Media blending against developing countries

Today’s journalism does not work in a linear format. Multimedia and multiple platforms have made it multilayered non-linear media consumption where the greatest threat to consumers is unmasking and unpacking disinformation. There is yet not one definition that can explain disinformation because several terminologies are being used such as fake news, deep fact, cheap fake, fabricated news, concocted news, cooked news, digital terrorism, and so on.

There is a popular opinion that major producers of disinformation are those who are not bona fide journalists. However, things are not as simple. The recent three-day Second Shusha Global Media Forum unmasked the reality that the most lethal disinformation campaigns against democracies in the developing world come from famous Western media platforms that take the lead in spreading disinformation against targeted countries and societies. Over 120 media organisations from 50 countries shared their experiences at this Forum of how the news is treated and spread by top Western media outlets. Experts discussed fake news spread by Western media with examples, data, number of fake news along with names of the respective media houses.

The widespread transmission of fake news on a global scale has become especially noticeable in the last 20 years although it is methodologically challenging to gather the data for mapping patterns of dissemination and extent of disinformation. Nonetheless, countries like Azerbaijan, Brazil, Qatar, Italy and Türkiye are extensively working on this issue and their universities are doing an excellent job of exposing the deep hypocrisy of the Western media.

Several scholarly investigations into Western media’s coverage of the political developments taking place in developing countries exhibit a bias, positing that the Western media scrutinises democratic situation in developing countries with self-serving rhetoric but unpacking Western media’s propaganda needs credible data collection for policy initiatives to build more resilient society against media war.

Practitioners present at the Shusha Global Media Forum were of the view that the ability to critically evaluate, use and create information is a key skill that enables people to make the right choices regarding news in the information environment, thereby helping shape society’s approach to combating disinformation and ensuring the circulation of reliable information. There is no doubt that ‘Information’ is a very powerful tool, but the key question today faced by consumers is how it is being used. The most dangerous thing is that disinformation has turned into manipulation and psychological warfare against the people of developing countries as disinformation has become a means for certain groups to achieve their goals and the foremost victim of disinformation is ethical journalism.

President Ilham Aliyev, who opened the discussion, said Western media’s elements show prejudices against targeted countries and launch pre-organised and coordinated campaigns. He said these “media attacks” coincide with important geopolitical developments. Sometimes NGO financing is also used to create ‘color revolutions’ to destabilise developing countries, and deliberate media attacks are launched to discredit governance and democracy in targeted countries. If we check conditions in Pakistan, can we not say that we face a similar situation?

A majority of the participants opined that Western media is a weapon against developing countries and against those who do not follow instructions from the West, and that the Western media works on a communication model of creating false narrative building based on syndicated, coordinated, deliberated moves to attack certain developing countries. Should media managers in Pakistan not sensitise the public about mechanisms that the Western media uses against countries like Pakistan? Should Pakistani universities not do research like Türkiye and Azerbaijan to equip the youth to decipher syndicated, coordinated, deliberated moves of Western media to discredit our society? It is never too late but we need to have commitment and then we can gather experts and practitioners having vision and understanding of the issue to unmask false narratives against us.