When I saw this clip, I thought it was genius. Of course, most content produced by The Daily Show is.
In this clip, Trevor Noah explains how the coverage of the shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood was flawed. The shooting left three people dead, including a police officer.
I would like to start by saying that this is not a pro-life or pro choice discussion. I am choosing to do this topic because Planned Parenthood provides important services to women, and the way the shooting was covered was simply interesting to me.
To put this incident into context, this incident happened during a time when politicians have been spewing hate rhetoric after videos were released of Planned Parenthood selling fetus tissue. Those videos were soon found to be fake. The debate to de-fund Planned Parenthood is still ongoing.
However, that is a different conversation. I appreciate this clip because it discusses the exact same thing I was thinking: why was the media scared to call this shooting domestic terrorism? This was an attack with ideological violence behind it. He even said during the attack "no more baby parts", a reference of the fake videos I mentioned earlier.
The answer is simple: because he was white. Priming is a powerful tool in journalism. Priming is the fact that the media sets the stage on an issue, and how the audience understand said issue.
According to a study done by Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. and Shanto Iyengar, the media often resorts to race when reporting on crime, and this has a large impact on the way a crime is viewed.
In this clip, Trevor Noah shows many clips of various media outlets debating if this was terrorism. One of the clips makes the point that if the shooter was Arab, journalists would report it as terrorism, and this is true. If the shooter had been a minority, this crime would have been reported on way differently. Let's just admit it.
I agree with what Trevor Noah says in this clip. If we have to ask to call an attack terrorism, how about we just call it terrorism.
Great post! I love the Daily Show, it always has such a clever, but poignant take on issues in the media and politics. You make a really good argument here, but one thing I think could strengthen your argument is comparing and contrasting the coverage of the planned parenthood shooting with coverage of other recent terrorist attacks, defined as such by the race of the attackers. Like the San Bernardino shooting or even the Boston Marathon bombing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I agree with you and Trevor Noah that the media recoils from calling this an act of terrorism because the shooter was a white man. If it had been someone from a minority, the story would have been portrayed much differently. - Tamara Corsi
ReplyDeleteI really like how you defined priming in this piece, "Priming is the fact that the media sets the stage on an issue, and how the audience understand said issue." I think this definition is really helpful for understanding how media influence has a more salient affect on our interpretation than we subconsciously allow ourselves to believe! Really great piece!
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