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Nigeria confirms its first Ebola case, in a woman who arrived from Uganda

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 15 outlets across the spectrum.

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

Street in Abuja with cars, green-domed government building and Aso Rock mountain behind.
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Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case, a woman who arrived in Abuja from Uganda, according to its health ministry. The outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May and has since reached Uganda and Kenya. Health officials describe it as the fastest-spreading on record. Reuters reports that it has killed 4,646 people. Accounts of when the woman arrived differ: Nigerian officials say October 5, while the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told the BBC October 3, and says she holidayed in Uganda. Nigeria’s health minister said 44 contacts have been identified and that none is known to have symptoms.

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. Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case, a woman who arrived in Abuja from Uganda.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft3Center5Right3Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NPR, The New York Times, The Guardian
    Center
    Deutsche Welle, Newsweek, PBS NewsHour, France 24, BBC News
    Right
    The Washington Times, New York Post, The Telegraph
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  2. The outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May and has spread to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria.

    Reported byLeft1Center3Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NPR
    Center
    PBS NewsHour, France 24, BBC News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  3. Health officials describe the outbreak as the fastest-spreading on record.

    Reported byCenter1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    France 24
    Right
    New York Post

  4. Reuters reports that the outbreak has killed 4,646 people.

    One outletNew York Post· Right

  5. Accounts of when the woman arrived in Nigeria differ, with dates of October 3 and October 5 given.

    Reported byLeft1Center1Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Center
    BBC News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Breitbart News
Show 2 more pointsShow fewer points

  1. Nigeria’s health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said 44 contacts have been identified and none is known to have symptoms.

    One outletBBC News· Center

  2. The Africa CDC has scheduled an extraordinary virtual meeting for October 28 to discuss the outbreak.

    One outletBreitbart News· Far Right

What is contested

Where accounts differ

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

  • The woman arrived in Nigeria on October 5.

    Nigerian officials, cited by Reuters and Breitbart, say she arrived on October 5. The head of Africa CDC told the BBC she arrived on October 3, and The Guardian reports it is unclear when she arrived.

How each side tells it

Compare views

Left, center and right outlets all report that Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case, in a woman who arrived from Uganda, during a regional outbreak. Right-side outlets stress the outbreak’s scale and death toll, while center outlets focus on the patient’s travel and left outlets on regional spread.

  • the left

    4 outlets

    Left headlines state the confirmed case plainly; NPR and The Guardian run AP copy, and the Guardian’s headline stresses spread into western Africa.

    Nigeria Announces First Case of Ebola in Current Outbreak
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    7 outlets

    Center headlines lead with the confirmed case and regional spread, while the BBC’s headline turns to the patient’s holiday in Uganda.

    Nigeria's first Ebola patient holidayed in Uganda, officials say
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    4 outlets

    Right headlines stress the outbreak’s scale: the NY Post and the Telegraph highlight spread and deaths, while Breitbart frames it as a crisis summit called by Africa CDC.

    Ebola case confirmed in Nigeria as outbreak spreads through Africa
    The TelegraphRightAll 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.

Mantle found no loaded language in this coverage. Every headline and opening was checked against Mantle’s published word list, and Mantle’s AI read 12 of the 18 articles in context when it wrote the analysis. Straight reporting often has none.

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

4 outlets

Leads with

  • Nigeria’s confirmed case
  • regional spread into Kenya and Uganda
  • Nigerian authorities’ transparency

Leaves out

  • death toll reported by Reuters

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

See the 4 headlines from the leftHide the headlines
  • Al Jazeera EnglishLeft

    Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials say

    The Bundibugyo strain outbreak is the DR Congo's deadliest ever and has now reached West Africa for the first time.

    Read at Al Jazeera English (opens in a new tab)
  • The GuardianLeftAssociated Press report

    Nigeria confirms Ebola case as outbreak spreads into western Africa

    Case in Africa’s most populous country was detected in a woman who had travelled from Uganda Nigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in its capital, Abuja, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said. …

    Read at The Guardian (opens in a new tab)
  • The New York TimesLeft

    Nigeria Announces First Case of Ebola in Current Outbreak

    Health officials praised the Nigerian authorities for their transparency in reporting the spread of the virus.

    Read at The New York Times (opens in a new tab)
  • NPRLeftAssociated Press report

    Nigeria confirms an Ebola case in Abuja as a woman arriving from Uganda tests positive

    Nigeria is the latest country to report an Ebola case as the outbreak spreads across the region. Kenya confirmed its first case earlier this month and has since recorded nine infections.

    Read at NPR (opens in a new tab)

From the center

7 outlets

Leads with

  • the patient’s travel history
  • regional spread
  • risk of international spread

Leaves out

  • death toll reported by Reuters

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

See the 7 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

4 outlets

Leads with

  • scale of the outbreak
  • death toll of 4,646
  • Africa CDC response

Leaves out

  • contact tracing of 44 people

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

See the 4 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

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

    1 hr 12 min later

    Its first report, Oct 20, 4:19 PM EDT

  • Center

    1 min later

    Its first report, Oct 20, 3:08 PM EDT

  • Right

    First to report

    The Washington Times, Oct 20, 3:06 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. The Washington TimesRightOct 20, 3:06 PM EDT
  2. Deutsche WelleCenterOct 20, 3:08 PM EDT
  3. NewsweekCenterOct 20, 3:35 PM EDT
  4. NPRLeftOct 20, 4:19 PM EDT
  5. The New York TimesLeftOct 20, 5:02 PM EDT
  6. France 24CenterOct 20, 5:28 PM EDT
  7. PBS NewsHourCenterOct 20, 8:06 PM EDT
  8. The GuardianLeftOct 20, 8:14 PM EDT
  9. Sky NewsCenterOct 20, 8:39 PM EDT
  10. Financial TimesCenterOct 21, 6:23 AM EDT
  11. BBC NewsCenterOct 21, 8:39 AM EDT
  12. New York PostRightOct 21, 10:40 AM EDT
  13. The TelegraphRightOct 21, 11:22 AM EDT
  14. Breitbart NewsFar RightOct 21, 12:20 PM EDT
  15. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 21, 7:20 PM EDT

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

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