We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, April 29, 2010

How the Western Media Promotes a Mistaken View of the World

by Ramzy Baroud from his blog via Global Research. The author addresses the issue of the narrow and biased focus of Western news agencies which is a never ending challenge for those of us who try to understand the world we live in. He also offers a solution to this problem.

 


Media channels – especially those dispatching their news from various Western capitals - focus not simply on sensational news, but they also intentionally sensationalize news, and purposely relay the news so as to be understood within Western contexts. Thus ‘democracy’, ‘elections’, ‘government restrictions’ and ‘terrorism’ are the usual buzzwords.
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The western media will continue to reduce [coverage on] non-Westerners, for they have a vested interest in doing so, and it has become habitual. A first step in overcoming this would be to empower our own local and regional media, and to create rapports amongst them.  We can only challenge the abhorrent narratives about us when we start to present our own truth and experience, and support others to do the same.
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