businesses in Sri Lanka were destroyed, and news of donations to help rebuild their structures after the tragic incident are lacking.
“I’m not always certain about the way we talk about human rights in the media. The media is so corporate” Laufenberg said. He expressed his concern that sometimes the media may exploit a tragedy just for views. “If people do hear more about human rights violations, they can be motivated to care a little bit, motivated to donate to nongovernment organizations. Countries can be held accountable. Human rights can be abused, and we need to know about that.”
The difference in coverage between the two events displays that the value of a building in a predominantly white country is higher than that of innocent lives lost in terrorist attacks in developing countries. Although what happened in Sri Lanka wasn’t an exact instance of human rights violations, the coverage of the tragedy could be beneficial to their country if done in the right way. Like Laufenberg said, countries can be held accountable.
