AIBU to think the news is a bit racist?

[eskimofriends]

When 12 people (who happened to be white, film-goers) were shot by a gunman, there was massive coverage in the news (tv, radio and papers).
Yesterday, 7 Sikhs were shot by a gunman, and it's hardly had a mention.
Doesn't feel right to me.

I've just put the tv on and it's the first item news item i have seen so i don't know if yabu.

I don't think it's racism. I think it's more a combination of it being at a Batman film that lots of people will go to see and therefore more relevant to them, and it being the olympics where even the terrible events in Syria are pushed down to the bottom of the news.

Ha! Was thinking of the crazy and awful frequency of the shootings in the US, but this didn't cross my mind. Now that you've said it...
I don't think YABU because you may begin to wonder.
Perhaps they are waiting for the details to emerge??

ive got the news on and it was the first story, i think yabu,

There were actually 50odd people shot in the cinema weren't there? Children and pregnant women included. And they were in a cinema which pretty much everyone goes to at some point and should be a safe place to be. And it happened while a huge Hollywood film was showing. And the gunman had an obsession with a character from the films.

All those things make it a "sensational" story.

Deaths in the name of religion/because of religion or in anyway religion linked happen every single day.

But obviously both are tragic, it's just that one is more "newsworthy" than the other.

Been watching the news, the BBC and CNN having been covering it appropriately.
I don't think racism is at play.

Race is not what is determining the news queue, it is what else is in the news, ie the Olympics.

I get the olympics. But on radio 4 today prog it has been mentioned after olympics, mars rover, anniversary of london riots and egyptian border thing. Plus no outside broadcast and scant details. Maybe tv is dealing with it better.

I don't think it's racist. I am however getting pissed off with the news coverage across the BBC. The Olympics is not the only thing happening in the world, neither is it the most important. It makes me wonder what's being buried on 'good news days'.

Reading it on yahoo news right now. So tragic.

I was reading about a truly, truly awful case in the US about the murders of Channon Christian and her bf Christopher Newsom in2007 -in the news because of retrials getting underway shortly. But a lot of commentators who suggested that the small amount of news coverage that trial received at the time wasbecause of the racial undertones to the crimes.

If you Google these poor people's names be prepared to read some things you won't be able to forget.

It's get want to keep the Olympics on the front page, and this killing doesn't involve a Hollywood film.
The world is racist, not just the news.

The press.

As bad as the incident is I don't think it's racist of the newspapers not to sensationalise it. It was an attack on a temple, clearly against the sikh religion unlike the other attack which was on members of the public. There are always attacks on Mosques/churches/temples around the world on nearly a daily basis that the press no longer report them.

It's on the news now

Oh, and the fact that we were winning so many medals over the weekend, the press probably didn't want to dampen our spirits with such a tragic story.

YABU. That story has very prominent billing and is being covered on the serious news channels.

Agreed.

The Media's handwringing over the civil war/human rights abuses/state mobilising against own people in Syria is starting to irritate me somewhat.

The same (and IMO far worse) has been going on in large swathes of Sub-Saharan Africa for decades yet is it so seldom mentioned. I hate to admit it, but I do feel there is a racial motive to it.

Cake I don't recall seeing much media handwringing about the huge human rights abuses that were going on in Syria and Egypt prior to the overthrow of Mubarak and possible overthrow of Assad.

I don't think the media is focussing on North Africa / Syria because it is more important than sub-Saharan Africa from a racial point of view but rather because it is potentially changing the political landscape in a very volitile area. Mursi is the first elected president of Egypt and it is unclear how his approach to Israel / Palestine will compare to Mubarak. Assad is a dynastic dictator who is seen as a bit of a Russian puppet in a country that boarders both Iraq and Israel.

There is also a high level of paranoia concern about islamic governments.

Syria is very much more sensitive and likely to have a negative impact on international relations than other conflicts, that's why it is being covered more than they are.

The Sikh temple killings are now being covered in more detail. I think the relative lack of coverage early on was about the Olympics etc as others have said, but was also caused by the details being slow to emerge.