Lunar New Year: Your News or Ours?

Much of Asia and the world will celebrate Lunar New Year on Monday, February 8. What will vary from place to place is how the media chooses to depict the holiday:

From our Hong Kong server, the South China Morning Post reported on the pressures Lunar New Year brings to have a significant other—and how far individuals will go to manufacture one:

Wanted: fake partner to impress family at Hong Kong Lunar New Year gatherings

[Source: A Secret Between Us]

In Singapore, the Straits Times focused its attention on a pre-New Year ritual involving money:

Queues form around Singapore to deposit money on ‘auspicious’ Li Chun

[Source: ST/Neo Xiaobin]

And in the United States, Reuters took advantage of the opportunity to highlight the politics behind the Pope’s Lunar New Year well-wishes:

China ‘notes’ Pope’s new year greeting, calls for flexibility

[Source: Reuters/Max Rossi]

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brasil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

---

Want to know more about place-based media bias? Read on!

• Gambia's Regulations on Women: Your News or Ours?
• Baghdad, Beirut and Paris Bombings: Your News or Ours?
• Egypt's Parliamentary Elections: Your News or Ours?

SumRando Cybersecurity is a South Africa-based VPN, Web Proxy and Secure Messenger provider.

Gambia’s Regulations on Women: Your News or Ours?

This week, news sources everywhere reported concern for the Gambia’s decision to mandate female government employees to cover their hair at work. Everywhere, that is, but in the Gambia, a country with a Freedom House Freedom of the Press status of ‘Not Free’ and a 15-year jail sentence for “using the internet to spread false news or make derogatory statements, incite dissatisfaction, or instigate violence against the government or public officials”:

The Daily Observer, Gambia’s national newspaper that learned the hard way to take a pro-government stance, has yet to publish a word about Monday’s Executive Directive. In contrast, its recent reports paint a rather pro-woman portrait of President Yahya Jammeh:

Bakau women benefit from presidential benevolence

Step outside the Gambia to Freedom Newspaper, a U.S.-based Gambian online news source, and Jammeh and his wife are presented as anything but presidential:

Gambia: Dictator Yahya Jammeh Issues Executive Directive Compelling Gambian Female Workers To Dress In Veil; Fake Zeinab Jammeh Trying To Blend In!

Similarly, U.S.-based VICE News, an international news organization, offered a more neutral headline, but was not shy in sharing the many shortcomings and human rights abuses attributed to Jammeh in its ensuing exposé: 

Gambia’s President Orders Female Government Workers to Cover Their Hair

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brasil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

---

Want to know more about place-based media bias? Read on!

• Baghdad, Beirut and Paris Bombings: Your News or Ours?
• Egypt's Parliamentary Elections: Your News or Ours?
• Mexico's 43 Disappeared Students: Your News or Ours?

SumRando Cybersecurity is a South Africa-based VPN, Web Proxy and Secure Messenger provider.

Baghdad, Beirut and Paris Bombings: Your News or Ours?

Last week’s bombings of Baghdad, Beirut and Paris brought much attention to the news coverage of some events over others and, in turn, sparked a global dialogue about the priority of some lives over others.

The NY Times promised “free digital access to coverage of the [Paris] attacks” and reported:

Obama Calls Paris Massacre ‘an Attack on the Civilized World’

a headline that has since been replaced with:

Supporting France, Obama Loath to Add Troops to ISIS Fight

The Times' coverage of events in Lebanon were noticeably less sympathetic:

Beirut, Also the Site of Deadly Attacks, Feels Forgotten

And those in Iraq went with minimal mention:

Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad

The disparity in reporting led Indian blogger Karuna Ezara Parikh to respond with a suggestion of her own:

It is not Paris we should pray for. It is the world.

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brasil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

---

Want to know more about place-based media bias? Read on!

• Egypt's Parliamentary Elections: Your News or Ours?
• Mexico's 43 Disappeared Students: Your News or Ours?
• Syrian Migrant Crisis: Your News or Ours?

SumRando Cybersecurity is a South Africa-based VPN, Web Proxy and Secure Messenger provider.

Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections: Your News or Ours?

Egyptians currently have the opportunity to vote on something they have not had since 2012: a new parliament. Although at least one local report suggests a “smooth election,” the majority of sources worldwide have implied it has been anything but.

The state-controlled Egyptian newspaper Ahram Online reported:

Day 1 of parliament voting smooth; PM declares Monday a half-day for state workers

[Source: Ahram Online/AP]

while independent Egyptian news source Madamasr countered:

Turnout low, violations high, Salafis optimistic as voting starts in Alexandria

[Source: Madamasr]

Beyond Egypt, Reuters spread the word about low turnout, but tailored each story to its audience. The international news agency broadcast:

Turnout low in Egypt’s long-awaited parliamentary election

Which looked different in the United States:

[Source: Reuters U.S.]

Than it did in Jordan:

[Source: Reuters Arabic via The Jordan Times]

Or Brasil, where image-less words were left to speak for themselves:

Eleição parlamentar no Egito tem fraco comparecimento às urnas

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brasil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

SumRando Cybersecurity is a South Africa-based VPN, Web Proxy and Secure Messenger provider.

Mexico’s 43 Disappeared Students: Your News or Ours?

In September 2014, 43 students disappeared from Iguala, Mexico; an ensuing government investigation held a local gang responsible for the students' murder. This September, in light of evidence to the contrary, their parents have asked the government to let an internationally-regulated special unit further investigate. As always, this one event has several stories to tell:

Sweden’s DN.se stated:
Föräldrar kräver ny utredning om försvunna studenter 
Parents Require New Investigation of Missing Students

[Source: DN.se]

 While Brazil's El País lent a kind word--if not picture--to Mexico's president:

"Busquemos a verdade juntos", diz Peña Nieto aos pais de Iguala

"Let us seek the truth together," says Peña Nieto to Parents of Iguala

[Source: El País]

Only to be countered by Reuters’ United States edition:

Mexico parents of 43 missing students reject President’s response to demands

[Source: Reuters]

 As Mexico’s La Jornada shifted the focus away from parents and president altogether:

ONU hace votos para el total esclarecimiento del caso Ayotzinapa 
UN vows to fully clarify the Ayotzinapa case

[Source: Victor Camacho/La Jornada]

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brazil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

SumRando Cybersecurity is a South Africa-based VPN, Web Proxy and Secure Messenger provider. Surf secure and stay Rando! 

Syrian Migrant Crisis: Your News or Ours?

Hundreds of thousands of migrants are currently leaving war-torn Syria, as well as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Kosovo and Nigeria, in search of greater stability elsewhere. Reports of the event are everywhere, but each news source has its own story to tell.

As Brazil News.Net shared:

More than 40,000 migrants arrive in Germany Sunday, French consul suspended for selling boats

[Source: Brazil News.Net]

 and the Jordan Times reported:

Pro-migrant rallies in Europe as Hungary says EU ‘dreaming’

 

[Source: The Jordan Times]

Singapore’s the Straits Times announced:

Thousands flock to anti-migrant demos in Eastern Europe

[Source: The Straits Times]

 

while in Turkey, the Hurriyet Daily News reported:

Turkish Coast Guard rescues 153 migrants

[Source: The Hurriyet Daily News]

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brazil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Discover what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!

Venezuela Border Crisis: Your News or Ours?

When we heard that a recent border closing had motivated thousands of immigrants—many of whom were legal and naturalized—to flee Venezuela for their native Colombia, we decided to use SumRando Cybersecurity’s VPN to see if the story shifted based on who was doing the telling. The results are in:

On August 27, as Venezuela's pro-government, investment firm-owned El Universal reported: 

Venezuela llama a consultas a su embajador en Colombia 
Venezuela Recalls Embassador to Colombia for Consultation

[Source: El Universal]

and Venezuela’s independent news outlet TalCual reported:

Maduro también llama a consultas a embajador venezolano en Colombia
  Maduro Recalls Venezuelan Embassador to Colombia for Consultation

[Source: TalCual]

from our New York node, the New York Times reported:

Colombians Flee Venezuela's Crackdown on Immigrants

[Source: The New York Times]

and from our Sweden node, Dagens Nyheter reported:

Undantagstillstånd vid gränsen mot Colombia

A State of Emergency on the Border with Colombia

[Source: Dagens Nyheter]

The news you receive depends on where your internet service provider believes your computer is. See for yourself with our nodes in Brazil, Hong Kong, Jordan, New York, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey. Find what's out there, surf secure and stay Rando!