What does Christchurch and two mosques have in common?

Daily Mirror was harshly criticised for whitewashing New Zealand terrorist. [Photo, Courtesy]

Any time there is an attack involving a shootout that leads to the loss of dozens of lives, two things happen.

One, there is utter loss that hits you to the bone – not for the victims, but for the families left behind. Families that keep asking the question ‘why’. And the worst part is not the asking, it’s the fact that there is no answer. Second, how will this be reported? The media would obviously be awash with headlines ranging from ‘Darkest Day’, ‘End Of Innocence’ to ‘Mosque Terror’.

In previous reportage of terror attacks, the media has been in the limelight, where some parties accused it of being biased. The Christchurch mosque shooting on March 15 was no different. For instance, Daily Mirror was accused of “not referring to the perpetrator as a terrorist but calling him a killer instead”.

The same paper ran with the headline ‘Angelic boy who grew into an evil far-right mass killer’, compared to a previous 'ISIS maniac kills 50 in gay club'.

The New Zealand shooting killer who took away 50 lives is an Australian. According to Reuters, Brenton Tarrant, 28, was charged with murder on Saturday after 50 people were killed and dozens wounded in the mass shootings at two mosques.

Closer home, there have been numerous terrorist attacks that have claimed many lives, and when the media reported, sadly it took the biased angle which was to assume that the perpetrators were Muslim.

This has made it even more difficult for new journalists to not have a set opinion as they cover terrorist attacks. Some editors will be inclined to send Muslim journalists to cover such events, though that is not always the case.

Muslim groups have had to take on an even bigger role to demistify the myth that terrorism is tied to Islam.

The World Economic Forum reports that in exploring the stereotype of the Muslim – or even radical Muslim – terrorist, it should be noted that "murdering innocent people is a crime against humanity, not just religion".

"Amid knee-jerk responses to violence, we would be wise to remember that terrorism is a tactic. It doesn’t belong to any one group of ideology and it can be used to pursue any goal. The reasons driving individuals towards violent extremism are many and complex, and each must be dealt with accordingl," WEF stated in the 2017 post on its website.

The juxtaposition of the New Zealand shooting incident cannot be ignored, that the attacker killed worshippers in two mosques in a city called Christchurch. It has been the premise of the conversation on terrorism and the influence of religion at a time when the media is struggling to portray attacks as exactly that.