Critical Analysis: Washington Post & BBC Coverage of Las Vegas Attack

This presentation provides an analysis of the news coverage surrounding the Las Vegas attack of 2017, focusing on reports from the Washington Post and BBC News. It examines potential biases in their reporting, assesses the accuracy of the information presented, and explores the impact of the attack on society. The presentation includes details about the event, the shooter, and the reactions from political figures like Donald Trump and Barack Obama. It also offers suggestions for how news companies can improve their coverage of such events, emphasizing the importance of accurate and specific information, as well as including interviews with victims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the situation. The presentation concludes with a list of references used for the analysis.

Name
ID No.
Topic : Las Vegas attack(2017)

Introduction

Table of Contents
• Description: Las Vegas Attack
• Bias on Washington Post
• Bias on BBC news
• Accuracy on Washington Post
• Accuracy on BBC news
• Impact on Society
• Suggestions
• References

Las Vegas: Deadliest Shooting attack in Festival
of Open-Air Music
• The shooting was occurred on
October 1 Sunday night, in the
Route 91 Harvest open-air live
music concert by the man
named as “ Stephen Paddock”.
• In this shooting over 58 people
were dead and more than 850
people were injured (McGowan,
2017).

Las Vegas: Deadliest Shooting
attack in Festival of Open-Air
Music (Contd.)
• The 64 years old man has fired around
1100 shots from his personal suite
from the 32nd floor of the nearby
hotel Mandalay Bay.
• He was also found dead in his hotel
room from the gunshot wound self-
inflicted.
• The motive behind this killing is still
not clear, but its was came in the
knowledge that he was planning to
attack more such events at a large
scale (Matza, 2017).

Las Vegas: Deadliest Shooting
attack in Festival of Open-Air
Music (Contd.)
• The suspect's brother
statements were recorded
by the police who said “ his
brother was dumbfounded”.
• Also, Donald Trump had
spoken the statement about
this attack as “ an pure evil
attack” at White House.

News by Washington Post
• According to the news of Washington post, the
targeted audience was unsuspected citizens of
the festival. The target audience of the
company is politician as well as common public
also.
• Political opinion of the company Washington
Post is very good. As they mostly believe the
news story from the company are very accurate.
• Also, the audience opinion for the company is
very good as they believe a highly accurate news
from the company (Berman, 2018).
• The company supports the political as well as
audience in this case to maintain its presence in
the market of the news story world.

News by BBC News
• According to the BBC news, the audience was
target mainly the youth people by the killer. But
the motive was still not clear behind this killing.
News channel makes a general public as its
audience for more support.
• Political opinion for the company is good but it
is often believed that the most news are told
after addition of some false news.
• The audience opinion for the company is
extremely good because online live news story
and the information is provided with high
accuracy.
• The company mostly supports its audience
mostly due to the high support and their
valuable feedbacks on there every news story.

News Accuracy by Washington Post
• The company has given the facts that there was 58
people dead and more than 500 people were
injured.
• The motive behind the shooting was still not
revealed by the company, as inquiry is still going on
and no exact motive was determined.
• The company exaggerate that the reason behind the
killing is still not clear and the suspect killed himself
by the gunshot wound after an hour of his last shot.
• The company revealed the statements of his family
members and girlfriend which was not so important
(Bump, 2017).
• The audience target by the company is political
audience and the investigators. Also, they are
targeting general public also.

News Accuracy by BBC News
• According to the company, there was 59 people dead
and more than 500 people were injured.
• The company still does not know the motive behind
the shooting as it is still not given the clear statement
from the investigating team of the case.
• The news exaggerate by the company is that there is
no clear motive of the suspect and he shot himself
after the act.
• The statements of the girlfriend is being recorded by
the company which was not looking so important
from company’s point of view (BBCNews, 2018).
• The company has a target audience of general people
and investigators which are looking forward in this
case. They publish each related information from this
attack on the next day the information is collected.

Impact on Society
• The Donald trump, president of
U.S and Barak Obama has shown
affection and sympathy to all the
victims and their respective
families of this attack.
• General public is praying for all
the victims suffered due to this
attack. In addition to, the families
of the victims of this attack are
praying for the safety of their
loved ones (Samuelson, 2018).

Suggestions
• The scenario representation by
both the companies was excellent.
As the information was accurate
and specific.
• The images of the attacked spot
are given instantly by both the
companies.
• Companies must post more victims
interview to provide more specific
information about the actual
scenario in the concert.