British media is racist and elitist in bombing coverage

Over the past week it has become more than apparent that the British media has become elitist and racist in it's prioritisation of news coverage.

Two days ago in Boston, the spectre of terrorism once again raised its head on mainland America as three people were killed and over 170 left injured in yet another cowardly attack on innocent lives to which the media responded rightly with blanket coverage as events unfolded and the world demanded answers.

The heart-wrenching story of what happened to Bill Richard's family and in particular his 8 year old son, Martin, will haunt us all for a very long time and words cannot convey the grief that Bill and his family must be going through at this time.

Before this article goes any further I would like to clarify my intention behind writing it.

In no way am I trying to trivialise the terrible events which took place in Boston on Monday because I view them as one of the most hideous expressions of evil but I would like to point attention to the fact that on the 15th of April many more people died from bomb attacks around the world and their deaths hardly even registered in our national press.

Why?

Well, a bomb going off in America is not a regular occurrence therefore obviously worthy of news coverage but that suggests we as a society have been desensitised to the deaths of people in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia where over 100 people also died on the 15th of April and have in turn devalued the lives of people outside of Europe and the United States.

Why does the press not express the same level of outrage at the deaths of Iraqi children as they did with Martin Richard?

Innocent lives being ended prematurely at the hands of murderers is unacceptable regardless of ethnicity or the country where the murder takes place or if the deaths are state or 'terrorist' sanctioned yet they media response was clearly indifferent to the deaths from terrorism outside the Untied States last Monday.

The only conclusion that can be reached by this is we have devalued the lives of those that died in the aforementioned countries whilst prioritising the lives of the victims of the Boston bombing.

Is there a reason for this prioritisation?

Of course there is.

If the media was to pursue the same level of coverage for deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis it would raise serious questions over American and British foreign policy and the morality of our being passive to foreign policy which is funded through taxation.

The fact of the matter is the press cannot claim the moral high ground unless it criticises British and American foreign policy, which to date is responsible for more civilian deaths than the combined efforts of 'global terrorism'.

To many people it didn't ring true when President Obama condemned the attacks in Boston whilst ordering the use of drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan where multitudes of innocent men, women and children are killed every day but categorised as' collateral damage'.

How can we accept 'collateral damage' in some countries as a norm unless we have a racist and elitist press or more worryingly a'western world' based

nationally entrenched elitist and racist attitude?

And the elitism doesn't end there.

The jingoistic flag waving (or draping) by the media over the funeral of Margaret Thatcher is yet another example of  elitism.

I don't think any of the broadsheets have fully questioned the morality of the state funding of Thatcher's funeral, yet they have been very vocal in questioning the morality of millions of Brits who reject her ideology being portrayed in a positive light.

The government has identified austerity as the key to recovery yet it is more than willing to pass the funeral bill over to the tax payer even though many tax payers see her as someone who destroyed the country, but once again the blanket coverage is geared towards a pro-Thatcher lobby.

How can we have any measure of healing in this world with a media that is intent on reporting with a racist and elitist bias?

Light a candle for the people of Boston, Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, Iran and Israel; especially those who will cry themselves to sleep because of the loss or hideous wounding of a loved one.

Christ taught us to love our enemies so pray for both the innocent and guilty without judgement in this world of hypocrisy, a world where our moral compass is influenced by a compromised media.