Was looking at the news and once again there was an update on Israel vs Hamas, showing people protesting etc.
Now, I was wondering: What would be the reason that the media is pushing this conflict and chooses to ignore other wars in the world that almost always led to more casualties?
It feels so misleading to rile people up to protest, have debates on national tv and so on while you have Ethiopia, Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, …
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll
It feels like the public is being played so easily, it’s kind of scary.
by LorreGlazie
5 comments
If you are a politicial party, there’s a lot of potential voters to gain by picking a side in an argument you have no power over (which means not a lot of work to do and no responsabilities to take).
Probably because they saw people didn’t care about those conflicts when they first reported on them.
>What would be the reason that the media is pushing this conflict and chooses to ignore other wars in the world that almost always led to more casualties?
Because a lot of people have a personal (religeous) interest in that specific conflict.
>It feels so misleading to rile people up to protest, have debates on national tv and so on while you have Ethiopia, Yemen, Congo, Myanmar, …
Nice whataboutisme. I’m already glad that they pay attention to one conflict. And yes they should also pay attention to the other conflicts you mentioned.
But you also see a lot more info on the Congo conflict on the RTBf, which is linked to the presence of the Congo diaspora. And then there is Ukraine. so your statement of “ignore other wars” isn’t entirely accurate.
A few reasons that have nothing to do with people protesting:
* The conflict in Israël/Palestine is an important indicator about the whole area of the middle east
* This specific conflict made extremely much casualties in a short period
* The conflict has a large history and is still one of the most complex issues to solve worldwide.
* This conflict has influence from around the world, mostly because of the US connection to Israël
* Jews and arabs are spread out around the world. Media has more attention to a conflict when own civilians are invested in that conflict through heritage.
Of course we should also have eyes for other conflicts, but comparing them is really hard. TV journals should be three hours long to give context to every (civil) war and other atrocities happening around the world.
VRT journaal often features important reports from other conflicts, wish they were longer tho. I think the bigger problem is that among the general public there is little interest for foreign news outside Europe/Middle East/US. In the end topics which appeal more to the general public are featured more prominently. And the Israel/Palestina conflict gets more interest in Belgium due to historical reasons + lots of diaspora which roots/familie in the region.