The conflict in Ukraine has been making headlines around the world for two weeks. But whether you are in Latin America, Africa or the Middle East, the media treatment varies enormously from one place to another, while interests and sensitivities diverge. Overview.
Seen from South America, Ukraine may seem far away, and not only because some 10,000 kilometers separate the subcontinent from combat zones. Not only does the region have no significant Ukrainian diaspora, but in addition, no South American country is a member of NATO, the organization which plays a central role in the escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
However, images of the war have been making headlines and have been on the news channels for several days in most Latin American countries, as well as in Europe and North America. “The three main television channels have sent their star journalists there and they open their morning shows every day with news from Ukraine. I had never seen that for an international event”, is surprised Alfredo Joignant, professor of political science at the University Diego Portales, in Chile.
This is all the more surprising since the wars in the Muslim world over the past 20 years have not caused much ink to flow in Latin America, contrary to what we have seen in the countries of the North. So how do you explain that a country as far away as Ukraine is making the headlines this time around? “First, because you can link what is happening in Ukraine to the very problematic relationship in Venezuela, where the Russians and the Americans also play a role. Secondly, we also feel the effects of this war on the economy here, with the rise in the price of oil, ”analyzes Quebec political scientist Sébastien Dubé, who teaches in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Alongside Russia’s traditional allies in the region, Cuba and Venezuela, media coverage of the Russian invasion is resolutely favorable to Ukraine in the Latin American press. There are still some old left-wing intellectuals nostalgic for the Soviet Union and hostile to American imperialism, but their voice remains altogether marginal in the public debate, observes Sébastien Dubé.
“On the contrary, the left here in Chile was very touched by the resistance of Ukrainian President Zelensky, and saw in it the same courage shown by President Salvador Allende, who had decided to remain in his presidential palace despite the attacks of the General Pinochet during the coup d’etat in 1973. Public opinion is in solidarity with the Ukrainians and very anti-Putin ”, continues Alfredo Joignant, reached by videoconference from Santiago.
Control of the Russian media
The narrative is completely reversed in West Africa. In this region of the world where the Russians and the Chinese are increasingly present, the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine has rather good press in the national media. “You should know that all this is happening at a time when civil societies have never been so critical of France, a former colonial power. Everything that is said in the French media is therefore automatically rebalanced. Russia is not portrayed in the role of the villain, as we can see in the West, ”points out Oumar Kane, professor of communication at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
Coincidentally, Mr. Kane is currently in his country of origin, Senegal, for a research project. Since his arrival, he has seen how well Russian media, such as Russia Today (RT), have managed to reach a large part of the population on social networks. But what struck him even more on the spot is that despite the high rate of illiteracy, the average Senegalese is relatively aware of what is happening in Ukraine today. “Even people who can’t read are on the internet and on TikTok. And that is revolutionary, ”said Oumar Kane, taking great care all the same to specify that the conflict in Ukraine is still not as present on African television as in the West.
[En Afrique de l’Ouest], everything said in the French media is automatically rebalanced. Russia is not portrayed as the villain, as you can see in the West.
What has especially caught the attention there are calls from some Ukrainian embassies to recruit African soldiers. Information that made very little noise in the Western media, but which scandalized Africans, who had the impression of being treated by Ukraine like cannon fodder, explains Mr. Kane. Added to this are the obstacles encountered by foreign nationals in leaving Ukraine, while Ukrainian citizens have been welcomed with open arms in neighboring countries.
An air of deja vu
This aspect of the conflict has not occupied a large place in Quebec coverage until now, but this double standard has been widely relayed by the media of the Arab world.
Otherwise, the various press groups in the Middle East have adopted radically opposed editorial lines with regard to the ongoing war, reflecting the divisions in this part of the world. “Media that are generally pro-Syria and Iran naturally support their Russian ally. In the media of the Gulf countries, we cover the conflict, but when we go to the opinion sections, we find nothing. In the image of the neutrality that the monarchies of the region are trying to display for the moment”, relates Julie Kebbi, co-head of the world service of The Orient-The Daythe largest French-language daily in Lebanon.
With its predominantly Christian readership and highly critical of Hezbollah, The Orient-The Day has for its part opted for a positioning fairly close to that of the Western media. Several articles deal with the distress on the ground, often accompanied by shocking images that have an echo in a country like Lebanon, where a good part of the population has experienced the ravages of war.
“The human being takes precedence, and even if we are used to it, we cannot be jaded in the face of such images, insists Julie Kebbi. On the contrary, they remind us of other wars of recent years, in Syria or in Palestine. »