Christchurch in context: Media as accessory to the crime?

The Christchurch attacks and the history of Islamophobia in western media. Plus, politically conscious rap in Senegal.

Christchurch mosque attacks and the media

It has been just over a week now since 50 Muslim worshippers were killed in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The attacker livestreamed his killing spree on Facebook, and the video - all 17 minutes of it - spread from there.

There is a depressing pattern to the coverage of stories like this. The big tech platforms scramble to take down the offending video and then face questions over whether they did enough, quickly enough.

Mainstream news outlets enter a state of inner conflict. Playing that video on a loop is wrong, but they have got clicks and ratings to consider.