The side story regarding the Russian invasion in Ukraine is the media coverage facing criticism due to the double standard for its reporting in the Eastern European country compared to the havoc in other regions such as Africa and the Middle East.
Comedian and “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah is calling out reporters for their remarks on the violence developing in a “relatively civilized,” “relatively European” country that is “not a developing, Third World nation.”
“I don’t know about you, but I have been glued to the TV all weekend watching all the news,” Noah said on Monday’s episode.
“And beyond the war itself … there’s a really interesting thing that I learned. And that is: A lot of people on TV didn’t expect a war like this to happen in, let’s say, certain neighborhoods.”
Noah then played clips of Al Jazeera English anchor Peter Dobbie, who stated, “these are prosperous, middle-class people,” and CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata, saying Ukraine isn’t “a place — with all due respect — like Iraq or Afghanistan.”
After playing a few more pundits comparing the situation in Ukraine to that in Africa or the Middle East, Noah denounced racism in the media.
“Let’s forget the racism — oh, how I wish we could forget about the racism. You do realize that, until very recently, fighting crazy wars was Europe’s thing? That was Europe’s entire thing. That’s all of European history,” Noah said.
“Now people are going to be like, ‘Ugh, to see this in Europe! To see this,’” Noah continued. “I don’t know about you, but I was shocked to see how many reporters — around the world, by the way — seem to think that it’s more of a tragedy when white people have to flee their countries. Because, I guess, what? The ‘darkies’ were built for it?”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
