Terrorism and Media Coverage in Mumbai

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Last week in Mumbai, India, coordinated groups of terrorists attacked multiple areas of the city killing including people at a train station, a Jewish Center, and two luxury hotels. The attacks have left 188 innocent people from many different countries dead.  Nine of the ten known terrorists were killed, one suspected terrorist (Ajmal Qasab) was arrested. Currently, much attention is being paid to who is to blame for this attack. 

In the confusion and horror over these events, media outlets worked to bring the news to their constituents and tell the story of what was happening.  As with many large-scale events of great impact like this one, the different choices in how media outlets report a story can highlight major differences in national perspective and in the perspective of that news source. These events and the impact of the media in relating these terrorist attacks challenge all of us to examine thoughtfully our assumptions and the messages that are helping to form them. 

In the case of these attacks, you might start by probing what you current know and believe:

• What do you currently know about the terror attacks?
• What do you think you know?
• What questions do you still have?

Reading from multiple news sites can demonstrate the differences in how media outlets choose to cover certain events.  On November 29, 2008, the Christian Science Monitor compared the reports from multiple news outlets.       

Look over two groups of articles (Overall Event Reports, and Reports that detail who is responsible for these attacks) and compare and contrast the focus, the wording, the images, and the messages of the article.

Overall Event Reports

Read the stories below taken from the online version of three newspapers paper in two countries (England, The US, India and Pakistan) and consider what they say about the event and what the perspective of the media outlet is. 

• After reading this (or these) article(s), what have you learned from this?
• What is the main focus of the article?
• What are the titles of the articles? What can you tell from the word choices about the story that this paper wants to tell?
• What similarities do you see in the coverage from the media outlets from these four countries?  What differences do you see?  How do you explain these similarities and differences?

MSNBC - From the United States: "Terror Begins with a Corpse on a Train Platform: Death Squads Attack Landmark after Landmark in a Bloody Three Day Siege"

The BBC "How the Mumbai Attacks Unfolded."

Newsweek - "The Mayhem in Mumbai: Making Sense of India's Terrorist Attacks"

 

Reports Questioning Who is Responsible

Read the following stories taken from the online version of today's paper in four countries (England, The US, India and Pakistan) and consider what they say about the event and what the perspective of the media outlet is. 

• After reading this (or these) article(s), what have you learned from this?
• What is the main focus of the article or photo?
• What are the titles of the articles? What can you tell from the word choices about the story that this paper wants to tell?
• What images are used? What story is meant to tell?
• Where in the newspaper or news site is the piece?  (Is it prominent, on the main page?  Is it linked? How important does the paper or media site think this piece is?)
• What similarities do you see in the coverage from the media outlets from these four countries?  What differences do you see?  How do you explain these similarities and differences?

Great Britain:

• The Financial Times-"Pakistan Warns of Threat to Terror War"
• The Guardian-"Indian and Pakistani Programmes and Newspapers Wage War of Words"
• The Guardian-"It's War, Declares the Indian Press" 

India:

• The Times of India-"Ex-Soldier Trained Terrorist, says Kasab"
• The Times of India-"More Evidence Against Pak" (Video) 

Pakistan: 

• The International News-"Zadari Appeals to India not to Punish Pakistan"
   

Pictorial Resources

• Slideshow: "Terror on the streets of Mumbai"
• MSNBC Slideshow: "Mumbai Mourns"
• The New York Times Interactive Map: "Mumbai Attack Sites" 

Other Resources

The Center for Media Literacy has developed 5 questions to use to assess any piece of media. They can help train the perspective to be critical when focused on an article, picture, slideshow, or video.