When does media content become truly universal? When it resonates with people everywhere, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, religion or culture, class or gender. The World Cup, which begins next month, is an example of a media event that is universal in terms of its appeal.
Massive natural calamities such as earthquakes and cyclones and the colossal human suffering that accompany them, are yet other examples of happenings, publicized by the media, that elicit sympathy across borders and boundaries.
Even a man-made catastrophe, like an imminent war, can provoke a huge response from people in different countries and continents. We witnessed that in the weeks before the US helmed invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003. The media — especially the alternative media— played a very significant role in the mass mobilization of men, women and children against the war. Though the citizens of the world failed to stop the war, they succeeded nonetheless to de-legitimize it.
In the eighties, sections of the print and electronic media played a role in spreading awareness about the evil of apartheid and the imperative need to eliminate the apartheid regime in Pretoria. The anti-apartheid movement became a global movement and campaigns to shun multinational corporations that did business with the apartheid regime gathered momentum leading eventually to the demise of the regime in the nineties.
The South African and Iraqi episodes show that the media can play a role in universalizing or globalizing struggles for justice and human dignity. Enhancing knowledge of, and disseminating information on, struggles for justice and human dignity should be one of the primary goals of the media in the 21st century. The multiple crises facing humanity today —- from the environmental crisis to the economic crisis—- which threatens the very survival of the human race, compels the media to re-evaluate its role. The media can no longer just report and analyze. It has to be proactive. It has to take a stand.
Can the media help to universalize the struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination? Can the print and electronic media make people in the East and the West aware of the terrible injustice done to the Palestinians and why recognizing their legitimate right to nationhood is vital for world peace? If some of the most important media channels in the world dare not speak up for the Palestinians, is it because of the inordinate power and influence exercised by Zionist elements over the media?
Can the media make more people in the Global North and the Global South aware of other noble causes as well— causes such as the prohibition of nuclear weapons and the abolition of the veto in the United Nations Security Council, to name but two? It is significant that many important media outlets have not championed these causes. Is it because of powerful vested interests that they are beholden to?
What about some other concerns that the mainstream print and electronic media could have focused upon such as the eradication of poverty, the elimination of illiteracy, and the expansion of primary health care facilities to those at the bottom of the heap— concerns which are akin to some of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG)? If raising mass consciousness in relation to these concerns has not been the top priority of the mainstream media at national and global level, is it because of the media’s own failing, or is it because the media, especially in the case of state-run entities, is reluctant to evaluate the state’s performance vis-à-vis these goals, or is it because of global capitalism itself which subordinates anti-poverty measures, and pro- primary education and pro-basic health care programs to profits and markets?
Whatever the explanation, it is only too obvious that any endeavor to universalize justice through the media is bound to face formidable obstacles. It is not quite the same as universalizing a sport or a song. Universalizing charity in the wake of some natural calamity, as we have seen, is also not an onerous task. Because universalizing justice means challenging dominant power structures and vested interests that impact upon the media, it is destined to be a long and arduous struggle.
Be that as it may, committed, courageous individuals and groups within and without the media cannot afford to surrender. To surrender is to abandon humanity at its most perilous hour.
Remarks by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Professor of Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, and President, International Movement for a Just World (JUST).