On the first anniversary of\u00a0the 15 March 2019\u00a0Christchurch terror attack, New Zealand’s media organisations were ready with\u00a0a huge amount of special coverage,\u00a0features and documentaries.<\/p>\n
Stuff produced\u00a0the Frank Films series\u00a0Nine Bullets<\/a>. It focused on\u00a0Temel Atacocugu, who was shot nine times at the Al Noor mosque, and it features moving footage of him returning to the scene of the attack to reenact what took place.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TVNZ\u00a0aired\u00a0We Are One<\/em>, a documentary following six of the victims\u2019 families through their first year after the attacks.<\/p>\n The\u00a0New Zealand Herald<\/em>\u00a0ran\u00a0The Ripple Effect<\/a>, a five-part digital series by NZME journalist Kurt Bayer.<\/p>\n This year, the anniversary of March 15 was a much more muted affair in our media. There was little new coverage from our biggest online news sites.<\/p>\n Stuff and the\u00a0Herald<\/em>\u00a0republished stories they had done back in 2020.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Herald\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0print edition did not carry a story to mark the anniversary, though it carried a cartoon by Rod Emmerson which was devoted to \u2018remembering our 51 brothers and sisters\u2019.<\/p>\n RNZ\u2019s flagship show\u00a0Morning Report\u00a0<\/em>only ran one story, which was actually produced for its early morning show\u00a0First Up<\/em>\u00a0and another following up on the progress of the Christchuch Call.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, March 15 was not mentioned anywhere on the front page of Christchurch\u2019s daily paper\u00a0The Press<\/em>, though it did find space to point to a story from its Life section about cooking with garlic.<\/p>\n The front page of The Press from March 15, 2023\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0STUFF<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The only stories the paper published that day on the terrorist attack that took place in its city were on pages 5 and 8.<\/p>\n The government echoed the media\u2019s understated response to the worst terrorist attack on New Zealand soil.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Chris Hipkins sent a personal message to the families but did not mark the day with an official event or statement.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Hipkins said his response was tailored to respect the wishes of victims\u2019 families, who had told the government they wanted to commemorate the day privately.<\/p>\n It is possible several media outlets’ coverage \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 were informed by those same concerns, and it is true many of the families did choose to remember their loved ones in private.<\/p>\n But it is also clear that several survivors and family members wanted more national attention on the anniversary.<\/p>\n Stuff published\u00a0a story by Glenn McConnell late on 15 March<\/a>\u00a0focusing on a call to create a nationwide commemoration on 15 March\u00a0from three widows of men killed in the attack.<\/p>\n The widows were concerned it took just a year for New Zealand to \u201cforget\u201d the horror of 2019.<\/p>\n 1News reporter Thomas Mead \u2013 who covered the shootings on the day they took place and in the years following \u2013\u00a0quoted members\u00a0of victims\u2019 families who expressed similar sentiments<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Some are telling us that they are now starting to feel forgotten, and that initial outpouring of love and support they felt after the attacks is starting to wane with the passing of time,” he said in TVNZ’s\u00a01 News at 6<\/em><\/p>\n On TVNZ\u2019s\u00a0Breakfast<\/em>, the Fulbright scholar Guled Mire echoed that, saying Muslim people might not have a single unified opinion on how to mark the anniversary but\u00a0nobody wanted\u00a0it to be forgotten<\/a>.<\/p>\n