Darfur in the Arab Media
29. Januar 2009 | Von atsil | Kategorie:Genocide in DarfurPointing to the genocide in Darfur neglected for so many years by the Arab Media, an increasing number of voices emerge which question the media´s focus on Gaza.
Thus, Léon Zeches, Luxemburger Wort, writes:
„ Those worrying about the victims of war are much more concerned with the question why those numerous women and children, and innocent men in Darfur as well, find a comparatively few compassionates and supporters only in the international media.
In this most Eastern province of Sudan, fighting is not less cruel as it is in Gaza with its horrifying number of 1,100 casualties currently. Darfur´s population up to now has paid an incredible tribute of more than 300,000 dead, more than 2,7 million inhabitants deported, and more than 230,000 refugees. Who knows that anyway? Who conceals that? And why?”
Zéches quotes the Dutch “De Volkskrant”, raising the central question of the Arab states’ compassion for the Muslim population of the Darfur provinces:
“Why does the Arab world remain silent when it comes to Darfur, but at the same time make a row about Gaza?”
Michael Kreutz tries to provide an answer in the internet platform “Transatlantic Forum”. He points to Efraim Karsh (What’s Behind Western Condemnation of Israel’s War Against Hamas?), historian in London with a focus on the Middle East, who states that “without jews [being involved in the Gaza conflict, editor´s note], interest in the conflict would be much lower.”
Al Jazeera deals in detail with this imbalance, providing a series of arguments for the situation, in which the “…population is 40 per cent Arab and Arabs are at the heart of the conflict, but for many in the Arab world, the humanitarian catastrophe may as well not exist.“
- Al Jazeera refers to a certain unwillingness to accept Arabs as those who commit crimes on such a scale: “I think we are in a state of denial,” Jehad Khazen, a former editor of the al-Hayat newspaper, says. “People say ‘the Arabs or Muslims – cannot do this – it did not happen’ – but they did do this and it did happen – and they have to reconcile themselves to the fact.” The article goes on quoting a Reuters Darfur correspondent Opheera McDoom : “There is always going to be some sort of reluctance to demonise their own, the Arabs as they will see themselves.”
- Al Jazeera continues that “…it could be argued that geography plays a role in the limited coverage given the conflict is in Africa, not the Middle East”, but continues with wondering about the reasons why then, on the other hand, so many Western media representatives can be found in Darfur. “I see a lot more western media going to Darfur and spending weeks in Darfur than I do Arab media and that is where you see the difference. You will get a much more in-depth coverage and a lot more interesting coverage if you actually go to Darfur, and that is where the Arab media has fallen down”, Al Jazeera continues to quote McDoom.
- The main underlying reasons for the interest of U.S. media in particular is, according to Al Jazeera, their interest to show “…Arabs killing Africans because they do not know anything other than violence.” In the same line, Mahmood Mahdani of Columbia University is quoted, who refers to the main focus on atrocities that media coverage on Darfur has, without showing any attempt to place them into context. Also, the wide range of issues in the Arab world as such and the differing interests of states depending on their geographical position are seen as reasons for the coverage in more distant countries like the UAE or Oman being “…much more limited there”. Eventually, strict access criteria to the region imposed by the government and lack of issued visa are seen as reasons for the mainly analytic coverage of the Darfur catastrophe, without coverage “from the ground”.
Al Jazeera concludes the article by quoting Nadim Hasbani, an Arab media analyst from the International Crisis Group:
“What’s happened in Arab media is that we have so much coverage of the political issues related to Darfur like – what is the UK, France, US, UN reaction to Darfur – but what we really need actually is not the political coverage, but the coverage from the ground.”
Léon Zeches counters all these explanations for non-coverage with a justified postulation:
“Lack of interest is what makes the world and the media in particular obtain their share of responsibility for the misery and suffering of millions of children, women and men who die due to genocide, hunger, illness, criminal regimes and catastrophes. “
All over the world,
“…all are embedded into the responsibility for justice and unjustness. Israeli victims are not less related to us than Palestinian victims, or those in Darfur, Chechnya, in Zimbabwe, or in the Sahel, in the slums of Calcutta or Rio, in the prisons of China or Iran. Those working in the media, last but not least, should be aware of that.”
Links:
Mitverantwortung (Luxemburger Wort)
Der Unterschied zwischen Gaza und Darfur (Transatlantic Forum)
What’s Behind Western Condemnation of Israel’s War Against Hamas?
“Arab media ‘blind to Darfur’”
