The biggest news of the past week has been Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine. As news channels scrambled to provide round the clock coverage, several people pointed out “racism” in the way they presented their reports, especially compared with news reports of similar military offensives carried out in the Global South.

This was also flagged by the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association, which cautioned media houses to be “mindful of implicit and explicit bias” in their coverage.

A Twitter thread by journalist Alan MacLeod detailed some of the instances.

On BBC News, Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor David Sakvarelidze explained being very emotional as he was seeing “European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed everyday”.

On CBS News, foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata was reporting from Kyiv. He said, “This is a relatively civilised, relatively European city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it is going to happen.” He also said this wasn’t “Iraq or Afghanistan” – countries that are clearly synonymous with conflict. D’Agata later apologised in a broadcast.

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