It’s good that newsrooms tend to play it safe when covering the immediate aftermath of deadly attacks on civilian targets.
But there’s a better way for the press to word its headlines when it comes to covering events such as the assault this week in Berlin.
An unidentified man killed 12 people Monday by driving a tractor-trailer into a crowded Christmas market. Though police are still searching for the perpetrator and his motives, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Tuesday, “We must assume at the current time that it was a terrorist attack.”
However, judging by media’s coverage of the incident, one would think that a sentient truck carried out the attack:
“Berlin Breitscheidplatz: Lorry kills nine at Christmas market,” BBC reported.
A New York Times breaking news alert read, “A truck drove into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 9 people and injuring several others. The police believe it was an attack.”
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel lays flowers at the Berlin Christmas market where 12 people were killed by a truck,” ABC News said in one tweet.
There’s more where that came from.
These headlines aren’t wrong – 12 innocent people were killed after a truck drove into a street fair in Berlin – but there is a way to report the story so that the murderer isn’t subordinated to the murder weapon. Yes, there are still few details regarding the identity of perpetrator in Monday’s attack. This still doesn’t explain the emphasis on the truck. Also, though it’s possible that poor word choices in breaking news headlines can be chalked up to the fact that they’re produced in the heat of things, the same can’t be said for print report.
The New York Times reported Tuesday morning: “12 Dead in Berlin as Truck Strikes Holiday Crowd.”
At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Truck rams market in Berlin.” From USA Today: “Truck plows into Christmas revelers; 12 dead, 48 wounded.” From the Washington Post: “Truck rams Berlin crowd.”
Again, these headline technically aren’t not wrong. But why the emphasis on an intimate object? A headline reading, “Driver rams truck into Berlin crowd” would have sufficed.
Oddly enough, this isn’t even the first time that media have covered a vehicular-specific attack by focusing almost exclusively on the vehicle.
In July, after 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel crashed a truck into a crowd of people in Nice, France, killing 86 and gravely injuring hundreds more, newsrooms were criticized for focusing their headlines on the truck, and not the truck driver.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot and killed after exchanging gunfire with French authorities. Law enforcement officials discovered after the attack that the truck was loaded with additional firearms and grenades.
Like the attack this week in Berlin, media played it safe with the Nice assault. However, media was also accused then of playing it too safe, as many headlines seemed to downplay the incident by playing up the truck.
In July, MSNBC referred to the Nice attack as a “truck crash.”
“Children feared killed in Nice as truck attacks ‘family event,'” added the CBC not long after.
NPR reported, “Scores Dead After Truck Plows Into Bastille Day Crowd In Nice.”
“Dozens Killed in Nice, France After Truck Crashes into Crowd,” added Fortune.
Print headlines, which came out hours after French authorities had already deemed the attack a terrorist event, continued to report the incident as it were carried out by a murderous truck.
It’s good to speak carefully when details are scarce. But it is also important to speak in a way that doesn’t further confuse things.
