The Oslo Massacre

The horrific tragedy that unfolded at Norway this past week shook the world. For a nation that is rated the second happiest country in the world by Forbes, this tragedy came as a shock to many because of its brutality and also its senselessness. At the time, it was believed that the suspect,Anders Behring Breivik, acted alone in the massacre. However, today, the headlines of major newspapers reveal that the suspect claims to have accomplices. 


The NY Times' headline reads, "Norway Suspect Denies Guilt and Suggests He Did Not Act Alone". USA Today headline reads, "Norway to probe 'more cells' in suspect's extremist group". BBC headline reads, "Norway gunman has accomplices". Of these three papers, the headlines of NY Times and USA Today sound most objective using words like "suspect", "suggest", and "probe" while BBC headline seems to have already determined the gunman has accomplices. Two alternative press that I chose, are the two local Chinese newspaper in NYC, the Singtao and the World Journal. The translated headline of Singtao's article reads, "Norway Cold Blooded Murderer To Get 21 Year Jail Time", and the translated headline of the World Journal article reads, "Entire Country in Grief, Tearful Mourns in Missa". Both headlines are neither objective, but instead evoke a feeling of fury against the murderer. 


The NY Times article provided two pages of content covering the escort of the Norway suspect. They have quotes from a college professor, Breivik, Breivik's father, the judge presiding over the case, the crown prince, a couple of mourners who have slightly different attitudes towards Breivik. One mourner was a McDonalds employee who had one friend killed by Breivik and another remains injured. Another mourner was a lawyer who noted the emotional aftermath of the tragedy. The NY Times painted a more complete picture of the people's feelings by quoting various sources. 


Meanwhile, USA Today took a more Twitter like update approach to writing this article. One update involved quotes from the suspect's father, that was translated by Google Translate. I'm not against Google at all, but I think it might have been better for USA Today to get a real translator. Besides the suspect's father, the presiding judge was also quoted. Unlike NY Times, USA Today does not really delve into the reactions of the nation's people towards the incident. The updates provided are short, precise, and not very in depth. 


On the third hand, BBC News has a much more interactive article than NY Times and USA Today. BBC article has multiple videos along with some eagle eye maps depicting the whereabouts of the attacks. There's also a commentary on the side of the article by the editor, Gavin Hewitt, comparing this Norway attacker with the Oklahoma bomber. Contrary to its bold headline, BBC's article was quite objective side towards the incident. It also cover a fuller story than both the NY Times and USA Today. The BBC article touched on a secret service alert of the suspect back in March, a news that neither NY Times nor USA Today reported. 


The World Journal presented four additional shorter articles right under the main article about the Norway suspect. The first article gave an objectified view of the incident, by providing straightforward information including the news that the ingredients for the suspect's bomb were made in China. The second article was about the father's reaction to his son's murderous act. The third article was about how the Norwegian people are in disbelief over the attacks. The fourth article presented the survivors' side of the story. The World Journal presented the incident through multiple articles that viewed the incident from different angles. However, it is not very in depth. The Singtao Paper, on the other hand, displayed a huge picture of the suspect in the police car and a short article regarding the incident. The article talked about Norwegian people's disappointment about the possibility that the murderer will get only 21 years in jail because according to Norway's laws, the highest lawful punishment is 21 years in jail. They quoted an Oslo criminal justice professor. However, the article also points out that the sentence can be constantly extended by 5 years.