Thursday 2 April 2015

Yet again


A familiar pattern is emerging with the reporting of the latest terrorist atrocity. Some media outlets, most notably the BBC, are playing down the religious angle to the story (i.e. the deliberate targeting of Christians by Muslim terrorists).

The Times isn't one of those media outlets though. It's leading tonight with:
Christian massacre in Kenya terror attack
Heavily-armed militants from the al-Shabaab terror group have shot or beheaded as many as 70 university students, most of them Christians, after storming a campus in eastern Kenya at dawn today.
Joseph Ole Nkaissery, Kenya’s interior minister, said that one of the worst atrocities ever on Kenyan soil was “90 per cent” over, as the confrontation between the gunmen and Kenyan security services reached a climax this evening.
More than 12 hours after the siege began troops with tanks mounted a final assault that Mr Nkaissery said had killed four gunmen who had earlier gone door to door at student dormitories, singling out Christians and letting Muslims go. 
Sky News also reports: 
At Least 70 Dead As Hostages Taken At College
Militants say they have released all Muslims but are "holding many Christians alive" after storming a university in Kenya.

VIDEO caption: Kenya Eyewitness Describes Siege 
Hostages have been taken by masked terrorists who have killed at least 70 people after storming a university in eastern Kenya, the country's interior minister said. 
BBC News, in contrast, reports:
Kenya attack: Garissa University assault 'leaves 70 dead'
VIDEO Caption: Student Augustine Alanga: "They were shooting randomly"
At least 70 hostages have been killed in an attack by al-Shabab Islamist militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya, officials say.
At least 79 were injured while more than 500 students were rescued from the Garissa University College campus, disaster management officials said.
Interior Minster Joseph Nkaiserry said four of the attackers had been killed, and security operations were ongoing.
An overnight curfew has been issued in parts of the country.
Four counties near the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Tana River, would have dusk to dawn curfews imposed, disaster management officials said.
Nine students were critically injured and airlifted to the capital Nairobi for medical treatment, they added. 
Only in the seventh paragraph is the highly relevant religious element  in the story mentioned (before immediately moving on): 
Earlier, al-Shabab told the BBC its members were holding Christians hostage and freeing Muslims.
It must be official BBC policy to do this, given the regularity with which is happens. They are doubtless doing it in the interests of maintaining 'community cohesion', both here and around the world.

5 comments:

  1. It was reported on the 6PM Radio 4 News that the students were asked if they were Christians or Muslims. Muslims were allowed to escape, but the Christians were killed.

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    Replies
    1. The BBC's News at Ten also made that clear in their opening headlines.

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  2. More improper Muslims. Eventually, there will be no such thing as someone interpreting the Koran correctly except Theresa May and Gavin Esler.

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  3. By 6pm the BBC might have been reporting these facts, but earlier it wasn't.
    R4 PM programme reporting on the latest massacre in Kenya. Apparently the students were separated according to ‘religion’, but strangely no further clarification on what that meant, in fact the report manages to omit any reference to Christianity or Islam. According to the expert the motivation of the attackers is political. The BBC describes the attackers as militants.
    Business as usual then at al Beeba.
    Meanwhile on another propaganda channel, RT “Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the assault saying it is holding Christians hostage inside the university.”
    How come RT is better informed?

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  4. "It must be official BBC policy to do this, given the regularity with which is happens. They are doubtless doing it in the interests of maintaining 'community cohesion', both here and around the world."

    Just imagining the facial expression and tone of voice needed to carry that off.

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