Pakistanis are used to carnage. We’re used to bomb blasts, assassinations and industrial accidents. We know that when the tickers turn red, more often than not, something terrible has happened. That’s what happened on the night of April 15, only the blast wasn’t in Battagram, but in Boston. After the first ticker, on a local TV channel, telling us of an explosion in Boston, the next ticker was that President Barack Obama had taken notice of the blast. That prompted quite a few cynical laughs, leading some to say that our channels are far too used to covering local acts of terror, the reporting of which follows a predictable pattern. First, a blast is heard, then confirmed, then the casualties are reported and then the government takes “notice”. Inevitably, a “search and rescue operation” is conducted and so on and so forth. We wondered, black humour being a national survival trait, if the next ticker would say that Obama had called for a report within 24 hours and whether any officials would be suspended — following a suo motu of course. At this point, we switched onto CNN to see how the US media, relatively less experienced in reporting acts of terror, was handling it. What I saw was less impactful than what I didn’t see. Sure, there was the crowd running in terror, the plume of smoke from the blast and so on, and the odd scene, quickly edited out, of wounded people. Then, the footage stopped altogether and we were shown still images of the scene. They were quiet and poignant. Not bad, considering the last act of terror on US soil was 9/11 itself. Missing were the crying people, the torn bodies and the hysterical reporters heaping blame on the authorities and trying to trample all over the scene in the name of the freedom of the press. No one stuck a mic in the face of the parents of the eight-year-old boy who had died and asked them how they felt. No one used a wailing woman or a wounded person being wheeled into the hospital in their headline footage. There were no montages of misery masquerading as opening titles. By contrast, look at how our TV channels covered the April 16 attack in Peshawar. One zoomed in on a critically injured man as he lay dying. Another actually showed a charred body, half melted into the driver’s seat of the car that had been attacked. It wasn’t the first time that images that should never be shown on TV made it to prime time, and it won’t be the last. After covering hundreds of such attacks, our media has yet to evolve a code of conduct, has yet to go beyond mealy-mouthed expressions of regret. And the viewers have yet to demand that they do.
Soon came another marked difference in approach, not from the media but from the government. The US president appeared before the cameras to share his peoples’ pain and comfort them. It was a short address, over as quickly as it had begun, but I can only imagine that it would have given a confused nation a feeling that someone was on the job. I say I can only imagine it because I’ve never actually experienced it. No matter the scale of the disaster, the extent of the carnage, I’ve never seen one of our leaders — a prime minister or a president — actually reach out and try to comfort the people. Whether it’s Baldia, Alamdaar Road or Abbas Town, they’ve never bothered to actually try and lead. It’s almost enough to make you long for a meray aziz humwatno moment.
There was, of course, the bad and the ugly as well. The New York Post, in particular, stands out for being a fear-mongering rag. Not only did it inflate the casualties, it also reported that a “Saudi man who smelled of gunpowder” was a suspect, even when the Boston police denied any such thing. There are consequences to this sort of misreporting, and a group of men wielding baseball bats showed up at the hospital where this man was said to be held while he was being treated. The Post’s next front page ran a picture of two men, who the Post claims were being sought, with the title “Bag Men”. Except, of course, they weren’t being sought and were guilty only of watching the marathon while looking somewhat Middle-Eastern. One of them, 17-year-old Salah Barhoun, had to turn to the police to clear his name. The Post, of course, is the same toilet-paper tabloid that turned Pakistani-American Salman Hamdani, a hero of 9/11, into a suspect, adding to the miseries of his family, who spent months thinking he was in an American jail while he had, in fact, died trying to rescue people from the twin towers. Till now, the Post has not issued a clarification, either on Salman or Salah. Then, of course, it gets worse. US tv analyst Erik Rush, who has appeared on Fox and CNN, tweeted immediately after the bombing, “Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon!” When asked if he was blaming Muslims, he said, “Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all.” Later, he claimed he was being “sarcastic”. And, of course, resident Islamophobe Pam Gellar also ran with it, calling it “Jihad in America”. It’s not completely clear who the suspects are. They may turn out to be Muslim, but to jump the gun like this is more a case of exploiting tragedy than anything else. It is “in fact” the moral equivalent of our “no Muslim can commit such an act” crowd that swings into action whenever there is a blast in Pakistan. Predictably, thus, the first Boston-related hate crime took place. And then there are the equivalents of our yeh sab drama hai crowd who claimed this was a false flag operation; an inside job by a government bent on creating a defacto police state. So yes, the yanks also have their screaming tabloids, their nutjobs and hate-mongers. But by and large, they get slapped down by a much more savvy public. For the most part, misreporting is challenged and maniacs are mocked. Unfortunately, on this side of the world, the more hysterical your coverage, the higher your ratings, and if you’re crazy enough, you won’t get shunned, you’ll get called a senior analyst.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2013.
COMMENTS (16)
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I realize you have a point of view you are trying to push. This point of view seems to be that somehow muslins are the victims. When you look at only one aspect of reporting about the events that occurred in Boston, you fail to point out the many media sources in the US who consider this act of terrorism to have been committed by right wing white US extremists. They had no bases for this belief any more than the NY Post.
What have occurred over the last decade are acts such as Boston or London or Madrid happen the safe assumption to make is they were carried out by a muslin. Fair or unfair this is the perception. Unfortunately it has proven to be an accurate perception.
Please don't say "Yanks". It makes you look "Paki".
@Rashid: I had to explain to him Pakistan has absolutely nothing to do with this If I were you I would wait till all the investigations are complete. Remember over 90% of the world's terrorist activities has some sort of links to Pakistan. Lets hope that this is part of the 10% which is not linked to the Land of the Pure. However, the sad thing is that they were muslims - so called our brothers.
Nicely done. On the media angle we must understand that both the playing fields are different. Ours is like an 18 hole golf course which actually has 22 holes and no grass and theirs is like an Astro-turf hockey ground with only one goal.
Nice article about irresponsible reporting. Reporting should be based on facts and not on baseless rumours or suspicions. However, highlighting the miseries and pains being suffered by the victims is necessary for keeping the public, in their cosy homes, well informed about the enormity of the situation. It helps in forcing the government out of apathy to take proper measures for avoiding such incidents. But the reckless pestering of the injured for details is highly inappropriate particularly when they are in pain and need help.
@Rashid really! I thought Paksitanis are there for all oppressed muslim brothers accross globe.
I expected few things from this article. 1) Condolence for the blast victims. 2) Victimisation. Talking about media has given an Islamic twist. 3) Suggestion that this twist is unfounded, forgetting that the last time an attack happened and foiled were both inspired by Radical Islam.
I got all.. Thanks.. Refreshing!
Yea, yea!!. But the terrorist are still two muslim brothers, one is dead and one is in jail. All the Brown muslims are happy that it isn't one of them., but Russian muslims.
@ F
Exactly. Muslims have a lot to reflect upon.
A person at work today thought Chechnya was a part of Pakistan. I had to explain to him Pakistan has absolutely nothing to do with this.
I think Zardari tried once. It happened after the Marriot explosions and he came on air to comfort us. I think it was a different time period because that was a crazy thing to happen. Now, it doesn't seem so crazy. Different climate.
Also, Zardari wasn't very comforting. He did try though
The New York Post is a tabloid and infamous for its rightwing extremism. The problem with such acts of terrorism is, they actually help the other rightwing extremists. The hate mongering goes on in circles. The New York Post may be wrong on many points but the fact remains that a historic international sports event where 26 thousand athletes including many handicapped were participating was targeted for the killing of innocent people. All Muslims are not bad citizens but unfortunately most of these killers claim to be Muslims or found to be connected with Muslims. The worse is these terrorists target NY City or Boston which are strong centers of liberalism and offer multiculturalism. Killing those who are the most liberal in the US is shooting themselves on the foot. These cold blooded killers must be isolated before they succeed and put away.
Beautifully written. Its getting increasingly hard to watch reporting on acts of terr...I donot watch it in as much detail as u quoted...my God. N wot to expect from govt... An extreme reaction of a few media persons is natural after Boston attacks Your "crazy" analyts are slapped down everywhere, but some are just more resilient n senior than others.
Come Monday, Ansar Abbasi and Orya Maqbool Jan will be on every talkshow decrying this as an anti-Pakistan conspiracy and somehow bringing drones into it. Classic right-wing mullah fringe reaction
Savvy public? Really?
Your points are good but now it is confirmed that people involved were Muslims - both. Reflective people in the community should shed some light on why muslim societies, no matter where they live, score very high in categories of playing victim, believing in conspiracies, teaching hate, establishing supremacy by any means and indulging in denial.