The Hypocrisy of Western Media
The media is so powerful.
By virtue of my interests, I scour the internet a lot. According to Wikipedia, between 2020 and now, there have been 14 wars around the world. 10 of them are ongoing.
One in particular is the Tigray War happening in Ethiopia. At least 10,000 people have died, 20,000 are missing and over 2.5 million people have been displaced. However, any time I want to know about what’s happening there, I have to go find the news myself. On some days, I have had to dig stories out on the Africa section of global media like Al Jazeera and BBC.
Compare that to the situation in Ukraine: Every major news channel has set up a Breaking News feature on their websites to report on what’s happening minute-by-minute. I checked Al Jazeera this morning and every major news on their website was about Ukraine. Same for CNN, BBC and AP News.
It appears there is only mayhem when Europeans are dying. The US and its allies bombed Afghanistan for 20 years, Iraq for 10 years, and has actively supported the ongoing bombings in Yemen for the past 6 years; all without this sense of urgency in the media. Not a week goes by without casualties in Gaza and West Bank. Since 2006. It’s always some casual reporting here and there about the deaths of children in Palestine.
Of course, part of the solution is for other non-western countries to develop their own media. The Arab world particularly needs this, and to my mind, Al Jazeera has become westernized. I depended on sparse news on VOA to know that at least 242 civilians and security operatives have died since the separatist agitation in the south east. Many Nigerian media have stopped covering it. Those still covering it insert the news on obscure sections on their newspapers.
So yes, these countries’ media have to look inwards. But then if a part of the world says they are for equality and justice, then their hypocrisy has to be called out when it’s obvious that outrage and coverage is based on skin color.
What’s happening in Ukraine is a tragedy. And what’s been happening in other places is not less tragic.
