Reporting now gives death many faces!

Dying is nothing new nor is the quantum of people dying. But what has changed over the years has been how the dead are identified. This change in how deaths are reported could be one reason why we as a race are becoming desensitised.

Take for example the recent news about a group of people being killed in the North Eastern State of Assam. It was reported as ‘Hindi Speaking’ people were killed.

The story behind this term is - the language of the state is not Hindi and that people who are not from this state were killed by Assamese. Extending it further one understands that there are some Assamese who are xenophobic and have taken it open themselves to scare away if not kill the people who do not belong to Assam.

Now this term may have been used to conform to norms of brevity. However what it does is provide a reason as to why these people were killed, it paints a picture that there these xenophobes have a reason to kill.

The fact of the matter is that people were killed in cold blood. They belonging to a particular linguist denomination takes away from the ghastliness of the crime.

Reporting that Sunnis and Shias are killing each other in Iraq only explains why they are killing each other. It reduces the gravity of such dastardly acts. It suggests a history, a reason for the madness, forgetting that in the end it is parents, children human beings that are being killed in cold blood.

By giving such a face to those killed and those who do the killing the media is taking away from the tragedy while also at the same time adding fuel to the fire.