How a reporter missed her new role as the East African Bureau Chief

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, New York Times reporter missed her new role a the East African Bureau Chief in Nairobi following the Dussit attack photos. She was forced to move to London. She was expected to take up her new role before the public uproar over publishing photos of dead bodies during the terror attack.

She is now based in London and maintained her position as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Kimiko had come under fire from Kenyans on twitter after she was considered to have been rude in her response to the request of the removal of the 14 Riverside attack photos from the newspaper’s website. She had responded; ”“As I’ve said, I don’t choose the photos. Please direct your anger to our photo department. Thank you.”

The move by the Japanese, Portuguese-Irish American, French speaking journalist, had angered Kenyans who eventually called for her deportation over the matter. The Media Council of Kenya in January, responded to the matter after concerns raised by the citizens and had given the American media house a 24-hour ultimatum to take down the photos.

The international media house however chose to keep the photos and offered an explanation for the move. Director of Photography Meaghan Looram stated that, “Our role as journalists to document the impact of violence in the world, and if we avoid publishing these types of images, we contribute to obscuring the effects of violence and making debates over security and terrorism bloodless.”

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