The starting point of this discussion focused on a news article that arose at the beginning of November:
Http://www.aljazeera...1171043467.html
In which 28 people were killed in a mass shooting.
Eritrea, for those who have that vague recollection of hearing but not knowing where this country is, sits on the coast of the Red Sea directly across from Yemen, north of Ethiopia and east of Sudan. It is ruled by what is called a dictatorship that for the most part has chosen isolationism and keeps people from 18-40 years of age from leaving rhe country. Part of the reason for this entrenched status has to do with it's location, which, as you can imagine, is highly strategic at the southern mouth of the Red Sea and near to the tip of the Saudi Arabian peninsula. When Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia, it put itself in the unique situation of having the powers of the world hoping it would fail or at least bargain to keep its independence. It has done neither.
So back to the article. The source of the information was an Ethiopian journalist working with the Associated Press who got the information from a known terrorist group (sorry, i would need to ask again to get the name and may just edit it in later) and passed it along. The story, which had no verification, only a video with audible gunshots, proceeded to pass into the main media without question, easily believed as yet another cruel dictatorship killing its people.
Except no one was shot. The gunshot was real, but it was into the air. And remember that Ethiopia, a land locked country, really misses having that coast line. It turns out, according to friends and family within the country, that no one died. The shot was a warning shot. And that Ethiopean reporter? He had been barred once before for something like corruption.
This was one month ago. And after being priviledged to have Ment's insight into the Ukraine, I want to ask, how do we fix this? Fix the absence of multiple sources, especially in places where we do not get the full story?
I am bandying around an idea that maybe we need to create an unofficial news source. Everyone in the world, pretty much, is online. Why can't we use that to bypass or at least cross check the stories being fed to us? After last night, I am starting to question how much I truly know about the world.
This post has been edited by Gust Hubb: 30 November 2017 - 02:51 PM