Bilal Abdul Kareem Journalist
Law enforcement officials are saying that they believe they have killed the man behind the gun attacks carried out overnight in the capital of Copenhagen. The scenes of the two attacks were a “free speech event” and a synagogue.
Krudttoenden Cafe hosted a debate on freedom of speech which was attended by Lars Villks, a Swedish artist who has drawn depictions of what he says are the Prophet Muhammad. The French ambassador to Denmark, Francois Zimeray, was in attendance as well. One man was killed and three police officers were wounded in the attack. While one man was killed and two police officers were wounded in the synagogue incident.
Danish authorities maintain that they are handling the case as a “terrorist” incident and the media seems to be following suit. Interestingly most of the news outlets seemed to have a starkly different tone regarding how they approached last Tuesday’s shooting of 3 Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the events that took place in Denmark. Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu Salha, and her sister Razan Abu Salha were gunned down by Craig Hicks. Hicks, a self styled atheist, had a Facebook page containing anti religious sentiment.
Below is a random look at the term “terror” and its references in mainstream media’s handling of the two cases:
Media Outlet: Reuters
Topic: Denmark Shooting
Article Title: Danish Police say kill Suspect in Copenhagen Attacks
Web Address: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/15/us-denmark-shooting-idUSKBN0LI0N720150215
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 3
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Topic: Muslim Shooting
Article Title: U.S. gunman kills three young Muslims; motive disputed
Web Address: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/11/us-usa-north-carolina-murder-idUSKBN0LF11020150211
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 1 (and that was a quote from a Muslim about unfair media reports) so the actual number is 0
Media Outlet: Time.com
Topic: Denmark Shooting
Article Title: Free Speech Debate ’Still Alive’ After Attack in Denmark
Web Address: http://time.com/3710336/denmark-muhammad-cartoons-attack/
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 6 (Not including that the article appears in the “World Terrorism” section of the website)
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Topic: Muslim Shooting
Article Title: North Carolina Shooting Suspect Had Threatened Neighbors Before
Web Address: http://time.com/3704759/muslim-students-murdered-chapel-hill/
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 0
Media Outlet: BBC.com
Topic: Denmark Shooting
Article Title: Copenhagen Shootings: Police kill ‘gunman’ after two Attacks
Web Address: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31475803
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 3
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Topic: Muslim Shooting
Article Title: Chapel Hill Shootings: North Carolina Man Charged
Web Address: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31416869
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 1 (A quote was mentioned by Abed Ayoub of the American -Arab anti-Discrimination Committee: ““Why hasn’t anyone called the #ChapelHillShooting an act of terrorism?”
Media Outlet: Foxnews.com
Topic: Denmark Shooting
Article Title: Police kill man Believed to be Gunman Behind 2 Copenhagen Shootings
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 3
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Topic: Muslim Shooting
Article Title: ‘He hates us’: Muslim Father of NC Victims says daughter had run-ins with Alleged Killer
Web Address: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/11/north-carolina-man-charged-in-shooting-death-three-people/
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 0
Media Outlet: Nytimes.com
Topic: Denmark Shooting
Article Title: 2 Deadly Shootings Within Hours in Copenhagen; 5 Wounded
Web Address: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/02/14/world/europe/ap-eu-denmark-shots.html
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 4
——
Topic: Muslim Shooting
Article Title: In Chapel Hill Shooting of 3 Muslims, a Question of Motive
Web Address: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/us/muslim-student-shootings-north-carolina.html?_r=0
Number of times the word “terror” appears in the article: 0
As is evident from the numbers above, “terror” was referenced just 3 times in 5 articles related to the killing of the 3 Muslims in Chapel Hill. While regarding the Denmark incident “terror” was referenced 16 times in 5 articles. Is there an imbalance in the reporting of the two incidents? While this may or may not be done deliberately, I do believe that the term “terror” is freely used in the Denmark incident while it is extremely conservatively used in the incident wherein the three Muslim students were killed. While I’m not making a case for an organized conspiracy theory, I can say that the numbers don’t lie.
