Need for honest journalists

Writing about and reporting on the Middle East is not an easy task, especially in these times of turmoil and upheaval. But I cannot remember another time in recent history we needed journalists to shine, to challenge conventional wisdom, to think in terms of contexts, motives and alliances, not ideological, political or financial interests.

When addressing the issue of Middle East, the actual entity of “Middle East” is itself highly questionable. It is arbitrary, and can only be understood within the proximity to some other entity, Europe, whose colonial endeavours imposed such classifications on the rest of the word.

Colonial Europe was the centre of the globe and everything else was measured in physical and political distance from the dominating continent.

Western interests in the region never waned. In fact, following the US-led wars on Iraq (1990-91), a decade-long blockade followed by a massive war and invasion (2003), the “Middle East” is back at the centre of neocolonial activities, colossal Western economic interests, strategic and political manoeuvring.

To question the term “Middle East” is to become conscious of the colonial history, and the enduringly fierce economic and political competition, which is felt in every aspect of life in the region.

Arundhati Roy said: “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.”

For decades, even centuries, the Middle East region has been one of the most misunderstood in the world.

The misunderstandings and subsequent stereotypes have supported colonial designs of the past and the neocolonial design of bombing the area back to the Stone Age, as George Bush once said, and stripping it of its heritage, pride and resources.

The inception of the Arab Spring sent waves of anticipation and hope that perhaps the tides were finally turning and those who had been silenced — both regionally and globally — would finally be able to speak their mind.

But the Arab Spring narrative has morphed into a whole new one, sectarian to the core.

This led to the polarisation of much of the Middle East media and most of those who write about the Middle East.

It often boils down to the simple question of whether one is in the Saudi-led or the Iranian led camp. It leaves little margin for journalists who want to at least present the story in its true complexity, not in simple polarised discourse.

It is a sad era when many journalists are for sale at the moment, ready to lend their pens to the highest bidder.

The story presented to the world has, at times, nothing at all to do with the reality, but it is simply a mosaic of stereotypes, hearsay and babblings from privileged officials who have no understanding of the plight of their people, be they in Egypt, Palestine, Yemen or anywhere else.

But it does not have to be this way, and there are steps one can take to escape the entrapment of this kind of journalistic hustling.

And the best thing one can do to avoid producing literary rubbish is by starting at the bottom — finding the people who are mostly affected by whatever story one is reporting: the victims, their families, eyewitnesses and the community as a whole.

While such voices are often neglected or used as content fillers, they should become the centre of any serious reporting from the region, especially in areas that are torn by war and conflict.

True, there may be more than one side to a story, but that should not be the driving force of one’s reporting. And if biases are a must, they should be biases for the right reason: human rights, conflict resolution and peace.

Journalists should let the understanding of the cost of conflict be their guide in understanding the bigger, multifaceted issues, without turning into advocates for one cause or another.

Human rights advocacy, if done for the right reasons, is a noble and important mission, but on its own is not journalism per se.

I write this with the depth of understanding of one of those who was voiceless and under the thumb of a brutal occupier for most of my life.

If there is anything this world needs, it is an honest breed of journalists who take the side of the oppressed.

We cannot really find solutions to the tragic events unfolding around us until we understand the truth of how we got into the grim reality in which we find ourselves.

Telling the truth is a good place to start.

The writer, ramzybaroud.net, has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London). He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.