Last week’s tragic shooting at an Oregon community college was made that much worse when it was revealed that the shooter targeted Christians as his intended victims.
The shooting was clearly a hate crime. The networks barely bothered to address it in such a way, however.
This, as NewsBusters points out, is in sharp contrast to the coverage surrounding the shooting of three Muslims at Chapel Hill in February:
Newscasters calculated that in that instance:
President Obama was also quick to define the motive for the murders based on religion, and even had the White House send out a statement.
When it comes to networks and the recent shooting in Oregon:
That there was more time spent covering such a shooting makes the absence of faith even more noticeable. Here, both the media and the White House spent their focus on gun control. Obama has been criticized for saying the incident “is something we should politicize.”
The victims of the Oregon shooting have had allies in Ben Carson and actor James Woods, who spoke out against the incident as it related to faith on social media.
Yes, #IamaChristian. pic.twitter.com/H25uHSfQ9q
— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) October 2, 2015
Hate crime massacre of Christians finally silences Obama. #LiberalLaryngitis pic.twitter.com/vERQ0t0cVL
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 2, 2015
Nevertheless, the deaths from these shootings are all tragic. It would have been nice if networks and White House treated them equally.
