Political Journalist of the Year: Winner

The decades of conflict which has raged through the Levantine countries and the rest of the Middle East has continuously been undermined by the media and the governments behind it. These decades of disregarded conflict have been exposed in the media’s prejudiced coverage of the Russo-Ukraine conflict.  

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dozens of media outlets have used the crisis as an opportunity to discriminate against non-white, non-Christian refugees who are “obviously not trying to get away from areas in the Middle East [or] North Africa” [Al Jazeera]. These dangerous perpetuations imply that the MENA region has and always will be in conflict. They separate the importance of refugees based on where they’re coming from. They spread the message that it is not a place worth saving, and this has been amplified in a time where it is a European country that needs saving; in a time of European superiority. 

It is the fundamental role of the media to supply information to the public in a way that doesn’t play on racial inferiority, especially comparing two refugee crises for the sake of a reference of measure, at the expense of marginalised groups such as Syrians. When media cooperations and reporters draw the contrast that Ukrainian refugees are “not refugees from Syria… They are Christians, they are white” [Kelly Cobiella. NBC], they are playing on a harmful prejudice that undermines one group for the superiority of another; only “white Christians” are worth saving. What happens when media outlets use their power to fit the Ukraine crisis into the rhetoric of white superiority? When they share a message to millions of impressionable viewers and blatantly say that Ukraine is in a different situation because it is “relatively civilised… relatively European” [Charlie D’Agata. CBS], they imply that countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan are not deserving of the same sympathy. It even goes as far as encouraging violence against people of colour as they are a subordinate part of society.  

A recent CMD (Centre for Media and Democracy) investigation has found that many right-wing mega donors have been donating over $100m to media outlets since 2015, many of these outlets being conservative [prwatch.org]. It is these megadonors that encourage media outlets to spread their message. When the wrong people in power have such a strong influence in media, a message of white superiority can be spread and allows refugee segregation to happen. They paint a picture of white refugees being accepted into the homes of others when many fleeing conflicts in the Middle East are turned away because they “don’t deserve our sympathy”. 

During times of political and human tribulation, we are forced to question why minorities who suffering are don’t have access to the same help or sympathy as “white Christians” who are going through the same thing. When children who don’t have ‘blue eyes [or] blonde hair’ [BBC] are not given the same care and attention during the same crises as “white” children, then we must call into question the ethics behind the prejudiced coverage that is corrupting media. By allowing this kind of coverage to go on, we are turning our backs on humanity.