For her PhD thesis, researcher Bette Dam examined the perspectives from which journalists reported the news. Spoiler: there is a bias involved.
Shortly after 9/11, the Taliban had already surrendered following negotiations with interim President Karzai, but this peace initiative was dismissed by Secretary Rumsfeld in a single press conference and virtually disappeared from the media. The international press blindly followed the US government’s war narrative.
Analysis of hundreds of articles from the New York Times and the AP news agency shows that this is no coincidence, but a structural pattern. Editorial teams consist predominantly of highly educated, white journalists who primarily give a voice to other elite and government sources. Afghan and other non-Western voices are scarcely heard, unless as victims. The same pattern is evident in reporting on Vietnam, Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The authors pose the fundamental question of whether these are isolated journalistic choices, or whether the news system itself is in need of reform.
