Running head: MEDIA COVERAGE ON CHARLIE HEBDO

Media Coverage on Charlie Hebdo

Mayra Torres
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Why is it that the death of 17 journalist in France more important that the assassination of
2000+ innocent habitants of Baga in which most were women and children? Or the 147 students
killed at a Kenya college? It should not be, but for the media is the total opposite. The attack on
the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was surely devastating, however media decided to make
this worldwide news. The story shook many people hearts, many marched for France. In social
media the hash tag #JeSuisCharlie or #IamCharlie was trending immediately (Zuckerman, 2015).
However, for the other two tragedies little was known. There was no hash tag, no marching, and
no moving peoples hearts globally. The question is why? Why is it that people cared more for
the 17 journalist killed than for the thousands killed in Africa? I can only come up with one
answer that sums everything up, and this is that media made the Paris attack reach millions and
touch their hearts, were as for Africa, nothing. Yes, a one day cover of less than a minute was
news casted but nothing that will stay in the audience heart. What is shocking is that even in
Nigeria the Paris attack received more medias attention than the massacre on Baga (Zuckerman,
2015) Now you know the great difference in the media coverage on both cases, and the huge
impact it has done worldwide.
Media did a huge coverage on the Paris attacks because, one it was more heartwarming
for countries like America to care for this type of attack since we had faced something similar to
this before when we received tha attack on 9/11, this was Frances 9/11 (Redsilverj, 2015).
Hundreds of newspapers released pictures of the mourning faces of the French citizens, the
marching done, the painting faces, and the terror of being attacked once more. France is very
similar to many developed countries and many see it as close home, whereas Nigeria seems
really far away. Also Paris is a highly connected city with millions of journalists around the
world and Nigeria is isolated and more dangerous to reach. Meaning it was easier for journalists

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to travel or to get the information for the ones that were already in Paris but many feared to
travel to Nigeria to cover the massacre. And of course journalist would cover the news of their
fellow journalist. (Zuckerman, 2015). The world is now used to seeing Nigeria as a violent
country therefore these news are not as shocking as a terrorist attack in France. This is why for
people it was news worthy an attack on France more than everything that happened in Africa.
Media felt that it was more interesting to cover something that does not happens as often and
people would care more.
The attack on Paris was probably made bigger than what it really was by media. This
could be because of the money that they would gain by making people interested on the subject.
After the attack the magazine Charlie Hebdo sold three millions of copies after the attack and
many could be bought overseas. This made huge profit for the magazine afterwards. Media also
gained from it again because more people cared for the attack on France, they watched the news,
they read the newspapers, and they bought them. Media even covered stories on the victims, the
families of the victims, the children, and how they took the attack. Reaching again for the
audience hearts, for their feelings making them more interested in this attack. If the same would
have been done with the massacres in Africa, the audience would have been more interested in
this too. But again they feared going to Nigeria or to Kenya to investigate and to the reports on
what happened. The audience also gave more attention to the Paris attack because information as
released that it was done thanks to the cartoons that were shown in this magazine. That terrorist
did not like these and thats why they attacked them. People saw this as a violation to their own
freedom. Media released more and more articles that fed this fear that people had. Articles that
featured children holding signs that said I am a cartoonist too (Jenne, 2015) or a mom that
spoke to the media and said how much she feared that drawing, something that her kid loved

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doing could lead to getting killed. (Jenne, 2015) again something that reached to the audience
feelings and fear. It was not that the attack on Paris was more important that the massacres on
Paris, but media decided to give it more coverage because it was a subject that most people could
relate to.

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Citations
Jenne, A. (2015) Speaking truth to children about the Paris attacks. Mashable.
Retrievedfromhttp://mashable.com/2015/01/12/children-paris-attacks/
Redsilverj (2015, Jan 12) Charlie Hebdo Shooting: Paris Attack Hoax NWO
Expos(Documentary) [Video file] Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WVI8_6gTrDgv
Zuckerman, E. (2015). Media coverage of Charlie Hebdo and the Baga massacre: a study
incontrasts. The Conversation. Retrieved fromhttp://theconversation.com/mediacoverage-of-charlie-hebdo-and-the-baga-massacre-a-study-in-contrasts-36225