欧美文化:Interview: Western media report half-truths about the world, says writer

CAIRO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Western media are misleading the world and reporting half the truth or even no truth at all regarding specific countries, Egyptian writer Azza Radwan Sedky has said.

"We around the world listen to them and take it as a given that they are right and fair," said the retired communications professor in a recent interview with Xinhua at her home in Cairo.

The writer, who also carries Canadian nationality, has been living and teaching in Canada for over three decades.

"Because they're not fair, because they're not objective and because they manipulate and incite, then we are in danger of knowing half the truth or no truth at all," she added.

Despite living mostly in a Western society, Sedky has written several articles in Arabic and English for the Egyptian media, warning against the fact-twisting Western media, including a recent article entitled "Follow the Western media -- at your own risk" published on Ahramonline, the English website of Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram newspaper.

She also wrote a book entitled "Cairo Rewind, The first two years of Egypt's revolution, 2011-2013" questioning the Western media's biased approach to Egypt's 2011 revolution.

She said her book was motivated by seeing how the Western media urged Egyptians to continue the protests in that revolution. "I felt there was something wrong ... I felt there was incitement," Sedky told Xinhua.

"They (the Western media) are very dangerous because they can incite," the professor warned.

When some Egyptians burnt a number of government buildings in 2011, the Western media said it was their right to do so, but when Capitol Hill chaos took place in 2021, they described it as "anarchy."

"Why don't you call it 'anarchy' elsewhere too?" Sedky said.

The professor said that the Western media tend to turn a positive event into negative while reporting on certain countries.

"It is the same with China, Russia and anywhere where the Western media are not satisfied with what is happening," she emphasized, adding: "Even if the article is positive, there's always a twist in it to make it come as negative."

She said that Western media could be attacking China to obstruct its development and growing economy.

When Western media quote the Chinese authorities, for instance, they would use verbs like "claimed" or "alleged" instead of "said" to make the reader think it's untrue, Sedky pointed out. "The wording changes so that you can think in a different way."

"We watch and listen to them (the Western media). So, at least be careful of what they're saying," Sedky said. "Try and find alternatives."