Afghan Elections...

[Antiquehunter]

Another example of awful reporting...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050918/ap_on_re_as/afghan_elections

"Today is a magnificent day for Afghanistan," said Ali Safar, 62, who was standing in line to vote in the capital, Kabul.

At time of writing, it is 6:41am in Kabul on election day, and the polls are not open. My house is within eyesight of a polling station in Kabul and there is nary a sign of life.

Completely fabricated quote.

Grr.

-Oke

 

[BPSCG]

Another example of awful reporting...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050918/ap_on_re_as/afghan_elections

"Today is a magnificent day for Afghanistan," said Ali Safar, 62, who was standing in line to vote in the capital, Kabul.

At time of writing, it is 6:41am in Kabul on election day, and the polls are not open. My house is within eyesight of a polling station in Kabul and there is nary a sign of life.

Completely fabricated quote.

Wait a minute.

The polls aren't open, therefore, nobody's standing on line waiting for them to open?

And you know this because there's no line at the polling place you can see from your house. Therefore, there are no lines anywhere in Kabul.

And therefore, the quote is a fabrication.

It's amazing how you can get such a wonderful return of of knowledge from such a small investment of fact.

 

[Ryokan]

BPSCG, I have no idea when Afghans in general rise and go out to do their business, but 6:41am does sound a tad bit early to stand in line to vote

 

[aerocontrols]

BPSCG, I have no idea when Afghans in general rise and go out to do their business, but 6:41am does sound a tad bit early to stand in line to vote

I've done it. Polls opened at 7am and I wanted to vote and go to work.

I wasn't first in line, either.

 

[Antiquehunter]

I agree that a sampling of one polling station is not representative. However - long lineups are not expected at many polling stations for security reasons. They have opened many stations across the country (6000+) to ensure there isn't a concentration of people at one individual poll, thereby making it a major security risk.

The polling station near where I'm living has just opened in the last 15 minutes, with a fairly steady stream of people going in and out - however no line-ups.

It seems rather implausible to me that someone obtained this quote from a real live person standing in a line somewhere, prepared the story, got it fired off to the AP and got it stuck onto Yahoo! news at about 0600hrs - when it was barely sunrise here in Kabul.

Afghans are early risers - since their first morning prayer is at about 0500h. However the traditional work day doesn't begin until 0800h.

I'm sure the quote is real - its the 'standing in line' bit that doesn't ring true...

-Oke

 

[aerocontrols]

I'm sure the quote is real - its the 'standing in line' bit that doesn't ring true...

You're sure it's real, yet it's completely fabricated?

 

[Antiquehunter]

Point taken. I chose my words poorly in my first post.

It is quite plausible that a 62 year old Afghan man stated 'Today is a magnificent day for Afghanistan'.

I doubt very much that it was said while he was standing in line here in Kabul at least 90 minutes prior to the polls opening, given the tense security situation in the city.

So - the quote itself is probably fine, I think its taken out of context.

-Oke