We realize tensions between Indonesia and Australia are extremely high at the moment due to the upcoming executions of Bali Nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. We also know that much of the Australian media is caught up with producing new stories to criticize President Joko Widodo and the Indonesian government’s unflinching resolve to go through with the executions.
But while there are plenty of valid criticisms to be made about the use of the death penalty against drug traffickers in Indonesia, a story just published by News Corp Australia does not contain one.
What it does have is a shockingly irresponsible and just plain factually incorrect headline that is meant to generate nothing but outrage, hatred and page views.
The story (which was just published an hour ago at the time of writing) features the headline: “Indonesia executed the wrong person in mix up”.
Any reasonable person reading that headline would assume the story is about Indonesia executing an innocent person.
But once you read the story you realize that is not the case at all.
In short, the article is about “Namaona Denis” a 48-year-old man from Malawi who was executed in Indonesia on January 18 for trying to smuggle just under a kilogram of heroin into the country back in 2001.
The article’s big revelation is that the real Namaona Denis died in 2013. The man who was executed in January had been using the real Namaona’s stolen passport.
The now deceased drug smuggler was actually a Nigerian man named Solomon who was likely given Namaona’s ID by his bosses before his ill-fated smuggling attempt.
Indonesian authorities continued to refer to Solomon as Namaona up until the time of his execution, despite the Nigerian man’s attempts to convince them of his true identity.
After the name Namaona Denis appeared in news reports about the executions, Namaona’s family reached out to the media to tell them that their relative had been dead for over a year and that he had never been a drug smuggler.
While it is wrong that Indonesian authorities never acknowledged Solomon’s true identity and linked an innocent man’s name to a criminal, nobody is disputing the fact that the man Indonesia executed in January was the same man who tried to bring heroin into the country in 2001.
So Indonesia executed the right person in that they executed the person guilty of committing the crime.
When your headline reads, “Indonesia executed the wrong person in mix up” you are blatantly misleading your audience into believing that Indonesia executed an innocent person.
That is journalism of the worst kind.
Shame on you News Corp Australia, if you had any shame to begin with.
UPDATE: Most of News Corp Australia’s Facebook readers are calling them out for this article’s misleading headline too. Faith in humanity slightly restored.
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