Saturday 7 March 2015

THEME 4 - Summary

Hello!

For Theme 4, we decided to choose the "Kenji Goto case", which is, shortly, about a japanase journalist who travelled to an Islamic State to rescue a friend, but was held hostage and beheaded. But we don't want short things, so let's get into it!

I chose one slovak news media site and compared the amount and quality of the informations with an international one.

What slovak media wrote about Kenji Goto:

Novinár sa nachádzal v zajatí od októbra 2014. Prišiel do Sýrie, aby pomohol oslobodiť svojho krajana, podnikateľa Harunu Yukawu, ktorý je nezvestný od leta 2014.

Extrémisti žiadali predtým od japonskej vlády výkupné vo výške 200 miliónov USD namiesto popravy Kenji Goto a následne sa predpokladalo vymeniť ho za samovražednú teroristku odsúdenú v Jordánsku na trest smrti. Rokovania neboli úspešné.
Translation: Journalist Kenji Goto was held hostage since October 2014. He came to Syria to help rescue his compatriot Haruna Yukawa, who has been missing since summer 2014. First, the extremists asked the Japanese government for 200 milion USD as an exchange for Kenji Goto, and then they asked to exchange a suicidal terorist who was sentenced to death in Jordan. However, the negotiations were unsuccesful.

The second article I found was about a succesful negotiation. It said that Japan and IS (Islamic state) reached an agreement about exchanging the woman terorist with Kenji Goto. 
Médiá: Japonsko sa dohovorilo o výmene zajatca IS na teroristku
And the third one said that IS already beheaded (killed) Kenji Goto and as a proof, they recorded a video.
Ozbrojenci IS popravili japonského novinára
The international source was more useful, giving me details about all the negotiations and a 24 hours ultimatum to Japan. Here are some of the most interesting ones.
Negotiation conditions:
“It is simple,” Goto says, “You give them Sajida and I will be released. At the moment it actually looks possible, and our government are indeed a stones throw away. Our government representatives are ironically in Jordan where their sister Sajida is held prisoner by the Jordanian regime. Again I would like to stress how easy it is to save my life. You bring them their sister from the Jordanian regime, and I will be released immediately, me for her.
These could be my last hours in this world, and I may be a dead man speaking. Don’t let these be my last words you ever hear. Don’t let Abe also kill me.”
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga has said his country is outraged by the atrocity.
“This is an outrageous and unacceptable act,” Suga said. “We strongly demand the prompt release of the remaining Mr. Kenji Goto, without harm.”
There was also an emergency meeting over the situation.
But sadly, even after news about a "successful" negotiation , Kenji Goto was beheaded. This part was the most confusing for me, so I searched more.. Because why would someone after a successful negotiation do that? I wasn't able to find detailed informations in slovak language, so again, I used an international source.
Here is what it said:
Rumors circulated Wednesday that a deal had been reached between the Islamic State and Japan/Jordan regarding the release of IS hostages Kenji Goto and Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh in exchange for Sajida al-Rishawi, who’s been imprisoned in Jordan since an attempted suicide bombing in Amman in 2005. 
Some IS Twitter accounts even claimed that the deal had already been done, saying Goto had been released by the group, and Jordan had released Rishawi from prison and that she was back in Iraq.

But Jordan’s foreign ministers have said that the rumors are false, demanding news organizations retract their stories, and asking for proof that their pilot Kaseasbeh (who was captured by Japan in the meantime) was still alive.
! It turned out the negotiation wasn't successful as the slovak media wrote. It seems that the journalist in charge just believed in the rumours and didn't check what was really going on. !

SUMMARY: The international source was more helpful and much less confusing. It was kind of a dissapointment, that rumour being accepted without checking twice, but things like that happen, especially in something as complicated as journalism.
TIP: When there's a topic you are really interested in or you are doing a school project, make sure to check more than only one media, or else you can experience something like I did. And you surely don't want to confuse anyone with inacurrate informations! :)