Horn of Africa Regional Thread
- Thread starter thatrapsfan
- Start date
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
thatrapsfan
Superstar
Shameless grifting lol their initial “fundraising” goal was 10k and when they realized they can make a ton of money off this, they switched it to 35K. Watch it go up to 100k by end of the week.
I don’t think Rania has tweeted a single time about Ethiopia before she realized how much attention her typical takes would get.
She has actually. Albeit minor stuff but they just got into town yesterday. I’m sure the majority of the time will be spent doing actual reporting from the ground unlike the vast majority of compromised news outlets in the West. Btw, I’m still waiting for Woyane to take Addis like the bytch ass Western media likes to parrot. How many more Woyane propagated bullshyt narratives does corporate media have to pump out to prove their own worthlessness in telling this story?
I actually don’t see this as grifting at all. When Amy Goodman does it she’s just raising funds because DN is indy (
) journalists but when BTN does it they’re grifting? Yeah? 
They don’t have nearly the same resources as major outlets or even DN and they’ve been the main news outlet actually speaking up for the majority of Ethiopians and telling the full story minus State Dept driven narratives. Lol damn that, they deserve the support and Ethiopians/Eritreans will do that.
They sanctioned gov't officials, generals, and a few companies they own that do little to no business with USA. So yeah, they ain't doing shyt.
But I’m sure all the reputable international media outlets have been doing the same thing. After all, we’re not allow to question these legacy branded, sanctified beacons of professional, unbiased, uncompromising journalism…..
thatrapsfan
Superstar
She has actually. Albeit minor stuff but they just got into town yesterday. I’m sure the majority of the time will be spent doing actual reporting from the ground unlike the vast majority of compromised news outlets in the West. Btw, I’m still waiting for Woyane to take Addis like the bytch ass Western media likes to parrot. How many more Woyane propagated bullshyt narratives does corporate media have to pump out to prove their own worthlessness in telling this story?
I actually don’t see this as grifting at all. When Amy Goodman does it she’s just raising funds because DN is indy (
Nah bro, this is 100 percent opportunistic and I think you’re overlooking it because they align with your view of the conflict. I’ve followed Rania since her start and she was 100 percent focused on Middle East and Israel/Palestine in particular. This moved to a hyper focus on Syria, in which her pro government stance got her attention and now has turned into a niche in every ongoing conflict/hot button issue. She has never covered anything remotely close to the Horn of Africa until this conflict popped on her radar.
Democracy Now doesn’t do fundraising blitzes for trips to conflict zones, they have a very clear coverage model that is supported by their viewers. Don’t see how you can’t differentiate between that and Rania and co. popping in Addis, throwing up a GoFundme link and changing the fundraising goals every hour when they notice how much they can get.
I couldn’t disagree more breh. Kudos for being hip to her work tho, she’s great I love her interviews and overall coverage.
She’s based in Lebanon and she’s Lebanese so of course she’d do ME stuff primarily since those are probably topics she has more familiarity with. Gotta start somewhere. On the contrary, I think people like her are merely lending a voice to stories that aren’t told as willingly or readily in most media circles. I’ve seen her do fundraising plenty of times outside of this so I honestly don’t see an issue with helping her and Eugene cover any extra expenses, or hell, just donating for the sake of supporting journalists that actually go out of their way to report on stories like this. If the ceiling goes up then good for her, that means we’re doing a good job of fundraising then.
I mean, if this is opportunistic then what do you call the absolute bullshyt that Western media has been parading on every and all manners of airwaves? That shyt has been incredibly offensive for us to watch all this gaslighting as if we’re dumb because we’re Africans. Bro, if it weren’t for BTN this would legit feel like I’m living some 1984 dystopian shyt. For God’s sake, even the so called indy news liberal champions Democracy Now was running whole CNN stories and questioning nothing Nima had to say whatsoever. As far as I’m concerned, credit to Rania for recognizing that millions of people were being silenced and taking on the story. Let her benefit.
Again, that’s more than I can say for the vast majority of news media.
Oh, and how I differentiate between BTN and DN is that one is much smaller and most likely needs many more fundraising schemes whereas DN is much more established and has many big money backers to handle those types of things. If we were talking about BTN being on a DN level then you’d have an argument but as far as I can tell they aren’t on that level.
So what I’m wondering is what exactly is wrong with Rania/BTN taking advantage of the mass media’s collective ignoring of 100+ million people and using that to further her platform? Sounds smart to me, especially if she’s lent her platform to others that can speak on the situation more. Especially if people like Eugene is actually bringing serious context/analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Nothing is free, and I’d rather see people support her than continuously go to outlets that don’t give any fukks at all expecting to hear our side of the story.
Shiiiit, Horn of Africa TV needs to do that if they haven’t already started because I’ve loved their coverage and interviews too.
thatrapsfan
Superstar
I’m not a fan of Rania, even though I’m aware of her coverage. I don’t see analysis coming from her end, I see her taking exact same line in a ton of different conflicts and issues, all ultimately leading her to have the same line ( the Government in question is right, it’s opponents are Western pawns). There’s an audience for that clearly, but to me it’s extremely simplistic, and far too apologetic of state narratives only because they may be unaligned with the West.I couldn’t disagree more breh. Kudos for being hip to her work tho, she’s great I love her interviews and overall coverage.
She’s based in Lebanon and she’s Lebanese so of course she’d do ME stuff primarily since those are probably topics she has more familiarity with. Gotta start somewhere. On the contrary, I think people like her are merely lending a voice to stories that aren’t told as willingly or readily in most media circles. I’ve seen her do fundraising plenty of times outside of this so I honestly don’t see an issue with helping her and Eugene cover any extra expenses, or hell, just donating for the sake of supporting journalists that actually go out of their way to report on stories like this. If the ceiling goes up then good for her, that means we’re doing a good job of fundraising then.
I mean, if this is opportunistic then what do you call the absolute bullshyt that Western media has been parading on every and all manners of airwaves? That shyt has been incredibly offensive for us to watch all this gaslighting as if we’re dumb because we’re Africans. Bro, if it weren’t for BTN this would legit feel like I’m living some 1984 dystopian shyt. For God’s sake, even the so called indy news liberal champions Democracy Now was running whole CNN stories and questioning nothing Nima had to say whatsoever. As far as I’m concerned, credit to Rania for recognizing that millions of people were being silenced and taking on the story. Let her benefit.
Again, that’s more than I can say for the vast majority of news media.
Oh, and how I differentiate between BTN and DN is that one is much smaller and most likely needs many more fundraising schemes whereas DN is much more established and has many big money backers to handle those types of things. If we were talking about BTN being on a DN level then you’d have an argument but as far as I can tell they aren’t on that level.
So what I’m wondering is what exactly is wrong with Rania/BTN taking advantage of the mass media’s collective ignoring of 100+ million people and using that to further her platform? Sounds smart to me, especially if she’s lent her platform to others that can speak on the situation more. Especially if people like Eugene is actually bringing serious context/analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Nothing is free, and I’d rather see people support her than continuously go to outlets that don’t give any fukks at all expecting to hear our side of the story.
Shiiiit, Horn of Africa TV needs to do that if they haven’t already started because I’ve loved their coverage and interviews too.
As far as coverage of Ethiopia goes, I see proponents of both sides of the war angry when media doesn’t report on their side in a positive light. To me, best coverage is by AlJazeera, particularly AlJazeera Arabic who’s Ethiopia corresponded is actually in Afar region reporting from midst of frontline:
They’ve reported government losses and governments recent wins in the exact same manner and as correspondent is Afari he’s clearly well attuned and knowledgeable of the region.
I’d much rather watch that, then have Rania give me hackneyed talking points that delight government supporters but don’t actually inform anyone at all.
Dessie and Kombolcha back under ENDF control.
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Abiy announcing the big victory on the battlefield. He might be PM for life lol.
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Broke Wave
The GOAT
Good news. Inshallah the TPLF disintegrates and their tentacles in Somalia are chopped off. It seems like things are heading in that direction. As the western tide recedes, East Africa recovers.
I know Al Jazeera Arabic was the only intl outlet that reported from Northern Command and showed the destruction. I don’t understand Arabic so I don’t watch it but I wouldn’t doubt that it might be a bit more unbiased since AJE is catered to a Western audience.
As to your Rania critiques, I’ll admit I’m just getting into BTN due to her work on Ethiopia so I’ll have to own some ignorance on the totality of her work. But what I like is she gets people more knowledgeable and lets them speak on it. Plus if BTN is doing this:
Then I’m a fan. The death and destruction in Amhara and Afar aren’t touched upon enough, if at all, in Western media. I’ve met actual journalists like Jemal Countess that have admitted to me that a lot of these Western journalists are being lazy with the story and are going in with certain preconceptions/pretentiousness about African stories generally. Of course there are the ones that are more closely linked with the TPLF from long time relationships. Point is, despite whatever criticism you have at the very least Rania/BTN have reported the story and brought on experts to speak on it as well as hot the ground. All these billion dollar news organizations could’ve done all that and more if they weren’t so obviously tools of the State Depts agenda.