Journalists called to task for demonstrating bias as they compare Ukraine with other war-torn nations

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CBS reporter Charlie D'Agata apologizes for his biased statements.

White journalists covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine need to keep their privilege and biases at home.

The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) calls on all news organizations to be mindful of implicit and explicit bias in their coverage of war in Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, AMEJA has tracked several examples of racist news coverage that ascribes more importance to some victims of war over others.

On Feb. 26, during a CBS News segment, correspondent Charlie D’Agata commented:

“But 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 — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

Since he made his remarks and people around the world criticized the bias in his choice of words, D'Agata, who has been a CBS reporter for two decades, issued an apology.

“I spoke in a way I regret and for that I’m sorry,” he said. The reporter went on to say that what he was trying to communicate was that Ukraine had not experienced “this scale of war” in recent years, unlike other countries.

He added: “You should never compare conflicts anyway, each one is unique. I used a poor choice of words and I apologise for any offense I may have caused.”

D'Agata's comments sparked an uproar on social media, with people pointing out that Iraq was once the "cradle of civilization" because ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities emerged. Additionally, Ukraine has seen war and conflict almost as much as any other nation, with the Russian annexation of Crimea taking place less than a decade ago.

D'Agata isn't the only reporter to demonstrate his implicit bias. The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) issued a call to all news organizations to be mindful of implicit and explicit bias in their coverage of war in Ukraine.

In only the last few days, the organization have tracked examples of racist news coverage besides D'Agata, that ascribes more importance to some victims of war over others.

Daniel Hannan, of The Telegraph wrote: “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.”

Al Jazeera English anchor Peter Dobbie said:

“What's compelling is, just looking at them, the way they are dressed, these are prosperous…I’m loath to use the expression… middle class people. These are not obviously refugees looking 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 family that you would live next door to.”

“We’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin, we’re talking about Europeans leaving in cars that look like ours to save their lives.” Philippe Corbé, BFM TV, reported.

AMEJA condemns and categorically rejects orientalist and racist implications that any population or country is “uncivilized” or bears economic factors that make it worthy of conflict, wrote the journalists' organization.

This type of commentary reflects the pervasive mentality in Western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. It dehumanizes and renders their experience with war as somehow normal and expected, said the AMEJA statement.

Newsrooms must not make comparisons that weigh the significance or imply justification of one conflict over another — civilian casualties and displacement in other countries are equally as abhorrent as they are in Ukraine.

Not only can such coverage "decontextualize" conflicts, says AMEJA, but it contributes to the erasure of populations around the world who continue to experience violent occupation and aggression.

In order to prevent such explicit bias, AMEJA calls on newsrooms to train correspondents on the cultural and political nuances of regions they’re reporting on, and not rely on American- or Euro-centric biases. Inaccurate and disingenuous comparisons only serve to inflame stereotypes and mislead viewers, and they ultimately perpetuate prejudicial responses to political and humanitarian crises.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Sunday Read: C'mon media: stop linking the coronavirus to images of Asians

Corona virus afflicts people ct any race, many of whom wear face masks.

It happened again last night. I was watching a local Bay Area TV newscast about the spread of COVID-19. All the footage used to accompany the story were of Asians wearing masks.
There were so many Asians, it looked like the TV station's newsroom just lifted footage of an airport in Asia.

After working in newsrooms for over 30 years, I know that some of the editorial decisions to run specific pictures or footage is based on a matter of convenience under the pressure of meeting a deadline. There's a slot to fill, so fill it with what the news wires provide. There's no consideration of the implicit message that visual sends to the viewer or if the another picture could convey the same message without the cultural impact.

The Bay Area, with one of the highest concentrations of Asian Americans in the country, should be better served.

But lazy news coverage of the virus is not just limited to that one TV station. Its happening around the world. And the world is responding after seeing all the news reports, if you're Chinese, you must be infected.

It should be said, however, in the US, the media has been careful in not releasing the race of the patients who have contracted the disease.

As soon as the viral outbreak became newsworthy last month, the Asian American Journalists Association put out guidelines and cautionary suggestions to the media-at-large to be careful not resort of promoting race-based reporting on COVID-19.

At best, implementation of those guidelines have been spotty.

The Centers for Disease Control, the agency tasked with fighting the outbreak, also issued tis own guidelines against associating the virus with any particular race. 

"People of Asian descent, including Chinese Americans, are not more likely to get COVID-19 than any other American. Help stop fear by letting people know that being of Asian descent does not increase the chance of getting or spreading COVID-19," said the CDC.

Nevertheless, news agencies -- including The New York times, the New York Post and teh Hill have all used photos of Asians wearing masks accompanying articles about confirmed coronavirus cases in New York, reports NBC Asian America.


Perhaps the most widely example of sensationalized reports was the emergence of a video of “a Chinese woman eating alleged fruit bat soup”.

Although this video has been debunked, once online, always online. The video is still circulated online, promoting the narrative that Chinese people deserve their virus because they eat exotic dishes.
Most journalists pride themselves in remaining neutral in reporting a so-called balanced story, but they are as guilty as anyone else in believing that they are without ingrained, sometimes unknown, biases.

“Journalists need to be attuned to their biases. We all have them and must work to reverse the harmful stereotypes our point of view has created,” says Kainaz Amaria, Vox’s visuals editor who has been recognized for her ethical practices within photojournalism. “We need to retrain ourselves to better reflect a diverse audience.”