The television coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on several reputed western news channels has been deemed 'racist' on social media after a Twitter thread pointed out certain questionable remarks from the anchors or guests on air.
A Twitter thread of several of these news reports across channels including the BBC, Al Jazeera and The Daily Telegraph, shows anchors, reporters and guests give a different spin on the violent crisis.
In one particular clip from the BBC that grabbed a lot of eyeballs, Ukraine's Deputy Chief Prosecutor David Sakvarelidze is heard saying, “It's very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed.”
"This isn't Iraq or Afghanistan...This is a relatively civilized, relatively European city," a CBS correspondent said on air in a rather shocking clip that implies Iraq and Afghanistan are not civilized nations.
Alan MacLeod, a journalist at Mint Press News, shared several of these clips – consolidated in one Twitter thread – highlighting the ‘racist’ narrative. It must be noted that in almost all of these clips, the people mention Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria in a manner that makes it sound like war is ‘normal’ in these countries and ‘shocking’ in a 'civilised European city'.
See the clips here:
Similar comments on other channels have also outraged a section on social media.
"What's compelling is looking at them, the way they are dressed. These are prosperous, middle-class people. These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from the Middle East...or North Africa. They look like any European family that you'd live next door to," an Al Jazeera segment reported.
French channel BFM TV’s anchor was in disbelief that this was happening in a European city and not Iraq or Afghanistan.
"We are in the 21st century, we are in a European city and we have cruise missile fire as though we were in Iraq or Afghanistan, can you imagine?” the anchor of the show says in French.
In another appalling clip targeting race and religion, an NBC News correspondent says, "To put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from Ukraine...They're Christians, they're white. They're very similar [to us]" - explaining why Poland is accepting refugees.
Many Twitter users commenting on the thread seemed to agree that the coverage is indeed ‘racist’.
"Fantastic stuff. No wonder we don’t believe this is our war too," one user commented.
Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered the fifth day today with President Vladimir Putin, in a shocking and aggressive move, has ordered the country’s nuclear forces to be on high alert claiming “unfriendly steps” from the West. Russia has the world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal and a massive number of ballistic missiles.
Ukraine has reported 352 deaths so far since the invasion began last week. The figure includes 14 children as well. Russia has acknowledged that a number of its forces had been killed or injured. The European Union has said that more than 7 million people could be displaced by the raging conflict.
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