The Western Media: Selectively Blind
Why do some events get more coverage than others in the media?
At the beginning of September 2015, a photo of a drowned Syrian child named Alan Kurdi went viral across all media forms. Some critics have argued that the coverage the photo received represents another form of viral currency voyeurism, another online experience that we can all get involved into before something else captures our attention, like Cecil the Lion. But can we blame anyone if that is the only way to draw attention to a wider issue?
A single hashtag can spark a social movement. The power of social media in the age of technology can be seen through the speed with which some events go viral across different platforms.
However, the intention with which someone shares a certain article, video or photo on social media matters immensely. You cannot tell whether they are going to do anything about it, even though someone may argue that the simple fact that they are spreading the news might be enough. Some of them may not have even read the whole article even though they shared it, others maybe just want to be associated with the idea that they care about what is happening all around the world these days.
The photo of the dead Syrian child was probably the most surprising viral piece of photojournalism done this year, seen as many outlets were wary of publishing it in the first place. It led to an increase in organising charitable campaigns for the refugees. A single tragedy became the symbol of an entire crisis. Dimitri Beck, the editor of the photojournalism magazine Polka in France says that “It’s not a sophisticated image, even in its framing, but the message is clear and direct: a kid has died and he’s being picked up like a washed-up piece of wood on the beach. There’s nothing more violent.”
An image has the power to mobilize and unite people of different race, gender or class because, as Susan Sontag was writing in 1973, a photograph represents the evidence the audience needs in order to believe the impact of a certain event.
Patrick R. Grzanka, a professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, also argues that mass tragedies that involve children tend to receive more attention because they reduce the psychological distance between the victims and the audience while creating space for empathy.
The power of this particular photo is found in its simplicity: whenever a parent looked at it, they thought that could have happened to their child. He seems peaceful, like he is sleeping, and he is wearing ordinary clothes and sneakers. There is no blood, no form of any violence or visible pain: what did that kid do wrong to deserve this?
Regardless of the way in which the photo became viral, it did create beliefs amongst audiences and drew attention to a crisis that has been going on for years. The United Nations have reported that the Syrian conflict nowadays represents the largest displacement crisis in the world, as more than 12m people are asking for help. Hugh Pinney, the vice president of Getty Images, believes “the reason we’re talking about it after it’s been published is because it breaks a social taboo that has been in place in the press for decades: a picture of a dead child is one of the golden rules of what you never published.”
In an article written for The Atlantic, Jared Keller argues that animals and outrage are other of the two of the main values on which social media is based nowadays. However, as long as the turmoil does not influence anybody’s actions, it becomes just another passing event that everybody got involved in by clicking on the “Share” button on Facebook. Last summer, international news outlets named Palmer Hunter as the man who killed Cecil, a popular lion that lived protected in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, but nowadays nobody talks about it anymore.
There is a common assumption among our society nowadays that we can talk about different sorts of transgressions, but nobody can be regarded as a person who sins. However, everybody agrees that racism and misogyny still play a big part in influencing one’s behaviour, even though nobody wants to admit that. Teju Cole, a Nigerian-American writer and photographer talks about the “white saviour industrial complex” which generated a chilling effect that has had an enormous influence on direct speeches by using Barack Obama as an example: he is wary of being seen as the “angry black man” in case he shows too much passion when talking about different issues.
Jack Lule, Chair of Journalism and Communication at Lehigh University, believes there is a concept of “worthy and unworthy” victims in the media. The photo of the dead Syrian child erases the concept of worthiness and unworthiness as it shows a simple child that you could see around the block in every Western country, a symbol for every other child that it could happen to and that you could actually help.
