JOUR1111 Annotated Bibliography

This Annotated Bibliography will delve into the media coverage surrounding the March school shootings in Toulouse, France through articles from CBS News, The New York Times, and The Telegraph. The mediums analysed; television report, blog post, and online article, conveyed both similar and contrasting views on the incident in order to engage with their respective audiences. This is evident in the following annotations.

Tripathy, J. (2010). What is a terrorist?. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 13, 219 – 232. Retrieved from

http://ics. sagepub.com/content/13/3/219

Jyotimara Tripathy, an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, brings to light an interesting take on terrorism discourse within the field of media and communications. Throughout the piece, Tripathy touches on a number of intriguing points regarding the discourse of terrorism, the power of language in creating this discourse, and the inability of modernist vocabulary to address culturally ‘different’ problems. He also thoroughly addresses the now synonymous relationship between the words ‘muslim’ and ‘terrorist’, and the authorisation of this by both state institutions and common people, especially through the media. The use of the sentence “the location of the terrorist is less in the caves of Afghanistan … more in the media newsrooms, political agendas” (Tripathy, J., 2010) succinctly sums up the primary argument of the article, while still relating to everyday readers. The author regularly makes use of relevant citations, as well as linking his points to numerous real-life instances – adding to the credibility of his arguments, as well as creating a piece which many people are likely to relate to and understand.

CBS (Producer), & Palmer, T. (Presenter).

(2012, March 19). French Police on high alert after Jewish school shooting [Video recording]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEPsqC0cHs&feature=plcp

Elizabeth Palmer reports the story of four people being shot at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France on CBS News, a major commercial television station whose audience is the consumer. Due to this, the story was crafted in such a way to maximise audience satisfaction. The short piece outlined the basic facts of the incident, accompanied by footage of distressed French citizens and police. Palmer took a dramatic approach to the story by using a sombre tone ad placing heavy emphasis on words such as ‘killer’, ‘horror’, and ‘fear’. The mention of Nickolas Sarkozy suspending his re-election campaign added a political element to the piece as well as heightening the significance of the incident. This inclusion of politics in the story contrasts starkly with The Telegraph post from Tom Chivers. This emphasis of certain words allowed palmer to mould and manipulate the audience’s perception of the incident. This resulted in an effective underpinning of the article with an atmosphere of tragedy while still presenting the necessary facts.

Chivers, T. (2012, March 19). Toulouse school shootings: let’s keep politics out of it for a few hours [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100144875/toulouse-school-shootings-lets-keep-politics-out-of-it-for-a-few-hours/

The Telegraph’s blog post was written by Tom Chivers, the assistant comment editor who is known for his intelligent posts regarding science and culture. This short post reflected on the Toulouse incident with heavy remorse, and made a specific point – in this time of tragedy – of putting the political and religious aspects of the shooting aside so as to acknowledge such a heartbreaking loss. The article focuses largely on anti-Semitism hate crimes stemming from the Muslim population, and the public opinion on this widely broadcast conflict.  Chivers makes an intelligent observation that no matter how the case turns out in the end, the ‘blame game’ is inevitable and the finger will be pointed at one religious group or another. Throughout the piece the author acknowledges not the logistics of the shootings, but the horror of the death of children and adults alike. He empathises with all those impacted by the incident, and ends with a poignant remark that the killer of these citizens is an extraordinarily evil person, regardless of his religion, and that – for now at least – political manoeuvring should be left out of the case.

Sayare, S. & Erlanger, S. (2012). 4 Killed at Jewish School in Southwestern France. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/world/europe/gunman-kills-3-at-a-jewish-school-in-france.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

The New York Times website article, published as a collaboration between Scott Sayare and Steven Erlanger, reported an in-depth coverage of the Toulouse incident. As well as accurately recounting the facts of the story, the authors quoted a number of people who were related to the shooting in some way, and cited facts which effectively escalated the perceived authenticity and credibility of the piece. The inclusion of quotes from varied sources also gave the lengthy article an element of unbiasedness, as well as by highlighting the contrast between the way left and right winged newspapers approached the story. This unbiased tone and abundant background information encouraged the readers of the incident and events surrounding it. This provided a large contrast with the CBS TV Report, which reported in a way which attempted to influence audience perception. The exceptionally detailed language which was used to describe certain elements (the school, the pistol), while not essential to the reporting of the facts, contributed effectively to the imagery and impact of the article as a whole. This imagery reduced the audience’s demand for a visual story regarding the incident to gain a more personal insight and connection with the story.