Reporting on war is rearely objective:
Here, an injured child receives frontpage coverage, a name, age, and a photo to accompany the story.
Other children, though, no names, no faces, no stories--just a number: 15.
In this media review, our readers are invited to reflect on this headline, "‘He simply cannot be trusted:’ World leaders slam Putin’s attack on Odesa following sea corridor deal", and the news story published by US media outlet, NCBC.
Just minutes before the dust settled from this event, Western media took the outrage of Western political leaders and ran with it, with no due diligence and thoughtful wording of the story so that exaggeration do not distract from the human cost of an actual war that is going on. The headline suggests that this attack, which is just one of many attacks in Ukraine, which is a war zone (Russia strikes everywhere everyday, not just in Odesa (see action map)), have united world leaders against Putin, Russia’s president.
For those who would bother to read the news story, they would be left with the impression that this WORLD consists of a couple of Western political leaders, and a celebrity chef named Jose Andres. That is it. Not one world leader from Africa, Asia, or Latin America, where leaders of more than 80% of the world population live, not a single one is quoted in the news story.
It is these exaggerations and casual dismissal of the views and positions of world leaders who happen to be from the Global South that make media lose more credibility to the extent that their type of coverage gives credibility to label made famous by someone whose relationship with the truth is beyond repair: Fake News!
Read the headline and the story for yourself, we preserved the entire file below for your pleasure:
This morning, Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh, as a result of being hit in the head by live bullets, while covering the occupation's storming of Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
The wounded journalist Al-Samudi recounted the details of the crime of the occupation in Jenin camp, saying: "There were no resistance fighters near us during the occupation's targeting of us in Jenin camp."
Al-Jazeera media network commented in a statement on the martyrdom of its reporter Abu Aqila, and said: "In a tragic, premeditated murder that violates international laws and norms, the Israeli occupation forces, in cold blood, assassinated our correspondent."
The statement added: "We condemn this heinous crime, through which it is intended to prevent the media from fulfilling its message, and we hold the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of the late colleague Shireen."
An Israeli force stormed the Jenin refugee camp and surrounded the house of the martyr Abdullah Al-Husari, while the resistance fighters confronted the invading force.
Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli occupation forces fired live bullets at demonstrators and press crews.
The media office of the Palestinian government in Gaza condemned the "crime of the occupation in killing fellow journalist, Sherine Abu Aqleh," and considered it a "complete crime, and the conclusion of a long series of attacks that affected the former martyr, from detention and preventing her from covering to being injured."
The office stressed that "the crime confirms the criminal behavior of the occupier, and his disregard for all the covenants that guarantee the journalist unhindered media coverage, and the occupation soldiers would not have reached this level of criminality without their conviction that they are evading accountability and punishment."
Large crowds of Palestinians participated in the farewell procession of the martyr Abu Aqila towards the Church of the Latin Monastery in Jenin, before her funeral in Jerusalem. Jenin attended a massive rally condemning the crime of the occupation.
Arrest of opposition figures in Russia and Ukraine get different coverage in Western media. Here is a sample.
News report 1:
Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow, the same day CNN published an interview in which he called Vladimir Putin’s government “a regime of murderers” and predicted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the Russian president’s downfall.
Source: Washington Post
News report 2:
Zelensky posted a photo of a handcuffed and disheveled-looking Medvedchuk wearing fatigues, with the caption, "A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU [the Security Service of Ukraine]. Well done! Details later."
Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Medvedchuk had faced allegations of treason in Ukraine and had been under house arrest. His whereabouts had been unknown in the weeks following the invasion. Some observers speculated that Medvedchuk or one of his allies might be the Kremlin's preference to lead a puppet government in Ukraine if the Feb. 24 invasion succeeded in toppling Zelensky.
Source: CNN
A cartoon recently posted on the Doha-based Al Jazeera’s Twitter feed set off a storm of condemnation by Saudi Twitter users, claiming one of the figures in the ‘insulting’ cartoon looked like the Saudi King Salman.
