Glory to Ukraine! The Media Fairytale

The American media does an excellent job of painting beautiful pictures of things they wish to promote: government policies, political candidates, and our allies - regardless of their laws or actions. They supported Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar through their transition to become a democracy, only to turn a blind eye on Myanmar’s killings of Rohingya Muslims under the leadership of Kyi. The media supported the Iraq War, Syrian Rebels (60 % of whom held extremist views), and most recently inflation. Since February, support has poured onto Ukraine. Some have described Ukraine as a fledgling democracy; others as the world’s “beacon of light”. 

No matter the touching words, Ukraine is a country that has undoubtedly gone through its ups and downs on its journey to become a democracy. Very rarely does a country have a peaceful and stable transition to a different form of government. Still, don’t let the media fool you. According to Transparency International, Ukraine ranked 122 out of 180 countries in corruption. In other words they are the second most corrupt country in Europe, only second to Russia. In 2015 The Guardian called Ukraine “the most corrupt country in Europe.” Other polls show Ukraine in similar rankings. 23% of public service users reported that they had to pay a bribe in the past year. Even more recently, in March Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky nationalized all TV programs into one platform, and restricted activities of opposition parties. This was allegedly in an effort to combat misinformation about the war and to provide a “unified information policy.” Essentially, have the government control all media. Not only is this anti-democratic, it restricts access to information that millions of Ukrainians rely on. But this will never be mentioned because Ukraine is on team anti-Russia, and that’s all that matters. It is evident that corruption runs rampant throughout the country. While progress has been made, it is nowhere near enough to consider Ukraine a “beacon of light”, as the Seattle Times referred to Ukraine as. The pillars of freedom are not being held by Ukraine. To put it bluntly, they’re not the country you want to establish your model of freedom with. 

This is not to say that Ukraine shouldn’t be supported, that we should hate them, or that we should be pro-Russian supporters. Ukraine has made progress in its fight against corruption, and one would hope that the fight continues on an upward trajectory. Ukraine has the right to defend itself from any attack from any nation. The Russian Federation has proven through their actions that peaceful resolutions come only second to war. However, Ukraine’s right to self defense isn’t in question here. The issue lies with how Ukraine, and other nations/groups the media supports, are perceived. Again, the act of becoming a democracy is a long and arduous journey. There is no denying that nations will struggle with the transition. But the fact remains that Ukraine has remained corrupt since their 2014 Maidan Revolution. As long as countries are perceived to be somewhat democratic, that is all that is necessary for the American media to sell you their story. Do your research before you throw yourself behind a cause. There’s never a reason to not know all the facts.