BBG Watch Media
BBC, Russia’s international news agency SPUTNIK and multiple other foreign and U.S. media have been reporting on a South Carolina officer indicted for murder after a video surfaced that appears to show him shooting an unarmed man who was running away.
As of 9:00 PM ET Tuesday, the Voice of America (VOA) English news website has no mention of this news development either on its homepage or on its UNITED STATES NEWS page.
This story will be huge, perhaps even as big as Ferguson, but VOA is so far silent online on this indictment.
UPDATE: VOA posted a Reuters report: “White South Carolina Police Officer Charged in Black Man’s Death | REUTERS on VOA” with 9:01 PM ET time stamp, but as of 9:01 PM, this report was still not visible on the VOA English homepage. At 9:06 PM ET the Reuters report was also not visible on VOA UNITED STATES NEWS page. It appears that time stamps on VOA reports do not reflect accurately when these reports actually become visible online.
On such an important U.S. news story, the Voice of America, based in Washington, is incapable of producing its own news report, while BBC in London and SPUTNIK in Moscow have no problems posting online their own original reports on events in the U.S. state of South Carolina.
The BBC headline for a report posted well over an hour ago says: “White police officer arrested over unarmed black man’s death | BBC NEWS.”
Russia’s SPUTNIK posted a report from North Charleston well over an hour ago: “South Carolina Cop Faces Murder Charge After Video Shows Fatal Shooting | SPUTNIK.”
South Carolina Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murder after a video surfaced of the officer shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott in the back eight times as he fled on Saturday, SPUTNIK reported.
VOA management can perhaps derive some comfort from the fact that Russia’s RT so far has posted no new report on the story (as of 10:00 PM ET).
A Google Search shows that TIME and The Wall Street Journal had reported on the story two hours ago, while other U.S. media posted reports over an hour ago, as did BBC and SPUTNIK.
Google Search Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:29 PM ET
Even as of 9:00 – 9:06 PM ET Tuesday, April 7, there was still nothing on this news development being shown on the main Voice of America English news website or VOA websites and social media pages in many other languages.
As of 9:50 PM ET, the South Carolina shooting story has not been posted on the VOA News Facebook page. The latest VOA News Facebook post is one hour old and the previous one is six hours old.
VOA News Facebook Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:50 PM ET
As of 9:56 PM ET, the South Carolina shooting story also has not been posted on the VOA News Twitter page. The latest VOA Twitter post is one hour old and the previous one is three hours old.
VOA News Twitter Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:56 PM ET
Voice of America Director David Ensor announced today that he has submitted his resignation to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) yesterday and wants to leave by end of May.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015, 1:44 AM ET UPDATE
As of this time the South Carolina shooting story has become a number two item without any image, not among top VOA news stories, but only way down on the VOA English news website homepage in the listing of USA News. BBC, on the other hand, is leading its home, world and other pages with South Carolina, including video of the shooting. VOA used Reuters, with no video of the shooting (which BBC now has up).
VOA Homepage Top Stories Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 1:19 AM ET
BBC Homepage Top Stories Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 1:22 AM ET
As of 1:26 AM ET Wednesday, Russia’s RT has its South Carolina story as number three in its top news stories lineup on its homepage, “Murder charge for S. Carolina cop who shot black man 8 times in back (GRAPHIC VIDEO) | RT.”
RT Homepage Top Stories Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 1:26 AM ET
RT report includes GRAFIC VIDEO, which is noted next to the headline on RT’s homepage. As of 1:26 AM ET Wednesday, VOA is still using the Reuters report with no video. The VOA English news website homepage does not include the South Carolina story among VOA top nine news stories of the day. It is only number four news story on VOA’s UNITED STATES NEWS page.
On RT’s homepage it is number three top among RT’s four top news stories. On RT’s USA NEWS page, it is number one news story. It is also number one news story on the BBC News website homepage and on BBC’s US & CANADA NEWS page.
The Reuters report on VOA is showing only one (1) Facebook “Like,” 12 Tweets and one (1) comment as of 1:26 AM ET Wednesday.
RT report is showing 1,500 Facebook “Likes,” 402 Tweets and 144 comments.
VOA Report Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 1:38 AM ET
RT Report Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 1:44 AM ET
EARLIER HANDLING OF SOUTH CAROLINA STORY IN SCREENSHOTS
VOA Homepage Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:01 PM ET
VOA Search Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:03 PM ET
VOA UNITED STATES NEWS Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:06 PM ET
SPUTNIK Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:09 PM ET
BBC Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9:12 PM ET
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