Writing in this Sunday's Toronto Sun, Sharon Ho penned a column entitled, "arrests heard round the world". Ms. Ho reported that the arrests of 12 men and 5 young offenders in the Toronto area on terrorism related charges found its way to The New York Times, The Los angeles Times, The Sunday Times of London, The Bangkok Post, CNN and most other international media.
Without attacking Ms. Ho's creativity, she was far from the only Canadian journalist or media reporter to seem to think that that the arrest of 17 people of the Muslim faith who are alleged to have acquired 3 tons of ammonium nitrate to blow up buildings in this country was somehow newsworthy outside of Canada. The reality is that it is no more shocking that the news of the arrests ended up on the front pages of major world newspapers than the fact that it made the front page of the Toronto Star or the lead story on CBC News.
We're not talking about Prime Minister Stephen Harper putting on a few pounds, which would really cause shock and awe if that fact ever appeared on the front page of The Washington Post or a similar large non-Canadian media outlet. acts or alleged acts of terrorism on a major scale are world news no matter where in the world they happen. Worldwide reporting of events of the kind that took place in The Greater Toronto area last weekend can hardly be considered as "news".
By seeming surprised that acts of terrorism could take place in Canada on a scale that would be of interest to the entire world, is simply the media's reflection of Canadian society at large. Despite specific threats that indicated that Canada was a target or potential target of Islamofascist terrorism, many Canadians are still in denial. The number of times the word "shocking" was used to describe last weekend's arrests indicates that many in this country are still under the misapprehension that we're simply too nice to be attacked. This view becomes harder to hold when news of the terrorism arrests were prominently displayed on CNN and the BBC or featured on the front page of major world dailies.
The Toronto arrests were major world news — and there is nothing newsworthy about that fact.
and…
Yesterday, Toronto's all news radio station, 680 News, reported that Qayyum abdul Jamal, the oldest of the 17 arrested on terrorism related charges, had been a volunteer at the al-Rahman Islamic Centre for Education in a Mississauga mosque. There are allegations that Jamal used his position to recruit young men into terrorist organizations. 680 framed the news by reporting that the mosque had been "abused".
So there you have it — we now have "mosque abuse". Has anyone informed Oprah?
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