Philippines massacre

Officials found 11 more bodies Wednesday at the site of an attack on an election caravan in the south, bringing the death toll in the massacre to 57. The dead from Monday's massacre included the wife and two sisters of gubernatorial candidate Ismael Mangudadatu and 18 Filipino journalists accompanying the caravan. It is the largest number of reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups. Police identified the prime suspect as Andal Ampatuan Jr. The clan, which has ruled the province unopposed for eight years, helped President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes. I think if Andal Ampatuan had order for the murder of this rival then I think he made it too easy for the police. As reported Ismael Mangudadatu had received threats which he believed were from allies of the incumbent governor Andal Ampatuan that he would be kidnapped if he filed the candidate papers himself. Instead, his wife, sister, and the group of journalists accompanying them were kidnapped and brutally killed, possibly tortured, raped and beheaded, according to local media reports. I believed that he should have taking the threat more seriously and send some soldier or police to aid with the travel. As for CNN coverage on the story I think they were a little soft on the pictures they had up on their site. As we discuss in class some of the classmate pointed out that the pictures of a bloody hand wasn’t enough to capture the audience attention to the story. I agree with them because if you put a disclaimer before the picture I think the pictures should show more of the reality of the massacre and not censoring the truth.