What is a “news” site in 2024? What is a “journalist”? In many cases, we no longer know.
In a country and world that cries out for honest, unbiased, investigative journalism, we often receive “reporting” that supports an ideology or party, or that constantly attacks and slanders those who hold differing views. Goodbye independent journalism, hello state-sanctioned propaganda.
Take the war in Ukraine, for example. Just a year ago, U.S. officials estimated that roughly 500,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the war began in February 2022. That number is now likely to be more than 1 million. This casualty figure does not include tens of thousands of civilians killed or wounded in the conflict.
Over a million soldiers were killed and wounded, along with thousands of innocent civilian men, women and children. Do you remember reading or hearing about this on your favorite news sites? Don't you? What you mostly heard, especially from the US and UK media, was, “As Ukraine has just reported… As Zelensky has just told us…”
Media workers are human too. They have personal biases. I get that they “strongly oppose Vladimir Putin and Russia” or actively dislike former President Donald Trump. But the rules of their chosen profession dictate that they must suppress their personal biases in favor of facts on the ground. Does anyone really believe that?
Since the war began, too many journalists and news sites have acted like cheerleaders for Ukraine. My question to them is: is their unprofessional activities helping the Ukrainian people, or are they actually unintentionally delaying a ceasefire that would save countless lives and vital infrastructure?
If the rationale for these activist journalists and news sites was to “save the people and infrastructure of Ukraine,” then I don’t need to tell you that they failed miserably. But if their true objective was to “counter” Putin while acting as proxies for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then they must accept the (hopefully) unintended consequences of that well-intentioned strategy.
The two most disturbing aspects of these outcomes are that the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries appear to be using Ukraine and its people as a cheap, disposable pawn to sacrifice in their proxy war against Putin and Russia. Second, the continuation of this increasingly unpredictable war is bringing us to the brink of World War III.
Here are some examples of questions our independent and professional media should be asking: Is Ukraine being used in such a proxy war? Are the US and European defense industries using this war to test new weapons systems while making tens of billions of dollars in profits? How many Ukrainians have actually been killed or injured in this war? How many are civilians? How many have fled the country?
Second, are there corrupt Ukrainian officials? There was a lot of coverage on this issue before the war, but very little since. What is the real reason behind billions of US taxpayer dollars being sent to Ukraine on this issue? How much was stolen and who stole it? By constantly demonizing Russia and its people, are we pushing Ukraine deeper into the pockets of China, Iran and North Korea?
Because I am concerned that much of the media is abandoning objectivity and expertise when it comes to this war, I recently contacted the editors of a major European news site to ask if I could submit a column raising some of these questions. I was told it would be a waste of time, and I declined, saying it was an opinion piece for their opinion section. The response I got was that their “official” position is that they are strongly opposed to Putin and Russia, and they will not accept any article that could potentially cast a negative light on Ukraine or the conduct of the war.
Whatever you call it, it is not honest and ethical journalism.
One final question for journalists who actively oppose Putin or side with Ukraine: Aren't you, by your selective use of “reports” that you don't report or “facts” that you provide, creating a false narrative and unintentionally prolonging the war? How many soldiers and civilians are being killed and injured per day? Could a ceasefire have been achieved sooner if you had more accurately and honestly reported the absolute horror taking place on the ground in Ukraine? If so, how many days, weeks or months ago?
Now let's multiply the daily military and civilian deaths and injuries by these time periods. One final question: Did biased reporting cause excess deaths in that war?
I look forward to some thorough investigative journalism that attempts to answer that question.
Douglas Mackinnon He is a former White House and Department of Defense official.
