Question Everything!Everything!! |
Welcome to Truth, FREEDOM OR ANARCHY,Campaign of Conscience. , is an alternative media and news site that is dedicated to the truth, true journalism and the truth movement. The articles, ideas, quotes, books and movies are here to let everyone know the truth about our universe. The truth will set us free, it will enlighten, inspire, awaken and unite us. Armed with the truth united we stand, for peace, freedom, health and happiness for all
Question Everything!
This blog does not promote
This blog does not promote, support, condone, encourage, advocate, nor in any way endorse any racist (or "racialist") ideologies, nor any armed and/or violent revolutionary, seditionist and/or terrorist activities. Any racial separatist or militant groups listed here are solely for reference and Opinions of multiple authors including Freedom or Anarchy Campaign of conscience.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Middle East Reporting: The Need for Honest Journalism
Middle East Reporting: The Need for Honest Journalism
Writing about and reporting on the Middle East is not an easy task, especially during these years of turmoil and upheaval. But I cannot remember another time in recent history when we have needed journalists to shine in order to challenge conventional wisdom, to think in terms of contexts, motives, alliances, and not ideological, political or financial interests.
From the start, when addressing the issue of the Middle East, the actual entity of “Middle East” is itself highly questionable. It is arbitrary, and can only be understood within proximity to some other entity, Europe, whose colonial endeavours imposed such classifications on the rest of the word. Colonial Europe was the centre of the globe and everything else was measured in physical and political distance from the dominating continent.
Western interests in the region never waned. In fact, following US-led wars on Iraq (1990-91), a decade-long blockade, followed by a massive war and invasion (2003), the “Middle East” is back at the centre of neocolonial activities, colossal western economic interests, strategic and political manoeuvring.
To question the term “Middle East” is to become conscious of the colonial history, and the enduringly fierce economic and political competition, which is felt in every fact of life in the region.
Arundhati Roy is quoted as saying: “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” For decades and even centuries, the region of the Middle East has been one of the most misunderstood in the world. Those misunderstandings and subsequent stereotypes have supported colonial designs of the past and the Neo-colonial designs of stripping it of its heritage, pride and resources. The inception of the Arab Spring sent waves of anticipation and hope that perhaps the tides were finally turning and those who had been silenced – both regionally and globally – would finally have their time to speak their mind.
But the Arab Spring narrative has morphed into a whole new one, sectarian to the core. This has led to the polarisation of much of the Middle East media and most of those who write about the Middle East. It often boils down to the simple question of if you are in the Saudi-led camp or the Iranian led camp. It leaves little margin for journalists who want to present the story in its true complexity, not in simple polarised discourse.
It is a sad era where many journalists are for sale at the moment, ready to lend their pens to the highest bidder. The story presented to the world has, at times, nothing at all to do with the reality on the ground, but it is simply a mosaic of stereotype, hearsay, and babblings from privileged officials who have no understanding of the plight of their people, be they in Egypt, Palestine, Yemen or anywhere else.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, and there are steps one can take to escape the entrapment of this kind of journalistic hustling. And the best thing you can do to avoid producing literary rubbish is by starting at the bottom. Find the people who are mostly disaffected by whatever story you are reporting: the victims, their families, eyewitnesses, and the community as a whole. While such voices are often neglected or used as content fillers, they should become the centre of any serious reporting from the region, especially in areas that are torn by war and conflict.
True, there might be more than one side to the same story, but that should not be the driving force of your reporting. But if biases are a must, it should be biases for the right reasons. Human rights. Conflict resolution. Peace. Let the understanding of the cost of conflict be your guide in understanding the bigger and more multifaceted issues, without turning into an advocate for one cause or another. Human rights advocacy, if done for the right reasons is a noble and important mission, but on its own is not journalism per se.
I write this with the depth of understanding of one of those who was voiceless and under the thumb of a brutal occupier for most of my life. If there is anything this world needs, it’s an honest breed of journalists – who take no sides but that of the oppressed. We can’t really find resolution to the tragic events unfolding around us until we understand the truth of how we got into this grim reality in which we find ourselves. Telling the truth is a good place to start.
By Ramzy Baroud - Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London). His website is: ramzybaroud.net.
Pro Deo et Constitutione – Libertas aut Mors
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Joseph F Barber- http://josephfreedomoranarchy.blogspot.com/
Writing about and reporting on the Middle East is not an easy task, especially during these years of turmoil and upheaval. But I cannot remember another time in recent history when we have needed journalists to shine in order to challenge conventional wisdom, to think in terms of contexts, motives, alliances, and not ideological, political or financial interests.
From the start, when addressing the issue of the Middle East, the actual entity of “Middle East” is itself highly questionable. It is arbitrary, and can only be understood within proximity to some other entity, Europe, whose colonial endeavours imposed such classifications on the rest of the word. Colonial Europe was the centre of the globe and everything else was measured in physical and political distance from the dominating continent.
Western interests in the region never waned. In fact, following US-led wars on Iraq (1990-91), a decade-long blockade, followed by a massive war and invasion (2003), the “Middle East” is back at the centre of neocolonial activities, colossal western economic interests, strategic and political manoeuvring.
To question the term “Middle East” is to become conscious of the colonial history, and the enduringly fierce economic and political competition, which is felt in every fact of life in the region.
Arundhati Roy is quoted as saying: “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” For decades and even centuries, the region of the Middle East has been one of the most misunderstood in the world. Those misunderstandings and subsequent stereotypes have supported colonial designs of the past and the Neo-colonial designs of stripping it of its heritage, pride and resources. The inception of the Arab Spring sent waves of anticipation and hope that perhaps the tides were finally turning and those who had been silenced – both regionally and globally – would finally have their time to speak their mind.
But the Arab Spring narrative has morphed into a whole new one, sectarian to the core. This has led to the polarisation of much of the Middle East media and most of those who write about the Middle East. It often boils down to the simple question of if you are in the Saudi-led camp or the Iranian led camp. It leaves little margin for journalists who want to present the story in its true complexity, not in simple polarised discourse.
It is a sad era where many journalists are for sale at the moment, ready to lend their pens to the highest bidder. The story presented to the world has, at times, nothing at all to do with the reality on the ground, but it is simply a mosaic of stereotype, hearsay, and babblings from privileged officials who have no understanding of the plight of their people, be they in Egypt, Palestine, Yemen or anywhere else.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, and there are steps one can take to escape the entrapment of this kind of journalistic hustling. And the best thing you can do to avoid producing literary rubbish is by starting at the bottom. Find the people who are mostly disaffected by whatever story you are reporting: the victims, their families, eyewitnesses, and the community as a whole. While such voices are often neglected or used as content fillers, they should become the centre of any serious reporting from the region, especially in areas that are torn by war and conflict.
True, there might be more than one side to the same story, but that should not be the driving force of your reporting. But if biases are a must, it should be biases for the right reasons. Human rights. Conflict resolution. Peace. Let the understanding of the cost of conflict be your guide in understanding the bigger and more multifaceted issues, without turning into an advocate for one cause or another. Human rights advocacy, if done for the right reasons is a noble and important mission, but on its own is not journalism per se.
I write this with the depth of understanding of one of those who was voiceless and under the thumb of a brutal occupier for most of my life. If there is anything this world needs, it’s an honest breed of journalists – who take no sides but that of the oppressed. We can’t really find resolution to the tragic events unfolding around us until we understand the truth of how we got into this grim reality in which we find ourselves. Telling the truth is a good place to start.
By Ramzy Baroud - Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London). His website is: ramzybaroud.net.
Pro Deo et Constitutione – Libertas aut Mors
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Joseph F Barber- http://josephfreedomoranarchy.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Anyone is welcome to use their voice here at FREEDOM OR ANARCHY,Campaign of Conscience.THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN AMERICA FOR THOSE WITH OUT MONEY if you seek real change and the truth the first best way is to use the power of the human voice and unite the world in a common cause our own survival I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, ones own family or ones nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace,“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth.” Love and Peace to you all stand free and your ground feed another if you can let us the free call it LAWFUL REBELLION standing for what is right