Since the attacks last Friday in Paris, there has been an outpouring of support and solidarity for those affected by this egregious tragedy. At the same time we’ve seen a tempered backlash towards this very outpouring. Many have claimed, and rightly so, that equally deadly and tragic terrorist attacks occur far too frequently yet are consistently ignored by the media because they take place in non-white, non-western countries. For example, in this year alone:
Jan. 3-7: Boko Haram carries out its most deadly massacre yet, killing over an estimated 2,000 in the border town of Baga, Nigeria.
Feb. 4-5: More than 91 are dead as Boko Haram fighters slaughter civilians and burn mosques and churches in Fotokoi, Cameroon.
March 20: Islamic State suicide bombers raze two mosques in the Yemen capital of Sana’a, killing 137.
April 1: One hundred and fourty-seven students at Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya are massacred by Al-Shabab militants, the deadliest terrorist attack in Nigeria since 1998.
July 1-2: On July 1, 48 men and boys in Monguno, Nigeria are shot and killed by Boko Haram gunmen in a mosque after prayer time. The following evening, jihadists continue their spree, slaying 97 more in the village of Kukuwa, Nigeria.
Aug. 13: A refrigerator truck packed with explosives detonates in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 76. Shiites are targeted in the bombing.
Oct. 10: Two ISIS suicide bombers kill 102 and injure 508 at a peace rally near the central train station in Ankara, Turkey.
Oct. 31: All 224 people aboard the Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 die in a fatal crash in Sinai, Egypt. An ISIS affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The sample of terrorist attacks described above rank among the deadliest of 2015, yet we suspect you’ve never heard more than a peep about most of them. Sadly, tragedies in countries like Nigeria or Yemen are lucky to amass even a day or two of mainstream media coverage. A timely U.S. ally like Turkey even might be awarded a front page story, but in the greater scheme of media coverage, the dust settles quickly.
While the media is certainly not without blame, the Big Bad Wolf that is CNN, Fox & Co. isn’t the only one at fault for its undoubtable bias in its news coverage. We, the consumers of all things clickbait, are also responsible. With the advent of big data analytics and advanced algorithms such as Facebook’s EdgeRank and Google’s PageRank algorithms, every article, listicle and “Hotline Bling” gif you click on influences what you are more and less likely to see next time you go online. News apps have caught on as well, with many employing “My News” tools designed to ‘cater’ to your own tastes and preferences. And while the upside is a more ‘personalized’ news feed, the downside reinforces the Western lens through which we consume media.
News is therefore a two-way street. Through our clicks, our shares and our likes, we consumers create the incentives for the news media to cover certain stories but not others. Though the media certainly plays a role in shaping our opinions, we cannot discount the power we hold in shaping what stories the news media covers, as well.
Terlep is a senior political science major from Naperville, Illinois; Piggins is a senior economics major from Saugatuck, Michigan.
Tune into WGRE from 4:00-5:00 p.m. on Wednesdays to hear DePauwlitics.