A million tweets later, abducted girls make
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Well, at last! After three weeks of Twitter campaigning and worthy thoughts in the comment pages, the Nigerian kidnappings have finally made a splash.
Developments are not quite as they may appear from the Times headline. There will be no heavily armed men from Hereford in combat gear tramping through African forests. A military officer will head for Nigeria as part of a Whitehall team to link up with two or three liaison officers already in Abuja who are being diverted from their usual tasks to help with the kidnap hunt.
It is clear that the story makes the lead only because of the minor British involvement - a view reinforced by the first leader, whose main concerns are Islamic terrorism and economic stability.
Developments are not quite as they may appear from the Times headline. There will be no heavily armed men from Hereford in combat gear tramping through African forests. A military officer will head for Nigeria as part of a Whitehall team to link up with two or three liaison officers already in Abuja who are being diverted from their usual tasks to help with the kidnap hunt.
It is clear that the story makes the lead only because of the minor British involvement - a view reinforced by the first leader, whose main concerns are Islamic terrorism and economic stability.
The Guardian has also stepped out with a front-page picture montage and full page to head up its foreign section. This includes a panel on the internet campaign and the million tweets - including contributions from Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton - that have raised international awareness of the girls' plight.
A better day, then, after SubScribe's moans yesterday about how slow the mainstream media had been to join the search party?
Well it would be, but for the small issue of three hundred people massacred by the Boko Haram movement responsible for the kidnappings.
So after three weeks of virtually ignoring the story, the Times and Guardian choose to make amends with soft chitchat about gesture diplomacy and pointless reward offers on the day when there is a fresh hard-news element to relate.
A better day, then, after SubScribe's moans yesterday about how slow the mainstream media had been to join the search party?
Well it would be, but for the small issue of three hundred people massacred by the Boko Haram movement responsible for the kidnappings.
So after three weeks of virtually ignoring the story, the Times and Guardian choose to make amends with soft chitchat about gesture diplomacy and pointless reward offers on the day when there is a fresh hard-news element to relate.
The Times didn't mention the killings until the turn, long after it had told readers that David Cameron was the father of two daughters. But it did produce the first piece of useful graphical information in the form of a map that is published on the left with compliments, but without permission.
The Guardian did at least get the massacre into the intro and the first sub-deck, but the reward offer seems an odd choice of angle for the main heading. The Telegraph, Independent and Mail all used the murders as a staid page lead, with the Mirror giving the story the best show among the tabloids - although thedescription of the British advisory team as a "rescue squad" was stretching it.
The commentators also came out in force, with Max Hastings batting for the Mail and the Nigerian author Chibundu Onuzo writing in the Guardian.
Onuzo points out that two days after the abductions Goodluck Jonathan was out campaigning for re-election in next year's presidential polls. The abductions and a bombing that killed 70 were, she writes, obviously less pressing in nature.
Two weeks later President Jonathan was appearing on national television promising: "Wherever these girls are, we'll surely get them out." She continues:
The Guardian did at least get the massacre into the intro and the first sub-deck, but the reward offer seems an odd choice of angle for the main heading. The Telegraph, Independent and Mail all used the murders as a staid page lead, with the Mirror giving the story the best show among the tabloids - although thedescription of the British advisory team as a "rescue squad" was stretching it.
The commentators also came out in force, with Max Hastings batting for the Mail and the Nigerian author Chibundu Onuzo writing in the Guardian.
Onuzo points out that two days after the abductions Goodluck Jonathan was out campaigning for re-election in next year's presidential polls. The abductions and a bombing that killed 70 were, she writes, obviously less pressing in nature.
Two weeks later President Jonathan was appearing on national television promising: "Wherever these girls are, we'll surely get them out." She continues:
"It's amazing what a little international scrutiny will do. We have discovered the power of the hashtag over the past week. The simple emphatic demand #BringBackOurGirls has moved across the Twitter timelines of the famous and the unknown, uniting Nigerian housewives and the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Protests have spread from Abuja to Lagos, London and Washington"
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There is comment, too, from Douglas Murray in the Express, under the unequivocal heading you see on the right. It is spelt out even more clearly online, with the words OUTRAGE and IGNORE in capitals (the Mail would have capped up "cannot" and probably underlined it to boot, but there you go).
This display falls firmly into the category of "you couldn't make it up". The girls were kidnapped on April 14. Since then, the Express has run two stories on its website. Today, the abduction makes its print debut at the foot of page nine - three pages before Murray's OpEd - and is illustrated with a cutout photograph of Angelina Jolie. The Express is right. It's an outrage we cannot ignore. |
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Twitter puts the Press to shame
We like to think our journalism is the best in the world - so why did it take us so long to wake up to this story?
Commentariat
(extracts courtesy of Editorial Intelligence)
Chibundu Onuzu
Max Hastings
Michael Burleigh
Douglas Murray
Twitterati
Chibundu Onuzu
Oby Ezekwesili
Ramaa Mosley
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Eggbert Springs
and under the name #bringbackourgirls...
@bringgirlsback
@gbengesesan
@InvolveYouth
@hanneymusawa
@SchoolGirlsBack
@judgelyke
@rescueourgirls
We like to think our journalism is the best in the world - so why did it take us so long to wake up to this story?
Commentariat
(extracts courtesy of Editorial Intelligence)
Chibundu Onuzu
Max Hastings
Michael Burleigh
Douglas Murray
Twitterati
Chibundu Onuzu
Oby Ezekwesili
Ramaa Mosley
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Eggbert Springs
and under the name #bringbackourgirls...
@bringgirlsback
@gbengesesan
@InvolveYouth
@hanneymusawa
@SchoolGirlsBack
@judgelyke
@rescueourgirls
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