Vince Vento ‘21
The media, in a multitude of ways, has failed the general American public in its attempts to be transparent and uninfluenced by a particular agenda. Time and time again, we have seen that it is not just Fox News and CNN that push a certain agenda while neglecting to tell a true depiction of what is going on. In order for journalism to properly function, it is necessary for news outlets to include stories that are not just catchy or clickbait but that tell the stories of those who are fighting for change in the world.
Indigenous communities and activists are most often the victims of media selectivism. They are excluded from the narrative even though they may have started a movement that is now changing the world. They are at the forefront of the fight against the climate change crisis, yet we almost never hear their stories like we should.
One of the most recent examples of media selectivism is the media’s contrasting responses to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire earlier this year and the fires that have raged in the Amazon over the past few weeks. Now, neither story is unknown, but does the media’s selective focus tell a story in an of itself? “I think that the Notre Dame fire only got more media coverage and attention because of its country of origin,” says Josh Huang ‘22.
The media coverage of the Notre Dame fire was explosive and resulted in billions of dollars of donations to help repair it, while the Amazon burned for weeks before many outlets began to cover the story extensively. However, the media has neglected to cover the story behind the people fighting for the Amazon for decades, not just in this particular instance.
In an interview with The Atlantic, a representative of the Munduruku people in Brazil’s Pará state, Aldilo Amancio Caetano Kaba Mundurku, argued that “indigenous people have always been protecting biodiversity and nature,” and that they have continuously fought against the corrupt capitalism that leads to deforestation and wildfires in the Amazon. The media should instead be telling the stories of these activists and fighters that protect the world from corruption before a disaster, not just when it is already too late. “We don’t get to hear enough about the people that consistently fight for the Amazon, regardless of whether there is a story or not,” says Will Semmer ‘21.
Indigenous peoples have also been left out of the media’s coverage of the fight against the climate crisis. The media has focused its efforts on highlighting the millions of students across the globe that have chosen to strike from school in the wake of legislative inaction against the climate crisis. Although a laudable cause, the media appears to have chosen students, particularly activist Greta Thunberg, as their sole embodiment of the fight for change. Their stories are equally as important as those of the indigenous people, but the problem lies in the media’s unequal coverage of these sides.
Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by the consequences of the climate crisis: the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas will eventually lead to a lack of adequate running water for rural dwellers; indigenous peoples in Africa’s Kalahari Basin now must survive off government aid because rising temperatures and increasing dunes threaten their way of life and their practices; and those living in the Arctic are becoming increasingly affected by melting ice, which provides them with a food source and security. Yet the vast majority of news outlets are not covering these stories.
It is the media’s duty to tell the stories of the indigenous people who are affected by the climate crisis, just as much as it is their duty to tell the stories of the citizens of the Global Climate Strike. Often times, only one side of this narrative is adequately told. “I think it’s important for media platforms to tell all perspectives of a story so that there is equal representation,” says Kathleen Mark ‘21.
The media should be a way to tell the stories of those that do not have the opportunity to do so themselves. The stories of indigenous activists and leaders are not yet adequately told. This must change if the media is to be an impartial source of relevant and important news. If the media is to truly fulfill its obligation to society, it must examine its biases.