Côte d’Ivoire: Twitter Campaign for Anderson Cooper’s Attention · Global Voices
Anna Gueye

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.
On February 21, 2011, @kenyanpundit sent a tweet linking to an article about international media following protests across the ‘Arab world’ but ignoring those in Africa:
@kenyanpundit: On global media and African protests, “Why are Anderson Cooper and Nick Kristoff not in C'ote d'Ivoire”? http://bit.ly/ibWmdu
@davidisen retweeted it adding that both reporters are also ignoring Gabon:
@davidisen: There's no Anderson Cooper or Nick Kristof in Gabon or Cote d'Ivoire! http://bit.ly/ibWmdu h/t @kenyanpundit @ethanz
In the Middle East people speak English rather than French (the language used primarily on Ivorian protest hashtag #CIV2010), and this gave me the idea to start up a tweet campaign to get CNN reporter Anderson Cooper to cover Côte d’Ivoire:
@annagueye: @kenyanpundit yes but people there speak English. I have decided that I will harass @andersoncooper until he gets his ass in #CIV2010
@Darth_Sideous found another reason why the conflict is being ignored by US media:
@Darth_Sideous: @kenyanpundit @AndersonCooper@NickKristof Because we don't have OIL otherwise they'd be already in Ivory Coast! #civ2010 we don't need them
@Darth_Sideous asked that we stop the campaign as @andersoncooper had not even bothered answering our tweets:
@Darth_Sideous: #civ2010 Please stop asking @ac360 to cover Ivory Coast bloodshed by pro-Gbagbo forces. He didn't answer a single tweet! Other media did.
Other media did address the issue, for example in this article by France 24, “Do not focus only on the the Arab world. Blood is also flowing on the streets of Abidjan“.
On the third day of the campaign, at which point violence had been ongoing since Saturday 19 February, 2011, @Belligiani concluded that US media “don’t care about Côte d’Ivoire”:
One of the first tweets saying that Côte d’Ivoire is in civil war was from @SenamBeheton:
On Friday 25 February, 2011, UNHCR staff reported that at least 20,000 had fled fresh violence in Côte d'Ivoire capital, Abidjan. A few hours after this post was published @andersoncooper tweeted:
@andersoncooper: I have been following #ivorycoast closely and it deserves far more coverage. Monday will try to do something
Ivorians will be watching.
This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.