The Mail Online are at it again, but what article is in store for today’s blog post?
Today, I will be discussing how The Mail Online bizarrely chose to use ‘moderate’ language in their article on “Mass murderer Anders Breivik plans to use DATING ADVERTS to encourage other right-wing extremists to kill, hearing into his human rights hears”
Straight away as an audience we’re reeled into the shocking alliterative headline through the term “Mass Murderer”, immediately implying Anders Breivik committed a horrific and devastating criminal act. Further on in the headline, the term “ring-wing extremists” also reinforces this moral panic of extremism within society and the large physical danger which comes along with it.
Despite this, it all sounds a tad satirical when you read the headline as a whole – “to use DATING ADVERTS to encourage other right-wing extremists to kill” – the capitalisation of the term “dating adverts” and the sentence structure itself, clearly belittles and mocks the devastation this sickening man had committed; killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in 2011.
Astonishing and dramatic as this event sounds, the lack of negative opinion The Mail Online voices towards this ‘killer’ continues to baffle me. The article majorly focuses on the court hearing Anders Breivik attended due to him suing Skien Prison for breaching the European Convention on Human Rights within his isolation there. The court sided with Anders Breivik, awarding him the payment of 331,000 Kroner (£32,000) from the government. This huge lump sum of money seems far too rewarding for someone who took away 77 lives and is spending life in jail. And still, The Mail Online fail to reiterate that this man is in fact a murderer.
When the article then goes on to describe Anders Breivik’s ‘luxurious lifestyle’ behind bars, “…being held in isolation in a three-cell complex where he can play video games, watch TV and exercise”, this then implicitly diverts the readership away from the sickening crime he had committed, but instead shows a more simplistic, yet innocent side to the murderer where the audience expected to feel remorseful.
Surprisingly, for what seemed like an act of terrorism, The Mail Online chose not to label Anders Breivik as their favourite unpleasant noun ‘terrorist’ despite acknowledging he was under “… the treatment of terrorists and killers”. However, the way in which The Mail Online worded this statement, it is suggestive of Anders Breivik being under inhumanely treatment which he wasn’t deserving of – further supporting his ‘innocent’ pledge.
It is then questioned, if Anders Breivik had Islamic beliefs, would he then have been labelled as a terrorist?
Have The Daily Mail seriously subtly, supported this extremist’s actions?
The Mail Online shows images of Anders Breivik in court throughout the article, further representing him as this powerful man who has proclaimed innocence and justice. Dressed in a smart black suit, clean shaven head and holding a strict stance whilst performing a Nazi salute, Breivik is shown to hold authority within the court room, converting the power roles between him and the police officers and Judge. Extremist ideology is immediately conveyed through these images which may startle the readership, but The Daily Mail don’t seem too bothered by it.
It is now questionable as to what the Daily Mail actually thinks comes under the category of terrorism.
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