The Associated Press drew sharp criticism after a breaking news tweet about the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, 2019, failed to mention African victims despite Kenya suffering the highest number of fatalities at 32.
The initial post listed casualties from Canada, China, the U.S., Italy, India, France, the U.K., and Egypt but omitted nations across Sub-Saharan Africa. The oversight sparked immediate condemnation on social media.
Kenya, Ethiopia, Togo, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Rwanda, Morocco, Djibouti also lost their citizens too… There, I fixed the African part that you didn’t focus much on. Btw, Kenya had the largest number of fatalities.
Doreen Apollos, a former Kenya Broadcasting Corporation journalist working at the African Union in Addis Ababa, highlighted the omission, linking it to the global #BlackLivesMatter movement. She noted the tweet’s failure to acknowledge the scale of African losses.
Mention every nationality or none at all. We understand where majority of your consumers are but still, have a little empathy.
@AP please just remove this tweet.
The controversy emerged days after The New York Times reassigned journalist Kimiko de Freytas Tamura to London following backlash over graphic images in her coverage of the DusitD2 terror attack in Nairobi. The incident reignited debates about Western media’s portrayal of African tragedies.
