Photo credit: @weld.mousa Instagram
BEIRUT— Coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine by international media outlets has been criticized as racist by journalists and analysts in Lebanon and the Middle East and North Africa more broadly, with many accusing the media of double standards for underlining their shock at how war and conflict could happen to “civilized” nations and European people who have “blonde hair and blue eyes.”
Here’s what we know:
• CBS's senior correspondent, Charlie D’Agata, said in Kyiv on Friday that “this isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European … a city where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.” He later apologized.
• NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella also said on air that “these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from Ukraine... They're Christian, they're white, they're very similar.”
• Al Jazeera English presenter Peter Dobbie said that “what’s compelling is, just looking at them, the way they dress, these are prosperous, middle-class people,” adding, “these are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the Middle East that are still in a big state of war. These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa. They look like any European families that you would live next door to.”
• On Sunday Al Jazeera tweeted that one of their presenters “made unfair comparisons between Ukrainians fleeing the war and refugees from the MENA region” and apologized, saying: “The presenter’s comments were insensitive and irresponsible. We apologize to our audiences worldwide and the breach of professionalism is being dealt with.”
• In response, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association issued a statement on Sunday condemning “orientalist and racist implications that any population or country is ‘uncivilized’ or bears economic factors that make it worthy of conflict.”
• Kim Ghattas, a Dutch-Lebanese journalist and non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace tweeted in response to suggestions that Ukraine is more “civilized” than Syria and Iraq: “Worth point out: 1- Damascus is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities in the world.” Adding that “stereotypes are hard to shake off and undermine better understanding of dynamics and geopolitics.”
• Malak Silmi a digital reporter at the San Antonio Express News tweeted: “Something I’ve been reflecting on this week as a journalist— when is it allowed to ever publicly support a cause/country/resistance group/army and remain a “credible” and “unbiased” reporter. … I 100% stand with the truth and recognize the injustice happening in Ukraine, but what I know is that as a journalist I will be biased/not credible if i were to publicly do the same with Palestine or Syria— countries that have been resisting occupation/war for years.” She added that “and then we have reporters like this CBS international correspondent who says Ukraine is ‘civilized’ compared to Middle Eastern countries. I’m tired.”
• Sana Saeed, a host at AJ+, posted on Twitter that she loves “being a brown Muslim journalist in an industry that derides & penalizes you for uplifting your communities’ humanity as 'bias' but allows and promotes ‘objective’ white journalists who expressly uphold our dehumanization.”
• Lina Zhaim, a Lebanese Twitter user, wrote: “Dear racist journalists and pundits covering Ukraine, please go back to school for some history on US/Europe colonization and the Middle East. And while you’re at it, civilize yourselves with some lessons on tolerance, humility, and humanity.”
• Some also took the opportunity to point out the gaps in Western civilization. One Twitter user jokingly said: “We’re really having [people] that don’t use shatafs [handheld bidet sprayers used to clean after going to the toilet] call us uncivilized.” Designer and cartoonist Mohammad Mousa known as posted a sarcastic picture on Instagram saying that “the owner of this profile announces that he is uncivilized on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”