While coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War has made headlines, other world crises have been left in the dust.
When Russia bombed Aleppo and other Syrian cities, where was the extensive reporting and time slot-based program coverage? As we watched in misery on CNN when the first couple of cannons were fired into Ukrainian territory, where were our minds before those devastating shots were fired? Not focused on Ethiopia, Libya, Tibet, Yemen, the Sahel, Afghanistan, Palestine and Israel, Sudan, Syria, Kashmir, Pakistan, and other countries experiencing widespread human suffering.
Western media coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is biased. Take David Sakvarelidze’s own words:
“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed,” stated Ukraine’s Deputy Chief Prosecutor in an interview with the BBC.
His words ring with racism and the statement “We are all equal, but some are more equal than others” from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, immediately comes to mind. Knowing that different conflicts and wars receive more media coverage than others, we must realize that ultimately, it boils down to humans who are viewed as “more equal than others.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has received extensive coverage. Professional international reporters, local media, and even regular citizen journalists have contributed to the reporting of human atrocities. However, critics have proclaimed that such coverage varies strikingly compared to the specific lack of consciousness that Western media gives to other wars and conflicts.
Tigray, a region in Ethiopia has endured hundreds of thousands of casualties, 5.1 million people displaced, and an ongoing refugee and displacement crisis- a war that began in 2020, yet is still widely unheard of. And Tigray is not an isolated case.
The war in Yemen has remained the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 25 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection, and an additional 13 million in danger of starving to death. The ongoing civil war has garnered little media attention from Western news outlets, a clear sign that the narratives being aired on television are usually those that society can relate to.
There is a double standard in place for which human suffering gets more attention. And that has ramifications.
Lynn Hector, the interim managing director of communications at the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps explained that, "Ukraine is generating a level of sustained, across-the-board media and public attention that other crises just haven't generated recently. And we know that does affect giving.” News coverage impacts charity. And coverage is usually based on factors of nationality, location, race, and language.
It is fundamental to realize, bringing light to other conflicts and wars will not dwarf the terribleness of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It will simply allow equal footing to humanitarian aid and diplomatic ends to conflicts for the people who so desperately need them.
Jackline Kemigisa, a feminist journalist, writer, researcher, and podcaster based in Kampala, Uganda stated, "If we are to give sympathy, let's give it to everyone who is a victim of war rather than selectively applying it based on location and race.”
Perhaps the worst of all, the consequence of Western media’s double standard frames wars and conflicts outside of Europe and North America, in a statement by the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association, “as somehow normal and expected,” hence alienating those who are subjected to human atrocities. When we alienate, we abandon those who need us the most, effectively failing to project the voice they don’t have.
We must not be silent in the wake of any war. Human suffering should not be a challenge to change. Human suffering should be a crime, not given unequal coverage or attention.
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