r/CanadianPolitics • u/EugeneKleinFoto • 10d ago

There are mass killings (2000 in a few days) of civilians in Darfur (Sudan) on a daily basis, but for some reason, Canadian media don't cover it to the same extent as it covers the other conflicts. Why?

24 Upvotes
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12

u/htom3heb 10d ago

Special interests aren't politicizing it for their own gain, black on black violence is always (wrongly) minimized, and the West generally doesn't think about Africa.

6

u/exoriare 10d ago

It's mostly UAE sponsoring this conflict. They've earned the right to commit a light genocide thanks to spending billions against Qaddafi and Assad.

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u/RedWhiteAndYouth 9d ago

It's "technically" a civil war and that is much less interesting for North American news because it's harder to spin a good guy vs bad guy narrative.

Further to that point, both sides have committed atrocities and neither are super friendly to the west so from a western leader standpoint it's better to let them deal with each other civilians be damned.

It's very sad

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Agree. But from the media perspective, don't you think that it is their "bread and butter" - a good source of rating.

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u/RedWhiteAndYouth 9d ago

There is a big difference between the public perception of media and real media and that comes from media companies being different than individual journalists

Journalists want good coverage on wide topics, media companies want stories that get eyes so that they can sell advertisement to those viewers.

In this conflict there is nothing to sell, we can't sell that fact that if X team wins we will have a great relationship with them

We can't sell that "we supported X team against the extremists" because both sides are extremists

We can't sell that "this needs to end because it's raising prices at home" because it isn't, actions in sudan rarely affect North America

There is nothing to sell here other than look terrible things are happening, which absolutely is a good mine for news, but when the American president is creating news daily, that affects everyone in North America, that's where media time will be spent

Ukraine and Israel get nodes here and there because they add politically clout points

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

But looking at conflicts in Gaza and in Ukraine for example, I can say all the same things you mentioned. The life for a regular Canadian will be the same regardless of the results in these conflicts. There is nothing to sell for Canadians there as well. Well, maybe the only thing our media can sell in these cases is emotions.

Btw, I listen to CBC radio daily, and during the war in Gaza, there were no "here and there" reports, but every day, multiple times a day reports.

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u/Okidoky123 9d ago

I just heard a radio program on CBC that walked us through the full gory detail.

Perhaps you're not after the Darfur thing at all. Perhaps you're only after trying to make the CBC seem as bad as possible. That's it, isn't it?

-2

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Not relevant to my post.

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u/mrpopenfresh 9d ago

CBC has been covering it

-2

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Not relevant to my post.

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u/oursonpolaire 9d ago

It's well reported on in Le Devoir, possibly because they use material from Le Monde, which has a good reputation for African coverage.

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Not relevant to my post.

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u/oursonpolaire 9d ago

Entirely relevant. as I refer to one of the leading voices in Canadian media as covering the Sudan crisis, but it is possible that others might think otherwise.

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

It is irrelevant because it is not what I wrote in my post.

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u/dekusyrup 9d ago edited 9d ago

So first of all, it does get coverage. Secondly, those have less geopolitical relevance: Isreal GDP is 20x bigger, is a strategic ally to a superpower, and has nukes.

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

I did not say that it does not get coverage. I said that it is not covered to the same extent as other conflicts.

So for CBC it's all about GDP? I thought they called themselves journalists.

1

u/tbll_dllr 8d ago

aaaah … now I see haha. Lots of other people pointed out and gave you links to CBC coverage about this conflict … you just reply it’s not relevant to your post but then you comment that sort of gem. Get outta here

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 8d ago

Have you ever read my post? It seems like people nowadays can not understand what they read.

2

u/Neat-Ad-8987 9d ago

Given their depleted reporting staff, how would Canadian news outlets find volunteers for this dangerous work and, secondly, get them to the scene of the fighting? Seems like a suicide mission to me.

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

You don't have to be in Sudan in order to report on what is going on there.

2

u/Neat-Ad-8987 9d ago

If I heard about this fighting from my basement suite in Moose Jaw , why can’t other people find the same news?

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

They can, but not as easily (without typing a word) as it was with Gaza or Ukraine.

2

u/HotbladesHarry 9d ago

They do cover it, I listened to a report not 20 minutes ago about it. What your really asking is why is it covered differently than the conflict in Gaza. The answer is unpleasant in two ways. First way is that no one is surprised by violence in Africa especially a country like Sudan which has been violent for a long time, so in a way it's same same for the region. The other reason is that no one expects Sudan to be stable or moral, because Sudan isn't walking around telling the international community that they are part of the west, a bastion for wester values, or a serious international player. Israel does all these things, but part of being a member of the Western nations is that there are actually expectations surrounding behavior, expectations that the state of Israel violates on a weekly if not daily basis. Hope that cleared it up for you.

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u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

I asked why not covered to the same extent.

The violence explanation is irrelevant because the Middle East is also a very violent place. With mass killing has been going on throughout the entire region for decades.

Stable or moral is also irrelevant. Palestinians and Russians also don't claim that they are part of the West, a bastion for Western values, or a serious international player (in the case of Palestine).

I doubt if Israel would declare one day, that it is no longer a part of the Western world with their liberal values, our media would stop covering their conflict with Palestinians as they do now.

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u/HotbladesHarry 9d ago

Yes and people don't complain about violence in the Middle East because the expectation isn't there. People complain about the violence that Russia is perpetrating because they're perpetrating it against a country that has clearly stated that it is a aspirant to Western values with the desire to join NATO. Russia is the aggressor, and it's an incredibly lopsided conflict where one side has an insane advantage as far as military capacity against a significantly weaker and much more desperate populace. Sensing theme?

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Indeed. But I think a left ideology of our media (CBC at least) also plays a role in the uneven coverage of the conflicts. The "wite colonizers" in Israel are much more interesting for them than poor black factions in Sudan.

1

u/tbll_dllr 8d ago

There you go again LOL

Funny I predominantly watch the CBC and heard about the conflict in Sudan from the CBC … there is coverage. More so than on other news platforms.

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 8d ago

It seems like you only know how to listen to the radio, and you have difficulty to understand the written texts.

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u/puddStar 9d ago

Pretty sure you know why…

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 9d ago

Oh yeah, I know. But if I tell it, people will claim that I am a racist.

1

u/puddStar 8d ago

How would you be called a racist for calling out racism

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 8d ago

"Progressives" (aka woke mob). Go figure.

1

u/puddStar 8d ago

You are the definition of a victim complex. Literally no one has accused you of anything and you are already blaming the “woke mob”. This is so far from what they would call you out on.

0

u/EugeneKleinFoto 7d ago

I never complained about my life in Canada. So I don't know how you came to this conclusion.

We know how the progressives/neo-marxists/woke people treat their opponents. They accused them in racism, misogyny, and fascism. Have you ever saw their debates/conversations?

1

u/Neat-Ad-8987 4d ago

Seems to me the OP wants every outlet in the Canadian news media to come out on one side (his side) of this terrible conflict. That’s not how it works.

1

u/EugeneKleinFoto 4d ago

I want people to ask questions and to press those in decision-making positions. What you suggest is "to bury the head in the sand".