http://www.slate.com/id/2193949/

"Broke-on-Broke Violence"

What the U.S. press got wrong about South Africa's xenophobic riots.
By Kerry Chance
Posted Friday, June 20, 2008, at 5:10 PM ET

Since early May, we've heard about a beacon of African democracy gone berserk. The U.S. press coverage of xenophobic riots in South Africa told of victims gruesomely killed—beaten, slashed, doused in petrol and set alight—and untold thousands displaced. The stories described mobs of poor South Africans armed with sticks and machetes, shouting, "Kill the foreigner!" and President Thabo Mbeki leaving the violence unchecked for more than a week before eventually calling in the army, causing shootouts in the townships reminiscent of the bad old days of apartheid.