Selective judgment

Truth is the first casualty of a war. The proverbial saying stands true in the wake of ongoing uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. Any given journalist, producer and cameraman might do the best to reflect objectively on the developments taking place around him, it’s the headquarters deciding the budget and placement of the news. Mainstream international media outlets, print and electronic both, have rarely chosen to cover uprising from Tunisia and Algeria to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Influential media houses have been rarely defying the policies of their governments. Gaddafi has unleashed a bloodbath in Libya but there are no reports of the insurgents violating the rights of people caught in the middle of the skirmish. Tunisia stands forlorn as a forgotten story while Syria does not figure at all in the rundown of most TV bulletins. Bahrain tops the headlines in the Iranian press but the western media mostly takes a cautious approach. Coverage of razed Shi’ite mosques is hard to find on international media.

In the age of social media, even tip of the iceberg fails to reach the Facebook pages and Twitter feed from Syria, thanks to worsening Internet connectivity in the country. Wire services like Reuters and Getty Images are still remain the most reliable visual media in the remotest parts of our world.

As much biased reporting in the western media exposes limits to its freedom, the Arab and Muslim press and TV reaffirm the perception that journalists have been partners with tyrants in oppressing people.

Selective and negligible coverage of uprisings by media in non-Arab nations like Turkey, Iran and Pakistan not only proves the extent of state policy influence but also self-censorship. The western and the Muslim media have both dealt with the uprising so far in a scandalous manner, only reinforcing stereotypes and widening the gulf of differences.

Uprising in Egypt shocked many free thinking people around the globe after the CNN, BBC and DW-TV preferred being politically correct in their stories than the human cost and its widespread implications for democracy, free thinking and co-existence.

Pro-democracy activists in Syria, another key Middle Eastern nation bordering Israel which it does not recognize, have already paid enormous human cost without being duly noticed. The death toll soars beyond 100 by April 22, 2011. Probably, this is not an exciting story for the media moguls while Libya surely is. If norms of mass media can be any guide, today’s newsrooms can’t be absolved of their role for budgetary, political or logistical concerns. On the other hand, much-hyped social media remains voluntary, subjective and vulnerable to state curbs. The mainstream media still holds the key to mass awareness, especially when the story lies in information black holes like Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Indifference to pro-democracy activists across the Middle East to North Africa may delay if not deny the fruits of struggle; the real losers would be the proponents of a free society. It’s not a prerogative of media moguls but the editors and directors to stand for free and open societies.

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