Police officers fired live rounds on demonstrators at an anti-government rally this past week. Ivorians took to the streets to protest the government shutting down and denying citizenship to most of the people. There are different reports on the number of people killed, but it ranges from 3-5 people. While the number of victims in this attack is unknown, we do know that more than a dozen others were injured. Protests spread to at least eight cities in the Ivory Coast. The deadly protest took place in a city called Gagnoa. Gagnoa is about 125 miles northwest of Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
There are two newspapers that are pretty similar in their reporting. BBC News and AlJazeera.net, both say hundreds were fired upon, 3 were killed, and dozens injured. Both also have good sources, but AlJazeera goes one step further and has direct quotes from people who were actually there. Yvonne Ndege, a reporter for AlJazeera and reporting from Abidjan said, "Naturally, a lot of the people who are supporting the opposition have no choice but to take to the streets in defiance of Gbagbo and that decision that he took." BBC News has statements from second-hand sources. For example it says, "A police source confirmed to the Associated Press that there were 'Some Dead', but he could not say how many had been killed."
The New York Times started their article off by saying, "Police fired on demonstrators at an anit-govenmaent rally, killing five people and wounding a dozen others in Ivory Coast's latest protest since the president dissolved the government a week ago, the opposition said." Right in the first sentence it's different from the other sources. Which means that the New York Times was either embellishing the facts to try and get sympathy and sell more papers, or they had some info that the other newspapers didn't. One of the good parts of the New York Times article is that they quoted the U.N deputy spokeswoman who in turn quoted the U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as having expressed, "grave concern" about the Ivorian political situation.
Works Cited:
"The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
"Al Jazeera English - Africa - Deaths in Ivory Coast demonstration." Al Jazeera English - AJE. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
"BBC News - Several dead in Ivory Coast clashes." BBC NEWS News Front Page. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
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It is interesting that NYtims emphasize government officials' responses, whereas the other two sources talk more about what is happening on the ground. I wonder if the NYtimes even has a reporter actually there, or if they are reporting from a desk with a telephone and rehashing an associated press article. Not sure though, you thoughts?
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