Wednesday’s massacre in Paris has people wondering if journalism is under attack.
Simon Fraser University human security expert Andrew Mack says radical Islamists don’t have a full grip of terror over international media, despite their heavy presence on our screens.
Mack, co-author of “The World is not Falling Apart” has also previously worked for the BBC and is familiar with journalistic practices to grab attention and is very familiar with the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” that was targeted by three shooters over their content poking fun at militant Islamist leaders.
He says it may look like journalism and freedom of expression are being bullied into silence, but we haven’t really begun to see this happen, yet.
“The part of the world where journalists really suffer is not France, it’s not Canada, it’s not the United States, it’s places like Syria and Iraq, where anybody that is critical of Islamists is risks getting killed, and frequently are killed,” he says.
With one day of coverage, Mack isn’t surprised the shots and details are so gruesome, reciting the golden rule of journalism – “If it bleeds, it leads.”
“In the United States for example, over the last 30-odd years, there’s been a very large decline in the murder rate, but the overwhelming majority of Americans believe the murder rate has gone up, but why is that the case? Because very few people read the FBI’s statistics, but a lot of people watch the media,” he explains. “With the 24/7 media cycle, journalists and editors are always looking around for stories that will play and one of the things we know is that along with sport, violence is something that gets an audience.”
12 people, including a police officer, were killed by three gunmen who injured 20 others and remain on the loose.
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