Attacks like yesterday’s shootings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa impact Canadians much differently now than 30 years ago, according to Alan Bass, a journalism professor at Thompson Rivers University.
Bass worked as a journalist on Parliament Hill for nearly 10 years and was on scene for the 1982 assassination of Turkish military attaché Col. Atilla Altikat. He also covered the 1985 Turkish embassy attack, which resulted in the death of 31-year-old Canadian security officer and student Claude Brunelle.
Though those incidents were similar in scope to yesterdays shootings, Bass said the effect they had on society was much different.
“It didn’t have the kind of impact these things are having today, in part, I think, because there were very clear combatants and, if you weren’t Turkish, you didn’t necessarily feel like you were under any threat,” he told KTW.
“It was a simpler, more innocent age, I guess. Nowadays, I think everybody feels like being an innocent civilian doesn’t protect you from anything anymore and I’m sure people are scared.”
Bass said the way reporters covered the incidents in the 1980s was also different. He remembers standing along a wrought-iron gate surrounding the embassy, less than 30 yards from the building itself.
Today, civilians aren’t permitted anywhere near the scenes. Security is heightened, both regularly and in times of emergency, which Bass said made it all the more baffling a shooter made it so far into Centre Block of Parliament.
“Honestly, I was in Ottawa 30 years ago and, even 30 years ago, I can’t imagine how someone carrying a rifle of some kind, some kind of long gun, can just saunter into Centre Block in the Parliament Buildings, which is where the House of Commons and the Senate are located. That’s just inconceivable to me,” he said.
“In today’s world, where security has been greatly heightened on Parliament Hill, since the time I was there and given world events and even events here in Canada over the past few days, how this happened is going to be the subject, I should think, of some investigation.”
Bass’s question echoed those asked by much of the media, including the CBC, which ran with all-day, uninterrupted coverage of the attacks.
The CBC broadcast was cobbled together by a number of reporters and anchors, with different specializations and in separate locations. Some reporters submitted videos and observations from buildings in lockdown, while others reported from outside locations and in studio.
Bass said that’s typical for news outlets reporting on breaking events.
“It’s basically a full-court press,” he said.
“Everything else pretty much gets dropped, at least for a while, and everybody who’s available in the news team is pressed into service in one way or another.”
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