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Bringing humanity back to reporting
March 07, 2025
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Extreme humanitarian crises in the world are affecting over 65 million people, yet most readers remain unaware. These crises have largely fallen off the front page, replaced by more commercially appealing narratives.
In Sudan, a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has displaced over 12.3 million people, with widespread violence, food shortages, and attacks on hospitals worsening the situation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to suffer from escalating violence by armed groups, displacing 7 million people and leaving 25.5 million facing severe food insecurity.
In Somalia, ongoing conflict and worsening droughts have pushed 3.4 million people into acute hunger, with projections indicating this could rise to 4.4 million due to insufficient rainfall and funding cuts. Meanwhile, in Syria, nearly 14 years of war have left 17 million people in need of humanitarian aid as the country remains in economic and political collapse.
Yawn. The news cycle has shifted to the latest weight-loss drugs.
The media’s sudden enthusiasm for Ozempic reveals its priorities. For years, mainstream outlets avoided serious discussions on weight loss and healthy living because there was no money to be made by telling people to run three miles a day and to quit smoking. But once pharmaceutical companies introduced profitable drugs, the narrative flipped—now weight loss is a major health goal, as long as it’s drug-induced.
The supposed benefits of these medications are simply the natural effects of weight loss—outcomes that diet and exercise have long provided without the unknown risks of new drugs. Yet, rather than promoting sustainable health solutions, the media pushes a corporate-friendly narrative.
My experience is that the media does a terrible job of covering humanitarian crises and human suffering. At the end of the day, news organizations are for-profit businesses, accountable not to the ideals of journalism but to their stakeholders—owners, advertisers, corporate clients, and banks. Their interests and financial priorities take precedence over journalism’s higher purpose: truth, accountability, and service to the public.
Advertising for Ozempic is more lucrative than advertising for donations to NGOs in Sudan.
Journalism is a noble calling, a profession rooted in the pursuit of truth and service to the public. It exists to inform, to challenge power, and to give voice to the unheard. Investigative journalists uncover corruption, expose injustices, and provide people with the knowledge to make informed decisions. The Fourth Estate is vital in holding governments accountable, ensuring transparency, and preventing abuses of power.
At its best, journalism is more than just reporting facts—it is about storytelling. It captures struggles, triumphs, and realities that might otherwise go unnoticed. Many journalists risk their lives to report on war, human rights abuses, and corruption, driven by a sense of duty rather than profit.
But today, many media outlets have lost its way. The industry has become corporate-driven, focused on profit, clicks, and ad revenue rather than the truth. Instead of amplifying the most urgent stories, it chases what sells—entertainment, outrage, NFL, and Ozempic.
Yet, there are publications which have kept the core values of journalism alive. That’s why I’ve enjoyed writing for Mercator. I have been able to make a career out of human rights journalism. For several years now, I have tried to highlight the suffering of our sisters and brothers in forgotten corners of the world for Western readers. I have appreciated the opportunity to contribute to Mercator occasionally.
Real journalism should highlight hidden struggles, amplify silenced voices, and tell stories that tug at the heart, even if they aren't profitable. It should be a force for truth and justice, not a tool of corporate influence. The growth of social media and small online publications like Mercator is making this possible.
I’m also disappointed that the mainstream media in the United States appears to have become aligned with the Democratic Party. During the pandemic, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube aggressively suppressed discussion on vaccine efficacy, mask mandates, and lockdown policies—often at the behest of government agencies. Documents from the Twitter Files, released by journalists like Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, revealed direct communication between the Biden administration and Big Tech to silence viewpoints that did not align with official narratives. Legitimate concerns, including those raised by medical experts about vaccine side effects and the effectiveness of lockdowns, were labeled as "misinformation" and removed.
One glaring example was the Great Barrington Declaration, authored by epidemiologists from Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford, which advocated for focused protection of vulnerable populations while allowing society to function normally. Despite its scientific grounding, it was deranked on major social media platforms. Leaked emails have revealed high-level government efforts to discredit it. Similarly, concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety were often dismissed under the Biden administration. Dr Jayanta Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor whom President Trump has appointed as head of the National Institutes of Health, was even placed on a "trends blacklist" for questioning vaccine policies and warning of myocarditis risks in young men.
The moral failure of the media led to a failure in public health. Vaccine injuries and the damage caused by lockdowns were ignored. This dynamic also drives the news cycle away from humanitarian disasters, as these stories lack financial or political incentives to sustain coverage. And once a crisis fades from the headlines, aid declines as well.
Audits of USAID by Elon Musk’s DOGE have revealed that billions of dollars for humanitarian relief were instead funneled into DEI initiatives and gender identity programs, while people in Sudan were starving and civilians in Burma were facing daily bombings. Where were the media’s priorities?
President Trump is often described as an enemy of the media. That’s not my feeling. My hope is that reporting will get wider and more balanced. The biggest enemy of the truth is not Trump’s huffing and puffing, but self-censorship amongst journalists. From my reading and talking with colleagues, I feel that there is a new sense of freedom in the air. People can say what they like without fear of being Twitter-mobbed.
Since acquiring Twitter (now X), Elon Musk has significantly reduced censorship, and Facebook may soon follow suit. Trump's relationship with major investment firms like BlackRock is already influencing the banking sector, ending the requirement for companies to align with ESG, DEI, and other progressive agendas to secure funding. This shift raises hopes that American aid will once again prioritize real humanitarian crises—such as the slaughter and displacement of people in Africa and Asia—rather than being diverted into programs run by deranged ideologues.
Additionally, much private aid from the US is faith-based, yet under Biden, religious organizations faced suppression, with government funding steered away from them, despite their proven efficiency in delivering aid directly to those in need. Over the past four years, the media has increasingly focused only on “approved” narratives that align with the interests of financial and political backers. Now, there is renewed hope that reporting will become more honest, faith will no longer be sidelined, and aid will finally reach those who need it most, no matter where they are in the world.
At least, that is what I am praying for.
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Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China-MBA MBA, is a China economic analyst teaching economics at the American University in Mongolia. He has spent 20 years in Asia and is the author of six books about China. His writing has appeared in The Diplomat, South China Morning Post, Jamestown Foundation China Brief, Penthouse, Shanghai Institute of American Studies, Epoch Times, War on the Rocks, Just the News, and Black Belt Magazine.
Image credit: photographer in Ukraine in 2024 / Wikimedia
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