Blowing Bridges
- Karl Johansson
- för 4 dagar sedan
- 3 min läsning
Westen media seems institutionally pro-Ukraine biased. Here is why that could be a problem.
I saw a brief article about two bridges collapsing in Russia and in Russian-occupied Ukraine on Saturday. When I looked through major Western newspaper websites, I noticed that relatively few mentioned the Ukrainian sabotage, instead writing about a major aerial blow on Russian bomber planes. One on hand, that is probably more relevant for affecting the battlefield, on the other hand it is continuing Western media’s powerful pro-Ukraine bias.
Of all possible biases being pro-Ukraine is not bad. Still, complicity in covering up Ukraine’s bad deeds like blowing up the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, and killing civilians in population centres – even in a far lesser scale than Russia – should not be covered up. Not only does it feel dishonest for a journalist to forgo more answers and largely defer to Ukrainian viewpoints. But it will almost inevitably tarnish Ukraine’s legitimacy when historians will find how alike the two belligerents conduct was.
A just cause is probably less valuable today than 20 years ago, but the press being biased could risk dissolution with foreign entanglements like what happened after the invasion of Iraq. Ukraine is the defender of this war, but that does not absolve it from moral responsibility. If you want Ukraine to win and join NATO, the EU, and the West you would be better served by having seen its moral shortcomings at the time rather being bombarded with them on social media when the rubbers hit the road and EU and NATO access is being voted on by Europeans.
I consulted the following news sources for this post:
Publication | Country | Mentioned Sabotage? |
Le Monde | France | No |
Sweden | ||
Dagens Industri | Sweden | No |
The Economist | UK | No |
UK | ||
The Times | UK | No |
Financial Times | UK | No |
New York Times | USA | No |
USA | ||
La Times | USA | No |
The point I am trying to make is not to demonise or call out specific institution but to try to explain that there is a pro-Ukraine bias which misleads the Western public. It took years for people to learn that the Ukrainians blew up Nord Stream in no small part that neither the news room couldn’t prove that it was Ukraine and the opinion writers didn’t speculate that Ukraine had done it. Open and honest communication is important to inform the electorate and speaking truth to power to Zelensky. That’s the free press’ role and mission, and on this issue it fails too often, which harms everyone.
If you liked this post you can read a previous post about Trump's tarrifs here or the rest of my writings here. I also have a section for longer reads I call essays here, I particularly recommend my essay on Silicon Valley and AI called 'No Acoustic Guitars in Silicon Valley'.It'd mean a lot to me if you recommended the blog to a friend or coworker. Come back next Monday for a new post!
I've always been interested in politics, economics, and the interplay between. The blog is a place for me to explore different ideas and concepts relating to economics or politics, be that national or international. The goal for the blog is to make you think; to provide new perspectives.
Written by Karl Johansson
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Cover photo by brotiN biswaS from Pexels, edited by Karl Johansson
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