By: Zahid Jadwat

According to an independent political analyst, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing war have laid bare the bias of Western media.

In an interview with Radio Islam, political analyst Hashmatullah Moslih called out Western media for repressing voices that may not be in line with the mainstream narrative.

He said: “It is abundantly clear that the Western media is very much biased towards Ukraine. They are giving no air time to the other opinion; the opinion of the Russian government and the people of Donbas who have been in war with the Ukrainian government since 2014”.

Moslih pointed out that the narrative amongst Western media houses during the American invasions of various countries in the Middle East was favourable, as opposed to being critical of the Russian government in the current situation.

“[You] could pick up the difference between the coverage of American media in Afghanistan, where they were constantly supporting the American invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya and Syria,” he said.

Mainstream media houses, including CBS News and the BBC, recently came under fire for alleged racist comments made by journalists.

CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata, speaking on the invasion on air, said: “This [Ukraine] isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European, I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that or hope that it’s going to happen”.

This raised questions surrounding perceived double standards amongst western media.

Moslih cited an incident on Australian television in which the presenter ordered a Russian supporter of the invasion to leave the studio for his comments.

Listen to the full interview here: