American Media’s Coverage of War, Conflict and Violence in foreign countries: Journalists’ Perspective
By: Suvu Singh
Photo by: Victor Blue
Victor Blue while covering Afghanistan.
Photo courtesy: Victor Blue
“Too many of my colleagues in the West have been unwilling to try to understand that. They got it wrong for so long and they're happy to continue to be wrong, and they don't want to go back and adjust for what we got wrong.”
- Victor Blue, Photojournalist.
Photo courtesy: Yubraj Ghimire
“I think the US media is largely realizing that [now] because we see that kind of reflection in the media but after huge and enormous loss caused by the war, in which America is a key party.”
- Yubraj Ghimire, Journalist.
“I certainly saw some of those, and sort of facepalmed thinking, well, when someone's just like, ‘Oh my God, they're Christians for Christ's sake or whatever it is, like, that's terrible. I hope that's not most coverage.”
- Pete Kiehart
Photojournalist
Kim reporting in front of Tamil Tiger warriors.
Photo Courtesy: Hun Shik Kim
“The coverage [in parachute journalism] is superficial, and most journalists are Western and American journalists; They don't have enough local knowledge. Not to mention, most of them cannot even speak the local language.”
- Hun Shik Kim, Journalist and Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder
Kim posing in front of a U.S. army tank while covering Iraq.
Photo Courtesy: Hun Shik Kim
“It's about the quality of the content; what is the narrative that you're putting forth and what kind of ideas about the world and people in places are you propagating and reifying through your representation?”
- Tara Pixley
Journalist and Journalism professor at Loyola Marymount University
Tara Pixley photographing the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Photo courtesy: Tara Pixley
“It's very difficult issues, and it's hard to explain to foreign audience; "What happened to these issues in Ukraine and why it's so important.”
- Kristina Berdynskykh, Ukrainian Journalist
Berdynskykh reporting in Ukraine.
Photo Courtesy: Kristina Berdynskykh,
Berdynskykh reporting the conflict in Ukraine.
Photo Courtesy: Kristina Berdynskykh,