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Voodoo magic in the Media

Dancing on a beach in Ouidah, Benin.

Here's a breath of something different. Voodoo, a religion rarely heard of or reported in our media.

On the eve of annual voodoo festival in Benin, the BBC provides a reader forum exploring whether voodoo is good or evil, giving a brief indication of what the religion entails, statistic-wise ie. 60% of the Benin population (seven million people) practicing the religion. Unsurprisingly, the responses are derived from mostly those who don't believe in voodoo.

And then comes National Voodoo Day with the BBC again covering the event. However, what's interesting is that the statistics have increased by 5% overnight. Now 5% on the seven million is quite a significant increase. Apart from that little discrepancy, the story seems to come off as open minded, attempting to break away misconceptions of the religion:

"There is little resembling the popular Western imagination on show - no dolls with pins stuck in them and certainly no zombie-like creatures lumbering around," described the BBC's James Copnall, who is at the festival.

"Instead there were speeches praising the religion, emphasising the positive impact it has on people's lives."

Locally, our Sydney Morning Herald has embraced this new gust of wind also.











Thousands in Ouidah, Benin.

So eagerly have they embraced that there were two almost identical stories covered both on the 11th and 12th of January about the event. Strange indeed.

Two media outlets from opposite ends of the globe, one topic and already two strange occurrences. One with a statistical increase, another publishing the exact same story twice over two days, only with different images and headlines. Did anyone say voodoo magic?

posted by Thao @ 9:32 PM