International media and major watchdog organizations feared the “racist language” used in media coverage of the war in Ukraine by European and American correspondents and presenters.
Reports and articles in various newspapers and media platforms dealt with the facts and details of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in a language that used expressions related to race, language, religion, external appearance, and even social classes, as a starting point for differentiation between Ukrainians and the population of third world countries, which is not Iraq or Afghanistan.
The BBC presented a direct interview with the former Prosecutor of Ukraine, David Sackfarlidze, in which he said that what is happening affects him emotionally, because “European people with blue eyes and blond hair are the ones who are being killed in my country.”
“These refugees are not from Syria, these are from Ukraine. They are Christians, they are white, and they look very similar to us,” NBC reporter Kelly Kobyla said in a live coverage from the Polish border about Ukrainian refugees.
European non-English speaking media have had their share of coverage using “racist” language as well.
The matter did not stop at the media, but many Western politicians made statements that carried “racist”, and others were attacked on racist grounds.
Lord Daniel Hannan, a former MEP and advisor to the British Trade Council, wrote in the London Telegraph about the Ukrainian crisis and the Ukrainian people: “They look like us… that makes it shocking. It can happen to anyone.”
