Hierarchy of death
{{Short description|Classification in writing}}
Hierarchy of death is a phrase used by journalists, social scientists, and academics to describe disproportionate amounts of media attention paid to various incidents of death around the world.{{cite web |last=Keating |first=Joshua |date=2013-04-22 |title=Is it wrong to care more about 4 deaths in Boston than 80 in Syria? |publisher=Ideas.foreignpolicy.com |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/22/is-it-wrong-to-care-more-about-4-deaths-in-boston-than-80-in-syria/ |access-date=2013-04-29}}
Themes
Definitions of the hierarchy of death vary, but several themes remain consistent in terms of media coverage: domestic deaths outweigh foreign deaths, deaths in the developed world outweigh deaths in the developing world, deaths of whites outweigh deaths of darker skinned people, and deaths in ongoing conflicts garner relatively little media attention.{{cite news|last=Greenslade|first=Roy|date=2007-04-19|title=A hierarchy of death|publisher=Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/apr/19/thirtytwodieinamericanuniv|access-date=2013-04-29}}{{cite news|last=Karpf|first=Anne|date=2001-11-28|title=Anne Karpf: The hierarchy of death|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/28/september11.usa|access-date=2013-04-29}}{{cite web|last=Goldberg|first=Jeffrey|date=July 23, 2014|title=Obsessing About Gaza, Ignoring Syria (And Most Everything Else)|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/obsessing-about-gaza-ignoring-syria-and-most-everything-else/374898/|access-date=May 29, 2015|publisher=The Atlantic}}{{cite web|author1=R. L. W.|author2=G. D.|date=August 12, 2014|title=Comparing conflicts|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/08/daily-chart-6?fsrc=widget/iraq|access-date=May 29, 2015|publisher=The Economist}}
Explanations
The phenomenon has been linked to a variety of factors, including stereotypes about different groups of people, familiarity with the deceased, and several psychological theories, such as collapse of compassion, psychic numbing, and disaster fatigue.{{cite book|last1=Slovic|first1=Paul|chapter=If I Look at the Mass I Will Never Act: Psychic Numbing and Genocide |date=2010|title=Emotions and Risky Technologies|series=The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology |volume=5 |page=37-59|doi=10.1007/978-90-481-8647-1_3|hdl=1794/18947|isbn=978-90-481-8646-4 |hdl-access=free}}
Commentary
British media commentator Roy Greenslade has been credited with coining the term while writing on the newsworthiness of those who died during the Troubles. Greenslade also critiqued the phenomenon in media reactions to the Boston Marathon bombings.{{cite web |date=March 30, 2011 |title=Sian murder says a lot about media's values |publisher=London Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/sian-murder-says-a-lot-about-medias-values-6386595.html}}{{cite web |date=April 24, 2013 |title=The hierarchy of death: Boston's bombings shock us more than the silent drone war in Pakistan. But should they? |publisher=The Telegraph |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/allanmassie/100069061/the-hierarchy-of-death-bostons-bombings-shock-us-more-than-the-silent-drone-war-in-pakistan-but-should-they/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427193928/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/allanmassie/100069061/the-hierarchy-of-death-bostons-bombings-shock-us-more-than-the-silent-drone-war-in-pakistan-but-should-they/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2013 }}
NPR discussed the disparity in media coverage between the 2015 Beirut bombings and the November 2015 Paris attacks, which happened within a day of each other.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/paris-beirut-media-coverage/416457/|title=Paris, Beirut, and the Language Used to Describe Terrorism|last=Ajaka|first=Nadine|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-02-21|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/11/17/456317759/is-there-a-hierarchy-of-the-importance-of-death-in-the-news-business|title=Is There A Hierarchy Of The Importance Of Death In The News Business?|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-02-17}}
Scottish journalist Allan Massie has also written on the topic.{{cite web |last=Massie |first=Allan |author-link=Allan Massie |date=16 April 2013 |title=Allan Massie: Keep Boston bombings in perspective |publisher=The Scotsman |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/allan-massie-keep-boston-bombings-in-perspective-1-2898057 |access-date=May 29, 2015}}
Similar phenomena
The hierarchy of death has been compared to missing white woman syndrome.{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Owen |date=2013-04-21 |title=Owen Jones: Our shameful hierarchy - some deaths matter more than others - Comment - Voices |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/owen-jones-our-shameful-hierarchy--some-deaths-matter-more-than-others-8581715.html |access-date=2013-04-29}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book
| last = Levy
| first = Yagil
| title = Israel's Death Hierarchy: Casualty Aversion in a Militarized Democracy (Warfare and Culture)
| date = 2012
| publisher = NYU Press
| location = New York City
| isbn = 978-0-8147-5334-7
}}
{{Death}}
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Category:Cultural aspects of death
Category:Media coverage and representation
Category:Criticism of journalism
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