One of my favorite and most admired TV personalities as a child was Mr. Rogers. He often introduced the viewer to many harsh realities of life, but in a way to always stay positive. In one episode on tragedies, Mr. Rogers said something that I believe has as much relevance, if not more, today compared to back then, “Always Look For The Helpers”.
This is what we are mostly seeing on British news channels versus their American counterparts. British news coming from channels like Sky are focused on interviewing the helpers and people who risked their life saving others, in many cases sustaining injuries themselves. There is minimal exposure of the mugshots and the people who did this, instead they are celebrating the strength and power to move forward.
On the opposite side, we see the same fear mongering bullshit from US news that we see every time there is a similar tragedy. We plaster the faces of the men responsible for the attacks 24/7 and pretend like the end of the world is coming. In addition with story titles like “London Grinds To a Stop” it makes it seem like the entire city and nation has been defeated by these terrorists, when the opposite is true. There could not be a more unified London than there is now and people of all races, genders, professions ,ect are helping each other.
This misrepresentation is the same reason why so many Americans no longer trust the main stream media news anymore. They are going to rating and making stories that will bring in as much viewers as possible and fear mongering does that. The average young person now trusts people on youtube or reddit with the truth, not channels like CNN, FOX, CNBC , ect.
Everytime a tragedy like this happens and we put up the faces of those who committed such acts, on every channel , all day long, we are doing a great disservice to the victims. These people wanted to commit these terrible acts precisely so they would have their faces and names everywhere. To their friends and fellow terrorists, they are martyrs and being celebrated as such. The news organizations are carrying out business exactly as terrorists want them to and playing into their strategy.
I am not saying that news shouldn’t investigate and release the photos and names of those who carried out the attacks, just do it from a different angle. Of course we need to properly cover a news story like this, but next time it happens, in the words of Mr. Rogers “Look For the Helpers”.