Perhaps just perhaps at no time in history was the world so frustrated with the so-called largely Western mainstream media. The times when whatever appears on the ‘independent and free’ mainstream media was “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the north,” is long gone; as times go by and the curtains are raised through numerous media outrages of bias, blunder, deliberately planned fake news and other factors the real picture is finally there for all to see. The ‘mainstream media wall’ which was not to be breached even touched by any earthly power finally comes crumbling down!
I personally remember in my long years in the media the worship like respect and praise we had for the so-called mainstream media. Whatever they say is not subject to any sort of the simplest questions let alone deeper scrutiny. “What! You doubt the news item by such a respected media! You must be out of your mind or a diehard communist!” Any person with the foresight enough to ask questions would be target practice for all kinds of verbal abuses. You don’t touch the mainstream media! It would have been impossible to convince others that all media outlets have their own agendas. “What! Did you say agendas? That could be the case in third world’s media and not in the respected mainstream media of the West!” If there is any disagreement on any current affairs issue the final world is what the mainstream media says. If they say it has been done, it has been done even though not one soul in the street has seen it happening. If they say it never happened it never happened even if it was happening under the eyes of half of the planet.
So what has gone wrong now? “Well, something must have gone wrong for the so-called mainstream media to slide to such depth of utter falsehood, arrogance, bigotry and the like!” But it’s not about anything going wrong; it’s about what we these days describe as scratching the surface real hard. We have our own experiences during the armed conflict in the north of the country. We have seen to what length they go to push their agendas. Why? Because they did have agendas! It all depends on who are the puppet masters. It is all about global dominance and utter inhuman hatred and evil thoughts which are strangling mankind to the point of cutting off all oxygen!
As of recent times the world is fixated on what is happening in the Middle East as things go from scary to terrifying and worth by the hour. It is indeed very distressing to hear of people man, woman and child meeting their ends in the most heartbreaking ways. Innocents whose only goal in life is to live a peaceful and worthy life having their dreams blown out with rudeness is impossible to comprehend. In light of what is happening the way the global media is covering the events is not only shocking but seems to be passing all the red lines of inhumanity. It is astounding how far the media is going gone this far to foment hatred!
Look, the world is still waiting to learn about the full story of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Since much of the media have put themselves in the role of actual combatants for one side or the other it is shocking the scale and volume of fake news the world has been subjected to. One side is to have annihilated entire brigades of the enemy, shot down multiple drones, destroyed tanks and armored vehicles by the scores; the bigotry comes when the ‘other side’ is mentioned as having wiped out whole battalions shot everything that could be shot down and the like. What is scary is during such ‘reports’ the human cost is out in the shadows. The dead who while alive were described as courageous and all that are turns into numbers. The difference between 10 and 100 is only ‘a single 0.’ “So what is all the fuss about!” Sooner or later by the time the real cost of the war comes out with all its details ours will be a world which would be shocked to the bone marrow.
Now it is in another volatile and, for all practical purposes, dangerous part of the world and the mainstream media seems to have completely lost its mind. The extent of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation, all deliberately and consciously done, imagining the damage being done to authenticity, truthfulness and fairness would probably taint the media world for ages to come. Raw, real, uninfected news is becoming a thing of the past. News about war zones is written not to pass real, authenticated information but to form public opinions favoring one side or the other. It would have been maybe acceptable if any person pour their personal prejudices or illicit agendas in op- ed presentations. But that’s no more the case.
What is happening over there is not just another armed conflict. How we would have liked it had it been so easy and so simple. You know, like armed skirmishes lasting a few days or a few weeks and then the guns fall silent. This time it is not that easy. Everything that has happened, is happening and would certainly happen over the coming weeks even months one way or another affects the entire world. The very possibility of the war spilling over across borders is scary. The brutality we hear, many reports subject to further scrutiny, blow out even the dimmest light of hope we might still be entraining for a better world.
As history has shown in any armed conflict the brunt of the damage and destruction falls on helpless civilians; defenseless women, children and the elderly. When innocent lives are no more than collateral damage there is no better sign proving the world has crossed lines that should never have been crossed.
Isn’t it time to worry about all the innocent civilians on all sides? Isn’t it time to look for ways to ensure that the innocent are protected? Shouldn’t the media be in the forefront of such attempts? So in the midst of all the biased, hate mongering narratives coming from the so-called mainstream media we ask, what about the women, children and the elderly on all sides?
What about the defenseless?
The ‘Muscular’ VIPs!
Something happened which though would never happen to me again. Years back I had a couple of such happenings and at that time I made my stand on these clear and, lucky me, the doors were closed; or so I thought. A week or so back a lady for whom I had all the respect calls me and tells me she had an important personal issue to discuss with me. ‘Personal’ was the key word since our relationships weren’t that much into the personal aspects. Well, though these days you’re subjected more to the unexpected than the expected that thought never came to me when I agreed to meet her.
Once we met I didn’t need a wiz-kid’s genius to know she wasn’t her usual self I thought I was familiar with. Something was wrong. She didn’t lose precious minutes by the usual “How have you been lately?” “What are you doing with your life?” sort of small talk. No soft openings to the harder issues; she gave it to me as it was. “I’m told you are close to important government officials.” What! What the hell is all this about? How did the narrative of me being close to very important government officials come into play anyway! (I could imagine some of my friends chocking because they are laughing too hard! take it easy guys; these days you never could tell who is who and I don’t want you to be ‘surprised’ somewhere down the line when one of the very important officials telling an interviewer, What a guy he is!” (The ‘guy’ here is me! Ha!)
Her comment might be a little tricky as it was unexpected. My response was far from tricky; “What do you mean?”
“I’ve run into a very serious problem, and I want your help.”
“Already the ants have begun racing all over my spine. The talk of me being close to very important officials and her seeking my help coming in the same sentence not such a good mix! My response should have gone by first telling her she can forget the fairy tale about my being close to VIP officials and second doubting I could be of any help. “I can’t see how I can be of any help.” That coming without me hearing her story can be very unfriendly and even brutal! Yes, brutal. I told you just by looking at her the lady is a very unhappy person. So I just looked at her, maybe an unable to decide my next move. She didn’t have to wait for me to make any move and continued with her story.
She went into narratives of a major problem between her husband who backed by his “evil” family was giving her headaches. They have decided to go their way on the instance of his family and that is where the problem blew out of proportion. When it comes to the dividing of family property and assets it happened that he claims he’ll be taking almost everything from spoons to cars leaving her almost nothing.
By this time I was trying not to be as attentive as I should have been. I try to keep my distance from such very personal stories as no one has the right to dig any deeper into the private lives of others. Just by listening to the stories from those affected you might feel you’re already part of the problem.
Let me tell you an experience. During the very early days of writing my Amharic column all kinds of calls came. Many were well-intentioned dealing with the general rather than the personal. Then one day around 9:00 P.M. this woman calls and tells me her husband was cheating on her what, of all women in the world, her own sister! It was one of those moments you wished shouldn’t have happened. She wasn’t telling me asking for any involvement on my part. She just wanted me to deal with the issue in the column. So, what’s the big deal? There’s no harm done!” you might say. It isn’t that easy. The guilt of hearing people’s private secrets from their own selves isn’t something to brush away that easily.
So this lady says her husband had powerful backers who could turn the tables just with single phone calls. She wanted to tell her case to some powerful VIP and seek justice. And it’s where in the most bizarre of jokes I come in. I told her there is no such official I was close to and I’m sorry I couldn’t help her. (I didn’t add that even if I knew one what she asks me would be the last thing I do because there was none need of it. On second thought who knows, as time and people have changed maybe I might have agreed to help her with my question to her being, “What’s it in for me?” That’s how Things are done these days. Isn’t it?)
Well, the lady I told you I have every respect for wasn’t taking “No,” for an answer. She went into all sorts of things first trying to be as calm as she could but slowly turning into someone I never met! She was all veins and contours! As I stayed tight-lipped she almost accused me of refusing to help her deliberately. What! It was my turn to try to keep calm. Then she almost accused me I would have agreed to help if it had been another person! Things were getting too much for me to handle and I tried to say a word of two trying to reason with her and she wasn’t letting me do that. Her words were sliding from bad to worse. Finally I did what I’ve never have done before and hope would never do again; I stood up and left without another word.
Maybe thinking about it in hindsight the lady wasn’t actually being rude to me intentionally. The talk is that we are in times when what matters is how strong your case is but how powerful the VIP backing you is. You know that muscular VIP narrative who could move the earth with a single phone call.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 15 OCTOBER 2023