Pressure continues to pile on New York Times newspaper as over 12,000 people sign a petition on the change.org website to have the paper compelled to pull down obscene images of those killed in the 14 Riverside attack in Nairob.
The change.org website is renowned worldwide for pushing for humanitarian causes by responding to public outcry and complaints.
A spot check on the website on Thursday, January 16, 2019 revealed that 15, 000 people had already appended their signatures and the numbers were steadily rising.
As the petition to mount pressure on the international newspaper continues, foreign journalists in Kenya on Wednesday released a statement standing in solidarity with Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, the New York Times East Africa region bureau chief, whose article has elicited a national outcry.
In a statement, the journalists condemned the manner in which Kenyans on social media particularly Twitter unleashed attacks at Kimiko and the New York Times paper, they demanded an apology.
“The FCAEA condemns the extremely aggressive and personal attacks through social media against Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura of the New York Times for photographs selected not by her, but by her editors in New York, and used alongside her reporting,” the statement from the Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa reads.
The petition on Change.org to have the New York Times pull down the image is among many others that have pushed governments, businesses and courts around the world to change their hard-line stance on humanitarian issues raised on the platform.
Another petition signed on the platform was that of #FreeBobiWine after the Ugandan Government arrested him on claims of treason.
He was later freed and the charges changed to illegal possession of firearms. The petition that was launched in August 2018 now has over 35,000 signatures.