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More than 60 Orthodox Christians killed in attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 3 outlets across the spectrum.

3 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Worshippers in white robes fill pews of an arched church interior with red carpet.
Image via Al Jazeera EnglishHow images are chosenReport this image

More than 60 Orthodox Christians have been killed in attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, whose holy synod says 20 homes were burned. Church officials say more than 20 people were injured. They say 14 people were killed on October 20 in Merti district and 46 on October 24 in Shirka district. A resident who lost his 75-year-old father described the attacks as an ambush in which villagers were surrounded from all four directions. A local official blamed the Alliance for Survival, a newly formed rebel coalition that includes the Oromo Liberation Army. The Oromo Liberation Army has not commented and has denied carrying out earlier attacks of this kind. The church’s statement did not say who was responsible. The regional government said it would take action against those responsible.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. More than 60 Orthodox Christians were killed in attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Al Jazeera English
    Center
    BBC News
    Far Right
    Townhall

  2. The church says 20 homes were burned in the attacks.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Al Jazeera English
    Center
    BBC News
    Far Right
    Townhall

  3. Church officials say the killings took place in separate attacks on October 20 and October 24, in Merti and Shirka districts.

    One outletAl Jazeera English· Left

  4. A local official blamed the Alliance for Survival, a rebel coalition that includes the Oromo Liberation Army.

    Reported byCenter1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    BBC News
    Far Right
    Townhall

  5. The Oromo Liberation Army has not commented and has denied carrying out previous attacks of this kind.

    One outletBBC News· Center

  6. The church’s statement did not say who was responsible for the attacks.

    One outletBBC News· Center

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • The attacks were carried out by Islamic attackers, described as an Islamic terror attack.

    Townhall describes it as an apparent Islamic attack. BBC reports the church did not say who was responsible and that a local official blamed the Alliance for Survival. Al Jazeera reports the church’s account without naming any attackers.

How each side tells it

Compare views

All three outlets report more than 60 Orthodox Christians killed in Oromia, Ethiopia, citing church officials. The center cites a local official blaming the Alliance for Survival; the left gives church dates and districts; the right calls it an Islamic terror attack.

  • the left

    1 outlet

    Headline states the death toll and location plainly, with no attribution of blame and no religious label on the attackers.

    Sixty Christians killed in Ethiopia’s Oromia region
    Al Jazeera EnglishLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    1 outlet

    Headline attributes the death toll and the word massacre to a church official, and the body text adds a resident’s ambush account and the local official’s blame on a rebel coalition.

    More than 60 Christians killed in Ethiopia 'massacre', church official says
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    1 outlet

    Headline calls the attack an apparent Islamic terror attack on Christians, a religious label for the attackers that the church statements cited do not give.

    More Than 60 Christians Killed in Apparent Hateful rhetoric“Islamic Terror Attack”Ties the religion of Islam to a terror label for the attackers, a link the church statements cited do not establish.Attacks or dehumanizes a person or a group because of who they are: their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.More neutral: Attack on Christians in EthiopiaDisagree with this highlight? in Ethiopia
    TownhallFar RightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right2

    apparent Islamic attackIslamic Terror Attack

In the outlets’ own words

  • Hateful rhetoric

    apparent Islamic attackMore neutral: attack on three areas in Oromia

    Ties the religion of Islam to the attackers, a link the church statements cited do not establish.

    Attacks or dehumanizes a person or a group because of who they are: their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

    More than 60 Orthodox Christians have been killed in an apparent Islamic attack on three areas around the Oromia region of Ethiopia, according to the BBC.

    Used byTownhall (Far Right)

  • Hateful rhetoric

    Islamic Terror AttackMore neutral: Attack on Christians in Ethiopia

    Ties the religion of Islam to a terror label for the attackers, a link the church statements cited do not establish.

    Attacks or dehumanizes a person or a group because of who they are: their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

    More Than 60 Christians Killed in Apparent Islamic Terror Attack in Ethiopia

    Used byTownhall (Far Right)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Church officials’ account of the killings
  • Dates and districts of the attacks
  • Religious tensions and the scale of the toll

Leaves out

  • The local official’s blame on the Alliance for Survival

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the headline from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Church official’s description of a massacre
  • Resident’s ambush account
  • Local official’s blame on the Alliance for Survival
See the headline from the centerHide the headlines
  • BBC NewsCenter

    More than 60 Christians killed in Ethiopia 'massacre', church official says

    One resident, whose 75-year-old father was killed, described it as an ambush, saying they were surrounded.

    Read at BBC News (opens in a new tab)

From the right

1 outlet

Leads with

  • Islamic terror attack
  • Victims as Orthodox Christians
  • Earlier attack on a church in Jordan

Leaves out

  • The church statement did not name who was responsible

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the headline from the rightHide the headlines
  • TownhallFar Right

    More Than 60 Christians Killed in Apparent Hateful rhetoric“Islamic Terror Attack”Ties the religion of Islam to a terror label for the attackers, a link the church statements cited do not establish.Attacks or dehumanizes a person or a group because of who they are: their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.More neutral: Attack on Christians in EthiopiaDisagree with this highlight? in Ethiopia

    More than 60 Orthodox Christians have been killed in an Hateful rhetoric“apparent Islamic attack”Ties the religion of Islam to the attackers, a link the church statements cited do not establish.Attacks or dehumanizes a person or a group because of who they are: their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.More neutral: attack on three areas in OromiaDisagree with this highlight? on three areas around the Oromia region of Ethiopia, according to the BBC.

    Read at Townhall (opens in a new tab)

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    14 hr 19 min later

    Its first report, Oct 27, 2:49 AM EDT

  • Center

    First to report

    BBC News, Oct 26, 12:31 PM EDT

  • Right

    5 hr 29 min later

    Its first report, Oct 26, 6:00 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. BBC NewsCenterOct 26, 12:31 PM EDT
  2. TownhallFar RightOct 26, 6:00 PM EDT
  3. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 27, 2:49 AM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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