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Kenya Attack That Left 147 Dead Compared To Paris Attack News Coverage

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 10:36 PST, Nov 14, 2015

The way Kenya is currently trending on Twitter and Facebook shows that folks have plenty to say about the Kenya attacks in comparison to the news coverage that the Paris attacks have received. As reported by CNN, 147 people were killed at Garissa University College in Kenya back on April 2, but news hounds might only remember the horrific attack at the Kenya college as a blip on the radar in the news cycle in comparison to the equally horrific Paris attacks.

According to the website popularity tracking list called “What’s Hot” on Alexa.com, an Amazon company, a BBC News article about the 147 people killed in the Kenya attack by an Islamist group is the sixth most popular URL on their list as of this writing.

So many tweets and posts are coming into Twitter and Facebook about Kenya that some readers are getting confused, wondering why the Kenya tweets are trending. The Kenya attacks not only left 147 people dead, but also injured at least 79 folks in the attack that lasted for hours. It was a sad day for Kenya, which saw the country experience an attack that claimed such a high death toll that it was the largest amount of people killed on Kenyan soil since 1998, when more than 200 people lost their lives in the bombing of the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The disparity of attention between the Kenyan attacks and the Parisian attacks are being blamed on the fact that Kenya is a third-world country.

The fact that Facebook has allowed folks to change their profile photos to French flags with Facebook’s new filter to allow them to support Paris, as reported by TIME?, is being compared to the lack of Kenyan flag filters on Facebook during the time Kenya was attacked.

Other attacks are being questioned and re-examined in the wake of the tragic Paris attacks, along with queries about the news coverage, or lack thereof, for other tragic events.

As written by Jeremy Wheeler on Facebook about the Paris and Kenya attacks, some social media users are noting the difference in the tragedies in terms of the outpouring of worldwide sympathy and news coverage.

“Apologists for the terrorists who murdered in Paris are popping up even before the bodies are cold. Back in April when Islamist terrorists attacked a university in Kenya what was the excuse then? Did you even hear about it?”

The Kenya attack on Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya is being brought back to life months later as a means for social media users to give attention to other terrorist attacks around the world.

While social media users recognize that both attacks are tragic, Facebook user Ann VanRyan wrote to Facebook, asking about the option for a Kenya flag overlay as Facebook offers the France flag overlay.

“Facebook… Where’s my option to have the Kenya flag overlay on my profile pic? This is equally as horrendous and is happening every day in the poorest parts of our world. ?#?LookForTheHelpersJess?“

Related searches such as Kenya Paris and the #prayforKenya hashtag are also trending in the wake of the controversy over the difference in news coverage. The Kenya attack articles are being retweeted, causing some users to think the Kenya attack just occurred.

(AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

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