Don’t fall for simplistic portrayals of the New Orleans attacker – INA NEWS

Within the Louisiana metropolis of New Orleans, the brand new yr started with a horrible tragedy after a person ploughed his truck right into a crowd of revellers within the early hours of January 1, killing not less than 15 folks and wounding dozens of others.

The attacker was quickly formally recognized as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old United States citizen from the neighbouring state of Texas. Because the story unfolded, information retailers zeroed in on two key particulars talked about within the FBI’s preliminary assertion on the incident: an ISIL (ISIS) flag was present in Jabbar’s automobile, and his social media accounts contained posts that counsel he could have been “impressed” by the group. For a lot of, this was sufficient to border Jabbar, who was killed on the scene by police gunfire, as a terrorist “linked” to ISIL.

Whereas the FBI says it’s investigating the assault as an act of “terrorism”, on the time of this writing, there isn’t any proof to counsel Jabbar was ordered by ISIL to hold out an assault on US soil. The FBI has not specified what proof it has used to make that authorized dedication, or launched detailed data on a potential motive.

What we do know is that Jabbar was a US Military veteran who served within the US navy for 13 years, together with a deployment to Afghanistan. He was reportedly going by a divorce and had expressed a want to kill his complete household. All this complicates the narrative considerably and calls into query the assumptions being made about what drove him to kill so many individuals.

Difficult official statements

The declare by FBI officers and even US President Joe Biden that the attacker was “impressed” by ISIL raises essential questions on journalistic accountability. How will we, as journalists, extrapolate our reporting from official statements versus the broader context of info?

Context is vital. Our reporting on what authorities officers say ought to instantly be adopted with the opposite info we all know in regards to the attacker’s background, statements and private life. That is very true when overlaying growing tales like this one, the place authorities launch conflicting data within the warmth of the second, solely to quietly stroll it again later.

Jabbar was not an impressionable youth however a middle-aged navy veteran with vital life expertise and plenty of baggage. For all we all know he could have been “radicalised” by what he skilled throughout his time within the US navy. What in regards to the trauma of his divorce and the anger he reportedly had for his family?

The purpose is, we simply don’t know sufficient but. What we do know is that we needs to be asking extra questions.

To date, the Western media appears to be selecting the simple path, and following a well-tested method when overlaying this tragic story: “Dangerous Brown Muslim dedicated terrorism within the identify of ISIL.” This narrative conveniently ignores the complexity of Jabbar’s circumstances and sidesteps deeper questions on his psychological state, his time serving in Afghanistan and the non-public crises he confronted.

Distinction this with how tales involving white male shooters are sometimes handled. Reporters pedal arduous to humanise the perpetrators and illuminate their psychological well being points, remoted lives and private struggles.

This double commonplace not solely prevents the general public from studying the entire reality about an incident that impacts their lives in a well timed method, but additionally reinforces dangerous stereotypes and additional alienates marginalised communities. The Muslim communities in New Orleans, and the attacker’s hometown of Houston, a lot of whom doubtless by no means knew Jabbar, for instance, might now face collective blame for his actions because of the irresponsible actions of media organisations.

A headline’s life cycle

As journalists, we all know that the method of reporting growing tales is a journey. First, we break the story with the few info we all know, typically counting on official strains as a result of that’s all we have now on the time. That is an comprehensible and needed first step. However as extra data involves mild, it’s our accountability to keep away from oversimplifying what is usually a posh and multilayered story.

There have been different circumstances the place assaults have been credited to ISIL however later revealed to be the acts of only one individual. In 2016, preliminary stories about Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen emphasised his declared allegiance to ISIL, however additional investigation revealed a deeply disturbed particular person with no operational ties to the group.

This issues due to the results such narratives have on actual lives. When media protection fixates on tenuous connections to ISIL, it fuels anti-Muslim sentiment and coverage. After the 2015 San Bernardino taking pictures, misinformation linking the attackers to a broader ISIL community contributed to public assist for then-candidate Donald Trump’s proposed “Muslim ban”. Following 9/11, imprecise and unsubstantiated claims about Saddam Hussein’s ties to al-Qaeda have been instrumental in justifying the invasion of Iraq, which led to the deaths of a whole lot of hundreds of Iraqi civilians and the political instability that birthed ISIL.

We additionally owe it to the households of the victims to uncover and report the entire reality of what occurred that day. They need to know the actual motives of the attacker and whether or not something might have been performed to stop the tragedy.

None of that is to say we must always ignore potential proof of one thing larger at play right here. However discernment is vital. As we proceed to report on this tragedy, allow us to centre the info, and the context needed to color essentially the most correct and accountable image.