The New York Times recently came under a wave of criticism for its coverage of Israel's bombardment and killing of four Gazan children playing football at the beach.
The trusted American newspaper changed its headline from “4 Young Boys Killed Playing on Gaza Beach” to “Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach & Into Center of Mideast Strife” which was perceived by some as being misleading. The headline, as can be seen on NewsDiffs, changed between 8:35pm and 9:13pm on July 16.
In response, the pan-African website ‘Africa Is A Country‘ asked its followers to parody the title change on Twitter using the hashtag #NYThistory:
Screenshot of the status shared by ‘Africa Is A Country’
Here are some examples of the ongoing hashtag campaign:
“Joan of Arc drawn to stake, and into center of large fire” #NYTHistory
— Africa is a Country (@AfricasaCountry) July 17, 2014
“Rosa Parks drawn to public transport and into center of American racial tensions.” #NYTHistory @AfricasaCountry
— Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin (@nnimhaoileoin) July 17, 2014
East German govt builds a Wall in Berlin, raising questions about the applicable building code. #NYTHistory
— Christiane Wilke (@jaanewilke) July 17, 2014
“Native people drawn to pale bearded guys off boats, into center of unprecedented attempts at annihilation” #NYTHistory CC @AfricasaCountry
— Anaïs Bédé (@anaisbd) July 17, 2014
“Chickens Drawn to Farms, and Into Center of Nutritional Practice” #NYTHistory
— Trond Gausdal (@trondgausdal) July 17, 2014
“Cambodians drawn onto the fields of Kampuchea and into center of Pol's Pot.” #NYTHistory
— Imran Garda (@ImranGarda) July 17, 2014
At the time of writing, Israel's “Operation Defensive Edge” has entered its 13th day and has already claimed the lives of more than 280 Palestinians among them children and women, and one Israeli.
14 comments
The new title is misleading, but appealing, it would incite you to buy the newspaper. PR, gentlemen!
errrrr. i don’t think so. the new title is confusing, long and badly thought out. first title is classic, unworthy worthy click bait. so your PR argument is, quite frankly, incorrect.
You look at a newspaper stand and see a title in a newspaper: “A man killed another one”. You think : “That’s bad”. Then you see another title in another newspaper: ” A terrible blood-chilling hair-raising murder!!!”. You say to yourself: ” Wow! I’ll have to read the story”. And you buy the newspaper. That’s I what I call PR, so my argument is, frankly speaking, correct.
Bombed Palestinian targets in Gaza, drawn to live in crowded homes with their families, are accused of hiding behind women and children.