My Take | How US media manufacture consent on Hong Kong
- New study by an independent American watchdog finds major news groups disproportionately focus on city protests with a single-minded narrative while ignoring far more violent unrest in countries around the world
It’s the year of violent protests around the world, but those in Hong Kong get all the attention from mainstream American media.
A comparative study by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (fair.org), an independent US media watchdog, of The New York Times and CNN makes for fascinating reading about their extraordinary focus on the city against three other countries.
There have been the “Yellow Vests” in France and Catalan protests in Spain. Then came violent clashes with protesters in Lebanon, Gaza, Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, Iran and Iraq. Those killed by security forces range from dozens and hundreds to thousands, according to independent rights groups.
Hong Kong protests: The full story in infographics
Up to November 22, FAIR finds, “there have been 737 stories on the Hong Kong protests, 12 on Ecuador, 28 on Haiti and 36 on Chile.
“This enormous disparity cannot be explained by the other protests’ size or significance, nor the severity of the repression meted out by security services. No one has died at the hands of the Hong Kong security forces, although one protester died after falling from a building and a 70-year-old man was killed by a brick thrown by protesters.”
