The cost of selling papers

Some media/political poetry - this one's been gestating for a couple of weeks...

The News: A Narrative of Fear

Mohammed Saleem, 75 and father-of-seven,
Grandfather walking home from prayers,
A pensioner with a walking stick,
By all accounts a great bloke,
Cut down by a coward’s knife,
Stabbed three times in the back
Because of colour-race-creed;
Media scarcely notices,
Quietly murmurs about a murder,
No mention of ‘terror’.

DrummerLeeRigby, 25 and father-of-one,
Walking back to barracks,
Dressed in ‘Help for Heroes’ garb,
Hacked down by machete-men
Reciting the Koran,
Though more to do with mental health than Islam,
Media scream ‘TERRORISTS!’,
Headlines and webpages
Inciting fear and hatred,
Selling online ads and papers,
Giving neo-Nazis food for lack-of-thought,
By the way, more news-rags bought,
Driving more taunts, abuse,
Headscarves pulled down,
Shop graffiti, mosque attacks
And a fire at a boarding school until
Arson destroys a community centre, Muswell Hill,
‘EDL’ spray-painted on the walls,
It’s just good luck that no-one’s killed,
Violence organised and orchestrated,
Media reports this time, though they still won’t call it ‘terror’;
Wrong narrative when white kills black,
When the killer cites the Bible,
That doesn’t sell –
Not the right shade of bombshell,
Their blame; their shame
When the old man fell.