Migrant, sub deaths spotlight media's skewed priorities
When it comes to June’s twin tragedies of the implosion of the Titan submersible (5 lives lost) and the loss of a boat carrying migrants off of the coast of Greece (600+ lives lost), the media lost all sense of proportionality, and fairness to the victims.

The five submersible lives lost included three wealthy businessmen, a billionaire’s son, and a deep sea explorer. The 750 on the fishing boat were poor migrants primarily from Pakistan and the Middle East, trying to reach Europe. An estimated 100 survived.

While these tragedies are in no way comparable, the press reported about them as though the five lives lost far outweighed the hundreds of drowned migrants. A Google News search for the month before and after both tragedies (6/7 to 7/7) showed 15,800 hits for “Greece Migrant boat,” but an overwhelming 234,000 hits for “Titanic submersible.” (Similarly, “Greece refugee ship” had 7,930 news hits, while “Titan submersible” got 187,000). 

“We saw how some lives are valued and some are not,” Judith Sunderland, acting deputy director for Europe at the group Human Rights Watch, told The New York Times. “I don’t think it was wrong to make every effort to save (the submersible). What I would like is to see no effort spared to save the Black and brown people drowning in the Mediterranean.” The Times also reported comments from former President Barack Obama, who said of the submersible, “The fact that that’s gotten so much more attention than 700 people who sank, that’s an untenable situation.” 

I agree with the president. The  ratio of almost 15 Titanic submersible stories to 1 migrant boat story reflects something deeply wrong with traditional media that values only Western, white lives while ignoring or marginalizing others. Part of the problem as well is that reporting about migrants (unless they are from Ukraine) often suffers from “compassion fatigue” since, sadly, deaths among migrants are commonplace. No matter how routine, we must never forget that each incident of this type is still a tragedy.

Peace journalism offers a better approach to reporting about migrants by, first, giving their stories equal or greater weight when merited by the facts. Better migrant reporting humanizes individuals while providing context that illustrates larger statistics or trends. A peace journalist would reject language or images that rely on or reinforce stereotypes, racism, sexism, or xenophobia, and instead offer counter-narratives that debunk stereotypes, challenge exclusively negative narratives, and provide background about the desperation that drives individuals to risk their lives boarding overcrowded boats.