Media Analysis of Libya Flooding Misses NATO Role
Massive flooding in the eastern Libyan city of Derna has resulted in thousands of people dead. Initial estimates placed the death toll at 11,300, but that number has since been revised down to just under 4,000, with 9,000 still missing. The devastation has been linked to the bursting of two dams when the massive Storm Daniel caused flooding.
In aiming to unearth why the death toll was so high, Western media outlets described Libya’s disastrous and ongoing war—but, according to analysis by media expert Gregory Shupak, they made little mention of the role of the West, and specifically NATO. Shupak, who teaches at the University of Toronto, spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about his analysis.
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Sonali Kolhatkar
is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women's Mission. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights, 2023). She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. She reflects on her professional path in her 2014 TEDx talk, “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host.” She can be reached at sonalikolhatkar.com
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