So now the truth is finally out there for all to see. Prepare to be shocked, because it turns out that Western media is racist. Liberals in the west are horrified at the discovery. Surely not the BBC and CNN, they cry. Not those unimpeachable bastions of journalistic integrity. Well, it turns out there can no longer be any doubt. Coverage of the tragedy that is being visited upon innocent civilians in Ukraine has exposed, once and for all, the western media’s inherent bias towards those who – as one particularly emotional and overwrought journalist almost apologetically put it – ‘look like us.’
Western armchair liberals are scandalized, confused, and horrified in equal measure by the realization that if the media is biased, then who’s to say that they also haven’t been lying to the unsuspecting public about any number of things. Unfortunately, these are probably the same people who say “America can’t be racist; we elected a black President, for crying out loud”. (If you don’t believe me, just try telling a woman in Pakistan that she has equal opportunities as men do, because we did, after all, elect a female Prime Minister!)
Many in the west are appalled that these once proud pillars of the fourth estate are – live on our television screens – being exposed in such a sensational and shocking way. It’s like an episode of the X-Files. But while these same media channels search their souls, scream out their self-loathing and flagellate themselves live on our TV screens, does anyone still really believe anything will change? The journalists in question will attend racial sensitivity courses and come back with a renewed understanding of objective reportage, but if racism was always there beneath the surface, how long before it again rears its ugly head?
The rest of the world has, of course, been under no such illusions about the inherent bias amongst western media outlets. For years they have been screaming about the lack of objectivity when reporting on issues in the Arab world, in Africa, and in Asia. Look at Palestine, Afghanistan, Darfur. Look at Kashmir – always Kashmir. Worse, perhaps, than the lack of objectivity is the de-humanization of victims of war and torture who do not seem to have the same value for western journalists as the white, blond, blue-eyed, European Ukrainians.
Let me be clear: there are a great many honest and decent western journalists who devote their lives to highlighting the plight of people with whom they have no other affinity than their shared humanity. I’ve spent a great deal of time in conflict zones and have had the privilege of working with some of these people. I’ve seen for myself the tears they shed for the plight of innocent victims of war – regardless of the color of their skin or the direction in which they turn for prayer. These journalists are unsung heroes without whom the horrors inflicted on innocents would never reach the light of day and I, for one, was constantly moved by their compassion for those to whose suffering they bore witness.
Let’s also be clear about another thing: any violence against civilians – whatever the hue of the victim’s skin – is tragic – and any number of Conventions and international laws exist to minimize this particular war crime (let’s hold off on the arguments for and against their efficacy for another time, please). The current media focus is firmly on what is happening in Ukraine as, after 9/11, it was on the tragedy that befell New York, or on Madrid after the 2004 train bombing, or on London after the London transport attacks of 2005 or the attacks on Parisians in 2015 … Are you seeing a familiar pattern yet? I invite readers to look at statistical data about the depth and duration of coverage given to these terrible events and compare them with coverage in the west about, say, Palestine or Kashmir. It makes for depressing reading, believe me.
As a journalist, I’m obviously familiar with the journalistic adage “if it bleeds it leads”. However, what we must all surely find objectionable is that even when the people of Palestine or Kashmir bled, they very rarely led. And that’s the true measure of how sickening the racism has been. How often have Palestinian mothers and Kashmiri daughters screamed for justice? Have they not begged the world to see them – to highlight their plight in the hope that someone would see what is happening and ride to their rescue – only to be ignored completely or, at best, been given a few minutes of coverage before being relegated to yesterday’s news.
Ukrainian refugees, as they fled across the border to neighboring Poland, were met with tears and gifts. The people of Poland – quite literally – opened their homes to strangers from Ukraine and offered them more than just empty platitudes or detached sympathy.
But my question for all of us is this: could we expect the same from our Muslim neighbors in our time of need? The evidence of history, sadly, suggests not.
Look at Yemen today, for example. Two mighty Muslim nations – Iran and Saudi Arabia – fight a proxy war that has led to the slaughter of thousands of innocent Muslim civilians. Millions are homeless and starving as Muslim leaders use them as pawns in their own personal game of geopolitical chess.
And then there is Palestine. Egypt effectively denies urgent medical aid to Palestinians fleeing from Israeli war crimes by closing its borders because of the animosity they bear towards the Hamas ruling party. As civilians try to escape war crimes and atrocities inflicted upon them by the occupying Israelis, it is Egyptians – fellow Muslims – who bar the gates against Palestinian refugees and callously force them back into the slaughter-house that is Palestine.
I could, of course, go on. It’s no secret that the list of failures by Muslim leaders to protect their co-religionists is a long and shameful one. So why, then, are we Muslims so angry at the racism exhibited by Western media when we are no better and, in many instances, guilty of much worse.
Yes, it is right and proper to decry the failings of the western media, but it’s time, also, to face the uncomfortable truth that the Muslim community has a lot to answer for too. We cannot and should not be absolved of blame. Are we doing enough to highlight the plight of Muslim victims of persecution and conflict? Where is our ‘Je Suis Palestine’ moment? Have we been as open-hearted with fleeing refugees from Muslim countries as the people of Poland and other European countries have been?
The evidence, tragically, suggests not. And that, dear reader, is a truth, we must acknowledge, that needs to be out there too.
