Media Complicity in Genocide: Why Our Work Matters
When people think of war crimes, they often imagine weapons and armies. But history has taught us that words can be equally dangerous. Media outlets hold the power to humanize or dehumanize, to illuminate injustice or cover it in darkness.
In genocide after genocide – from the Holocaust, Bosnia and Rwanda, the media played a central role in shaping narrative and hate speech. These narratives set the stage, dehumanizing victims before the violence began and covering up the violence as it unfolded
Iraq: A Failure of Accountability:
In Iraq, we failed to see the same accountability from Western Media outlets. Despite major U.S. and U.K. outlets promoting government claims of “weapons of mass destruction,” laying the groundwork for an invasion that led to millions of Iraqi deaths, no journalists or editors were prosecuted.
Palestine: The Complicity of Today:
In Palestine, Justice For All recognizes that while the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is not happening on Western soil, Western media were not acting as neutral observers. From the promotion of disinformation, to active anti-Palestinian framing, dehumanization tactics, and reckless parroting of U.S. and Israeli official narratives, Western Media was facilitating the genocide. And with the U.S. and Canada being some of Israel’s biggest arms suppliers, this obfuscation and misinformation was directly impacting the death toll in Gaza and the continuation of genocide, occupation and ethnic cleansing.
Why Media Watch Matters:
This is why our Media Watch exists. We monitor, document and expose these biases to prevent the cycle of complicity that allows atrocities to unfold unchecked. Our work includes:
- Expose Erasure and Dehumanization
- Challenge Disinformation and False Equivalency
- Highlight Media Asymmetry
- Interrupt the Manufacturing of Consent
- Preserve a Historical Record
- Build Media Literacy and Empower Public Engagement
- Set Media Agenda and Tone Preemptively
Words can carry the same weight and consequences as weapons. Justice For All’s Media Watch challenges and holds these words to account.
Iraq: A Failure of Accountability:
In Iraq, we failed to see the same accountability from Western Media outlets. Despite major U.S. and U.K. outlets promoting government claims of “weapons of mass destruction,” laying the groundwork for an invasion that led to millions of Iraqi deaths, no journalists or editors were prosecuted.
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