NPR⁠84%

Inside Ebola country: NPR reports from eastern DR Congo's outbreak zone ⁠24%

By Emmet Livingstone⁠0% Arsène Mpiana⁠0%

6/15/2026, 9:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Biased Writer Voice, and Appeal to Authority, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 33.5% saturation with 196 hits. Analysis detected 1,353 faulty-reasoning hits from 585 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 36.9% and a BS Rank of ⁠24% (16,649 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 76.10% of the article peer group.

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Eliezer Kasongo thought the Ebola epidemic would blow over in a few weeks. 
Then the crisis began to unfold before his eyes. 
"We started to see people die in the neighbourhood and we began to understand," said Kasongo, a community volunteer in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. 
Despite once being a doubter, the 25-year-old now spends his days going door to door to try to raise awareness about the disease. 
Ituri is the epicenter of Congo's Ebola outbreak, which the government declared officially on May 15. 
The virus had likely been circulating for weeks before then, with cases clustered in a remote mining town called Mongbwalu. 
Official figures show there are now 782 confirmed Ebola cases in eastern Congo as of June 13, and 181 confirmed deaths. 
Those numbers are an underestimate, according to health and aid officials, who point to testing delays as well as unnoticed deaths in villages and far-flung suburbs. 
One month on from the outbreak's announcement, signs of the Ebola response are everywhere in Bunia. 
Handwashing stations are ubiquitous and the central square blares announcements telling the people of Ituri not to panic. 
A city of over 1 million people, Bunia now has the single largest number of cases — 212 — according to the official figures. 
Many residents are receptive to advice, according to Kasongo, but he and other volunteers sometimes meet resistance. 
"There's fear," says Kasongo, "people are dying every day." 
On the day we arrived in the city, a sick man on a motorbike taxi vomited blood on his driver in the center of the city, and then died on the spot. 
Specialist teams came to retrieve the body and decontaminate the roadside, while his family members stood around and wept. 
The driver fled the scene, according to witnesses. 
The incident underscores the difficulties health workers face in tracking down suspected cases — one of the most critical steps in stopping the spread of the disease. 
Only 56% of contacts have been traced so far across the three Congolese provinces with active Ebola transmission, according to the Congolese health ministry. 
The task is particularly difficult in an environment where armed groups operate, roads are mostly unpaved, and towns and cities are densely populated. 
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite its vast reserves of copper and cobalt, remains one of the world's poorest countries. 
According to the World Bank, more than 85% of the population survives on about $3 a day. 
Ituri, like much of eastern Congo, has also been devastated by decades of armed conflict. 
Its health system is severely underfunded. 
It is now coming under even more severe strain. 
In a Bunia hospital called Clinique Universelle, a decontamination team spent the weekend scrubbing walls with chlorine solution. 
Several days prior, a patient at the hospital had tested positive for Ebola. 
The hospital then shut down. 
The hospital director, Patient Mazirane, said that he and his colleagues had been working without personal protective equipment (PPE). 
Aid organizations have airlifted hundreds of metric tons of medicines and PPE to Ituri, but it's still not enough. 
Many items, such as protective gloves, have to be changed regularly. 
Dr. 
Mazirane, 38, said he wanted to leave the medical profession: if he dies, no one will look after his children. 
He says that several medical workers had already died. 
"We're not afraid, we're very afraid," he said. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 1.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 8.2%Emmet Livingstone: 3.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.8%Availability Heuristic8.2%This article: 7.0%Emmet Livingstone: 1.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic7.0%This article: 1.5%Emmet Livingstone: 0.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.8%Hindsight Bias1.5%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 6.3%Emmet Livingstone: 4.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.1%Framing Effect6.3%This article: 3.4%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Loss Aversion3.4%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 3.2%Emmet Livingstone: 1.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Optimism Bias3.2%This article: 1.5%Emmet Livingstone: 4.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Pessimism Bias1.5%This article: 15.4%Emmet Livingstone: 10.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.3%Negativity Bias15.4%This article: 3.4%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Self-Serving Bias3.4%This article: 1.4%Emmet Livingstone: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error1.4%This article: 3.2%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias3.2%This article: 2.9%Emmet Livingstone: 1.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%In-Group Bias2.9%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 2.6%Emmet Livingstone: 0.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Halo Effect2.6%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 5.5%Emmet Livingstone: 1.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.7%Recency Bias5.5%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 24.8%Emmet Livingstone: 5.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.1%Appeal to Authority24.8%This article: 3.4%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%False Dilemma3.4%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.6%Emmet Livingstone: 2.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 4.4%Hasty Generalization4.6%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 29.2%Emmet Livingstone: 7.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.6%Appeal to Emotion29.2%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 8.9%Emmet Livingstone: 3.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)8.9%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 3.6%Emmet Livingstone: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Appeal to Nature3.6%This article: 2.6%Emmet Livingstone: 0.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Composition/Division2.6%This article: 33.5%Emmet Livingstone: 6.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Anecdotal33.5%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 4.8%Emmet Livingstone: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)4.8%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 3.2%Emmet Livingstone: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Special Pleading3.2%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 8.7%Emmet Livingstone: 1.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Unattributed Quote8.7%This article: 6.8%Emmet Livingstone: 1.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection6.8%This article: 28.0%Emmet Livingstone: 4.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.1%Biased Writer Voice28.0%This article: 3.4%Emmet Livingstone: 0.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.0%Indoctrination3.4%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emmet Livingstone: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

585 words analyzed.

Speakers

4speakers30%attributed speech411writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageEliezer Kasongo • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageEliezer Kasongo • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverageEliezer Kasongo • 17 words • 0.0% coverageEliezer Kasongo • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageCongolese health ministry • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWorld Bank • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coveragePatient Mazirane • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coveragePatient Mazirane • 20 words • 100.0% coveragePatient Mazirane • 9 words • 0.0% coveragePatient Mazirane • 8 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Patient Mazirane

100%flagged-word coverage
56 attributed words32% of attributed speech88% writer coverage
0%20.0%40.0%Biased Writer Voice-39.9 ptsWriter: 39.9%Patient Mazirane: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination+35.7 ptsWriter: 0.0%Patient Mazirane: 35.7%35.7%Unattributed Quote+33.9 ptsWriter: 0.0%Patient Mazirane: 33.9%33.9%Quote-first Misdirection+14.3 ptsWriter: 0.0%Patient Mazirane: 14.3%14.3%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.