{"id":322281,"date":"2026-01-28T08:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=322281"},"modified":"2026-01-30T08:59:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T08:59:48","slug":"if-trump-attacks-iran-western-media-will-be-cheering-him-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=322281","title":{"rendered":"If Trump attacks Iran, western media will be cheering him on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Malone \u2013 Middle East Eye Jan 26, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Western news organisations, which often style themselves as \u201cthe international media\u201d, wear masks.<\/p>\n

They wear masks when they say they \u201cspeak truth to power\u201d. They wear masks when they say they \u201cgive a voice to the voiceless\u201d. And they wear masks in the manner in which they cover western allies versus adversaries.<\/p>\n

Those masks, despite their best efforts, have slipped regularly during Israel\u2019s genocide<\/a> against the Palestinian<\/a> people – the story that has perhaps most nakedly exposed the inherent weakness of foreign correspondents since British<\/a> and American<\/a> journalists first began sending dispatches to London and New York by telegraph in the 1800s.<\/p>\n

That weakness, among others, is an inability to separate the tenor of their coverage from the policies of their own governments.<\/p>\n

They would fiercely deny it, but the world\u2019s biggest news organisations – the BBC, the New York Times and CNN, to name just a few – approach friends and foes of the West very differently.<\/p>\n

Russia<\/a> and Egypt<\/a> are not judged by the same rules. Saudi Arabia<\/a>\u2019s Mohammed bin Salman is treated as a complex reformer, while North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un is lampooned as a bumbling dictator.<\/p>\n

And in recent weeks, we\u2019ve seen a masterclass in double standards in coverage of the massive anti-government protests in Iran<\/a>, and US President Donald Trump\u2019s boorish threats to attack the country.<\/p>\n

Well-worn pattern<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To be clear, I\u2019m not making a value judgment. I\u2019m not saying that Iranian protesters do not deserve to be humanised and to have their stories told. I\u2019m not saying that reports of demonstrators being killed<\/a> and imprisoned in huge numbers are not horrifying and important. And I\u2019m not saying that Iranian authorities should not be held to account.<\/p>\n

That is not the point here. The point is that the scrutiny is not applied evenly.<\/p>\n

The most obvious contrast is with how the Israeli<\/a> government, its relentless assault on Gaza, and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are handled in the news.<\/p>\n

Take Newsnight, the BBC\u2019s flagship current affairs talk show. On 9 October 2023, one of the most extraordinary exchanges I\u2019ve ever seen on television took place when Husam Zomlot, then head of the Palestinian mission to Britain, appeared on the show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By that point, more than 800 people had been killed by Israel in Gaza, and Zomlot had just learned that seven members of his extended family, including children, were among them. After he described the circumstances of their killings, presenter Kirsty Wark expressed the briefest of sympathies, before immediately confronting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry for your own personal loss,\u201d she said. \u201cCan I just be clear though? You cannot condone the killing of civilians in Israel, can you? Nor the kidnap of families?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was to become a well-worn pattern. Palestinians were not permitted to be on western television without facing the \u201cDo you condemn Hamas?\u201d refrain.<\/p>\n

They were not allowed to talk about their own suffering, to ring the alarm over the ethnic cleansing of Gaza that they rightly told us all along was a genocide<\/a>, without first satisfying the presenter that they were the \u201cgood\u201d sort of Palestinian.<\/p>\n

No pushback<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The other ritual interruption, often used in response to statements of verifiable fact from Palestinian guests, representatives of aid agencies, and just about anyone critical of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza was: \u201cBut Israel would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have not witnessed any news presenter counter a guest with \u201cIran would say\u201d since the protests began. Not once. It would be unthinkable and, if it did happen, there would be howls of rage from the political and media establishments.<\/p>\n

The point, again, is not that the media should interject on a point of confirmed fact that Iranian authorities may refute. It\u2019s that they shouldn\u2019t do it with Israel either.<\/p>\n

Now compare Zomlot\u2019s experience of Newsnight with that of a panel assembled<\/a> to discuss Iran as the drumbeat of war drew closer.<\/p>\n

Omid Djalili, a British-born comedian of Iranian descent, was the star guest in a line-up that also included former MI6 chief Alex Younger, Baroness Helena Kennedy, and right-wing columnist Matthew Syed.<\/p>\n