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| Osama bin Laden's death was a polarizing international issue, prompting strongly framed coverage on both sides of the spectrum. |
The killing of Osama bin Laden by American Special Forces marked a worldwide media event. How the event was interpreted and covered by various national media outlets and the extent to which it was covered seemed to vary greatly among different countries however. Much of the coverage spanned a broad spectrum, adopting different viewpoints and widely varying depths of coverage. From repackaged wire stories to in-depth original reporting, the coverage was truly varied. While in some countries, nationally biased slants were clearly decipherable; in others much of the coverage simply mirrored its Western counterpart.
A larger theme that revealed itself however was the correlation in coverage between each country’s level of connection with 9/11, and their level of coverage on Osama’s death. The deepness of the country’s connection (or lack thereof) with 9/11, definitively affected the type and level of coverage Osama’s death received.
Thailand
Thailand’s coverage of Obama’s death was rather straightforward for the most part, with much of the national coverage being restricted to wire stories (with AFP largely appearing to be the news service of choice). However, some outlets chose to localize the story a bit by adding some original reporting. As in the story illustrated above, the outlet chose to put a local take on the story by detailing the increased security efforts the government was taking in areas of the country with a higher Muslim population.
However, other than this, the coverage was largely straightforward accounts of the American Special Forces mission and how the aftermath was being played out in the Middle East—practically the same as most Western coverage. What separated it from Western coverage however was the quantity. Whereas in the U.S. the Osama story grabbed virtually every front page in the nation, it was given much less importance in Thailand. It stands to be argued that this is related directly to Thailand’s lack of connection with 9/11. Not being a nation directly allied with the U.S. or having ties in the Middle East, or a history of terrorism, 9/11 did not play heavily in Thailand’s history, giving Osama’s death much less firepower in terms of being an important news story.
Brazil
Brazil provides another approach to coverage. While taking a similar approach to Thailand in its heavy use of wire coverage while the story was breaking, it differs greatly in the amount of original reporting it eventually contributed to the coverage. This is especially apparent in examining the follow-up coverage of the event contributed by the Carta Capital Outlet. The coverage they provided after the killing took on a very investigative slant, asking the U.S. some hard questions, examining the morality of such a killing, and even calling into question President Obama’s Nobel. This type of coverage was sparse in other countries, let alone the United States, and so served as an interesting example of how the event was covered after it was broken.
The United States is a major player in Latin America, and for many is viewed less than favorably. It seems almost as if the killing of Osama Bin Laden was used in Brazil as an avenue to point a critical eye at the U.S., rather than covered out of a sense duty to cover something newsworthy.
Mexico
As another Latin American country, one would expect a certain level of similarity in coverage, however, much of the coverage was much more favorable of the United States, if not downright openly supportive. Several articles openly condemned all acts of terrorism and commended the United States on its recent success in its efforts against terrorism.
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| A great deal of coverage, both in America and abroad dealt with the response of the general public, as documented in the above photo that was posted in New York City. |
Libya
In stark contrast to all of the coverage examined so far, especially that of Mexico's, Libyan coverage of the Osama bin Laden killing has been decidedly partial to pre-existing anti-U.S. sentiment. An article on the Tripoli Post website openly questioned the validity of the U.S. claims that Bin Laden had indeed been killed by U.S. special forces. The article, "Have they really killed what they created" openly calls into question the U.S. claim that OBL was dead, and went on to even question the U.S. claims that OBL was even behind the 9/11 attack in the first place. The article even began with the quote "The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth."
It then becomes pretty easy to see that the coverage of Osama Bin Laden's death was greatly influenced by outside political factors, namely a profound anti-American sentiment within the Libyan government, and by proxy, much of the country's news coverage. Whereas in other countries, even if there wasn't original reporting on OBL's death, there were at least wire reports. In Libya however, national outlets actively tried to refute the wire coverage, citing American misinformation as the basis of the reports. All in all, Libya clearly provides quite a change of pace from other international coverage.
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| Not all reactions to OBL's death were favorable, this was mirrored in various news coverage as well, as in the case of Libya. |
Syria
While Syria, as a Middle Eastern country, is prone to be subject to impressions of the same anti-American bias as seen in the Libyan coverage, the coverage seen on Syrian-News.com was much more objective, providing a more detailed account and sticking to including more facts, while focusing less on pejorative "analysis". While there was certainly a non-Western tone to the piece, it was certainly to be expected and, if anything, enhanced the piece's credibility.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan is surely an interesting country in which to examine the coverage of OBL's death. Serving as the front lines of the "War on Terror", the country has a unique perspective to be sure. And, not to be let down, Daily Outlook Afghanistan offered an interesting analysis of the reports of bin Laden's death. In addition to the straightforward news accounts of the event, there were pieces like "Obama's Death No Game-Changer" that provided a interesting context to the event.
While most American and Western accounts heralded Osama's death as the largest single progress made in the War on Terror to date, the Daily Outlook's provides a decidedly different viewpoint, and one with an inherently high level of credibility.
