'Utterly degrading': Ukraine war coverage reveals devastating truth about which lives are globally valued, expert says

Amid the coverage of attacks on Ukraine by Russian forces, those with ties to other countries in conflict are raising questions about inequalities in public response.

A series of clips are circulating on social media in which broadcasters and interviewees on major platforms make statements that seemingly paint Ukrainian victims of tragedy as more sympathetic than non-European victims.

In one BBC interview, Ukraine’s Deputy Chief Prosecutor David Sakvarelidze is quoted remarking on how the current tragedy is “very emotional” because he sees “European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed."

Similarly, a Telegraph op-ed by writer and former politician Daniel Hannan begins by stating that what makes the Russian invasion so shocking is that its victims “seem so like us.” Hannan specifically highlights that these victims are European: “War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations.”

In response to these statements, members of the public are questioning the increased empathy and public support afforded to European victims, in contrast to the minimizing of atrocities that impact non-European countries.

Matt Duss, a Ukrainian-American foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, spoke out on social media about the disparity he witnessed in public response.

“As a Ukrainian-American I am immensely proud of the bravery of Ukrainians and of the support being shown by Americans,” he wrote on Twitter. “As a Middle East analyst I am floored by the blatant double standard on resisting occupation and repression.”

Coverage of Ukraine war 'degrading' for other tragedies

Megan Boler is a professor in the Department of Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto. Her research specialties include the politics of digital and social media, and the role of race, class, and gender in education and media.

“To me, it’s a very shocking contrast to the representation of war in other places,” Boler told Yahoo News Canada. Boler said she is “acutely aware” of how different periods of media representation have changed the public’s access to war, and shaped the view of the public.

In one such video, a television presenter mentions the use of thermobaric bombs — massively destructive vacuum bombs that can completely annihilate anyone in the area. He acknowledges that these bombs have by the United States in Afghanistan in the past. “But,” he says, “the idea of it being used in Europe is stomach-churning.”

Some of Boler’s academic research focused on the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, and she noted the favourable attitudes towards this invasion being promoted at the time: “The propaganda at the time was just incredible, it was just outrageous.”

“Anyone who opposed the U.S. invasion was seen as a traitor,” she said. “The representation of people in Iraq did not represent people as human. We really got very little coverage.”

Due to the economic differences between Ukraine and Syria, Boler acknowledged that those on the ground in Ukraine have increased capability to show the public the reality of war. However, she does not believe this is the sole cause of increased public attention.

Even if those in Syria had this capability, she does not necessarily believe there would have been increased empathy.

Boler added that the double standard can be seen beyond the headlines. “We might even think about how that perception, or that racism, is infusing the global response at the national level, in terms of nations that are stepping up to take action.”

“It’s not just at the level of individuals and individual reporters whose racism is being exposed, but also essentially whose life is valued at the level of international global political discourse,” she said.

Boler highlighted that just as social media platforms these perspectives, it also provides an avenue for accountability.

“We will begin to see that there is just a profound racism that shapes news coverage,” she said. “Social media is going to be able to call out the racism in news coverage, and that is an upside of hearing these outrageous comments.”