When 26 Hindu tourists were methodically executed in Kashmir’s Pahalgam valley — identified by name, religion, and in some cases, their inability to recite Islamic prayers — the global media did what it does best: looked away, chose its words carefully, and reached for the comforting vocabulary of denial. Not terrorism. Not jihad. Just “gunmen,” “militants,” and the ever-useful “tensions.” Because in the moral economy of modern newsrooms, the value of a life — and the weight of a headline — depends on who the victims are, and who the killers pray to.
