Why are News Outlets Focusing on Minorities Breaking Coronavirus Restrictions?
Some news outlets are selectively focusing on minorities when covering people breaking coronavirus restrictions, spending more time highlighting the Muslim or immigrant backgrounds of these people instead of the restrictions which were broken.
In Greece, news website Proto Thema ran an article with the title: “Coronavirus: Unspeakable images of crowds at a Muslim wedding in Alexandroupolis - The groom was arrested.” The article was about a wedding which broke Greece’s coronavirus restrictions and originally appeared on a regional news website called evros-news. In the original piece there is only one reference to the religion of those who attended the wedding; however, in the Proto Thema reproduction, the fact that the wedding was a Muslim one is highlighted not only in the headline, but throughout the text.
There were several cases of weddings in Greece which broke coronavirus restrictions. It is important to note that Proto Thema only covered this one case of a Muslim wedding. There are two worrying things at play here: firstly, why is the religion of those involved in the wedding important information? Highlighting this in the headline and mentioning it in the piece leads us to think that this is an important element to this case. The focus of the case should be the fact that a big gathering took place during an pandemic, not that those involved were Muslim. Secondly, the selective reporting in this instance is unethical. To give a full picture of the coronavirus situation in the country, it should be made clear that several such cases have also taken place. Through reporting the incident in this manner, Muslims are unjustly implicated. Coronavirus restrictions should not be broken by anyone; however, the religion of those who do is insignificant.
A similar theme of reporting was also noted in Belgian media this month. An incident happened on the beach of Blankenberge, a beach where facemasks are mandatory. On August 8th, a group of adolescents were drinking on the beach and not adhering to the facemask rule. When policemen tried to intervene, asking them to wear their masks, the adolescents refused to cooperate. After this, the situation escalated and ended up in a violent fight between the police and the group. This resulted in coronavirus regulations in the city becoming more severe, causing general discontent. This was a newsworthy event and was rightly covered in many news outlets; however, several of these outlets highlighted the fact that the adolescent had colored skin, an insignificant detail in this case.
News blog SCEPTR, which has a track record of anti-Muslim and xenophobic content, covered the incident with the headline: “Rioters [from] Blankenberge are members of an African youth gang from Brussels.” The piece focusses on the supposed African origin of the adolescents involved. This is in stark contrast to some other reports in the Flemish media, with many platforms simply referring to the individuals as “youths”. Again, the issue here is what the author chooses to focus on in their reporting, and the implications of these choices.
Both the cases in Greece and Belgium were newsworthy ones and were rightly covered by the news media, but their method of reporting is troubling. The news should focus on facts related to the case: unless the religion or immigrant-background of a perpetrator is directly significant to the case, these are not details to be highlighted in an article. Biased reporting is often used to paint a specific, often negative, picture of a certain group. Not only is it bad reporting, but it can further sow division in society.
