I love to watch documentaries, on Netflix, on ARD Mediathek etc.
One subgenre that I watched a lot is terrorism. I won’t say it’s my research interest. But I have had my research project on media reporting of terrorism for almost 8 years. First as a postdoc now as a principal investigator. Although I would be more likely to be thought of as the method guy, I think I also have the obligation to really understand how and why terrorism should be reported.
Documentaries about terrorist attacks are interesting. They do not have the time sensitivity to report the latest information. Therefore, a documentary should have more wiggle room to look at an attack from different angles. We published a theory paper years ago on what should be the normative criteria for a responsible terrorism coverage. Among them, victims should be in focus, highlight their helplessness and horror.
Of course, among the ones that I have watched, most of them were still about the attackers: how the attackers carried out their attack? How the attackers were hunted down? What were their childhood histories? What kind of historical background made the attackers carry out the attack?
Up to now, I watched only one ARD documentary on the Halle synagogue attack (Der Anschlag - Schüsse in Halle), which was —in my opinion— totally focusing on the victims. For other documentaries, as a balancing act, some victims were interviewed.
I recently watched the Oklahoma City bombing documentary on Netflix. Of course, a huge amount of time of the documentary was about Timothy McVeigh, one of the two attackers. Among 168 deaths and over 600 injured, two victims were interviewed. Amy Downs was buried alive, luckily was rescued. Renee Moore lost her child. It was the interview of Moore, which made me really realize why the focus on victims is important. When asked about the death penalty of Timothy McVeigh, Renee Moore said it’s not fair. McVeigh got the easy way out, while victims like her have to live under the shadow the attack for the rest of their lives.
You would only get this kind of emotions, if you report the victims as human beings, not as some statistic.