Rights and Writers

Tim Holmes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:46:48 +0000

Media Lens’ latest, incisive alert on the differential standards applied to victims of violence in the UK’s mainstream media has evoked various written responses, but one in particular – posted by the editors on their message board – is worth reproducing in full:

Dear Leonard,

I am wiriting to urge you and the Independent to re-evaluate your coverage of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so as to more fairly and accurately represent the victims of violence in these two wars. A recent MediaLens alert shows clearly the way in which the Independent and other UK media outlets portray victims of violence in these wars, consistently treating Western victims in a very different way to non-Western victims of British and American violence. Western victims are presented as real and important people with names, families and aspirations. Iraqi and Afghan victims of British and American violence are anonymous, nameless. They are depicted as distant shadowy figures without families, personalities, humanity. The result is that Westerners are consistently humanised, while non-Westerners are portrayed as lesser versions of humanity.

The portrayal of victims of British and American violence in Iraq and Afghanistan is a far cry from the fair, unbiased reporting which the Independent would like to be known for. Some effort must be made by the Independent to live up to the journalistic standards expected of it.

Kind regards,

Farah Wise
Information Officer

Amnesty International UK Section
The Human Rights Action Centre
17 – 25 New Inn Yard
London

It is certainly encouraging to see a high-profile human rights group acknowledging the mainstream media’s devaluation of human rights in the case of Western foreign policy’s “unworthy victims”. Equally significantly, in this instance Amnesty has clearly refrained from going after the more obvious and extreme examples to tackle the “liberal” end of the spectrum – helping to expose in the process the sheer pervasiveness of these double-standards across the mainstream political landscape. All in all, a good result for Media Lens, and a very welcome step from Amnesty.

Amnesty International | ukwatch.net

Rights and Writers