Just as it descended to these depths over Syria and before then Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan so it has once more in respect of Ukraine.
Was it what journalism was meant to be about? No. But it became the default stance over time to bolster western interests to the detriment of any principles involved.
Of course there was the hand of western state officials in western journalism’s demise also. The Gilligan ‘sexing up of WMD claims’ affair in the UK along with the smashing of the Snowden laptops in the office of the Guardian newspaper there also (by state officials or those sent by state officials) that provided a heavy hint that editors and owners would toe the line… or else.
Only a few stalwarts such as Robert Fisk and John Pilger remained to provide examples of what true journalism was. The opinionated talking heads on the BBC and CNN were midget-like figures by contrast along with those across the panoply of viewspapers that pretended to be communicating news in the West.
So it came to Ukraine’s turn for the treatment. Its president, along with just about anyone and their dog that had something to do with the Kiev side of things were given the red carpet, “You are speaking Holy Writ” treatment. What has transpired from 2014 to the present day has been the obedient passing along of whatever propaganda this side wished to pass off as “news”. In combination with this a strict filtering system has been evident across all western mainstream media.
What was good for Kiev was seen as good to go, inserted immediately into news articles and TV “news” programming for maximum effect. What was bad for those seeking autonomy in eastern Ukraine or for Moscow was also good to go and inserted alongside the former. All in a nice neat convincing and conditioning parcel of half-truths, omitted facts, obvious propaganda gambits and outright lies.
Meanwhile Kiev was given a huge green light to continue bombarding urban areas in eastern Ukraine, killing innocent men, women and children with complete impunity, totally unreported by a western press and media pretending to be completely unaware of this and maintaining a deafening silence upon it. Residential tower blocks (of which there are a great many across Ukraine from Soviet times), hospitals and schools bore the brunt of these incessant attacks. Bodies littered town centres and leafy avenues alike. Editors and commentators in the West stared at their computer screens and sat on their hands. No news of these events was to reach any western population if they could help it.
Then we come to more recent events with the operation Russia has now conducted to remedy the silence that western opinion leaders have sought to enforce for these past long eight years of genocidal attacks by their proxies on the people of eastern Ukraine. And, of course the self-same mentality, still rigidly in force of portraying everything Kiev as good and everything Moscow as bad kicked off in even greater earnest than before.
Ukraine, brave little Ukraine was steadily defeating the mighty ogre Russia that had descended upon it in an unwarranted, entirely unprovoked attack. All the abandonment of true journalism over the previous eight years in Ukraine and the one and a half decades of bad-mouthing Putin and Russia were about to pay off.
Ukraine, poor Ukraine they said… let us see your tears, raise your voices and open your wallets, in this black and white war it’s good versus evil and everyone must get on board the hate-Russia bandwagon or be cancelled with a modern day version of the village stocks.
And so it was. And so we heard that plucky Ukraine was achieving victory after victory against evil Russian forces who were perpetrating one vile atrocity after another with Russian generals salivating over killing babies, school kids, doctors and hospital patients using some of the most expensive weapons ever devised. And what purpose was there in that, what possible strategic goal would be achieved in so doing? This was not an answer heard from western mass media. The message was simple and potent, ‘Russians are evil’, end of story.
This has gone on for two months now with endless stories reflecting these memes and tropes. Russia evil. Ukraine saintly. Over and over. Ukraine winning, Russia stalled, running out of weapons, taking enormous casualties, losing ground, being steadily defeated ushering in victory for noble, self-sacrificing, enormously brave little Ukraine.
But wait. What’s this appearing as unwelcome as indications of cancer on an x-ray? The filter seems to be malfunctioning, reality is intruding upon a facade leaking and exposing facts. Russia has surrounded entire divisions of Ukrainian troops and has taken Mariupol and threatens to take Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and the entire Donbass within weeks. It can’t be!
So… what that is positive can be found or made up to make things look more positive for that glorious hero Zelensky and his mighty warriors? A fake sinking of a Russian shop. Good one! A fake victory on Snake Island, scene of an earlier fake that had traction for a while. Throw in a fake school attack… and what about that fake chemical weapon attack we’ve been holding back as the big one… perhaps it’s time?
But none of this will be of any avail. Russia will blithely stroll past these PR stunts, facades and propaganda gambits and continue to grind the remaining Ukrainian army and its associated modern day Nazis to dust. The shock of this inevitable eventuality will knock all the western fantasists back on their heels, those of them who have lost their brains completely and have begun believing their lies will be hardest hit. Those that simply played that vile game to save their jobs and career prospects from detriment will give a cynical sneer and simply get on with the next round of distortions their job entails.
In the wider western world the shock and horror that Kiev was defeated will equal the shock and horror felt… and a large amount of disbelief to boot, that they had been lied to so comprehensively by those claiming to be purveyors of news. The furore will last a week at most before the great western public docilely slips back into its normal routines, switching on their black box and taking in, as if nothing has happened, whatever the next batch of conditioning has to offer them.
But still, for a while until the diversion policies kick in…
THE BUBBLE OF WESTERN PROPAGANDA ON UKRAINE WILL BE SEEN TO BURST
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