The asymmetry of narratives: when freedom of the press only matters on one side

Insight by Sara Manisera

"Rights must belong to everyone, otherwise call them privileges. Equality must truly mean that everyone is equal, and not that some are more equal than others." This is what Gino Strada, the founder of Emergency, used to say. A simple, straightforward, even seemingly obvious statement. Yet, it is precisely here that the credibility of so-called “Western values” is being tested today.

If liberal democracies truly rest on values such as respect for human rights, starting with individual freedoms (freedom of thought, religion, press, and enterprise), these values are increasingly asymmetric and serve merely as a façade, legitimizing military, economic, and colonial actions by allied states and actors.

In recent years, as historian Emanuele Felice wrote in Il Mulino, Western democracies “have appeared and been profoundly contradictory in defending human rights and the rule of law.” We saw this in Afghanistan and Iraq, with military occupations aimed at "exporting democracy" through weapons and undemocratic methods that violated fundamental human rights (just think of the tortures inflicted at Abu Ghraib, not to mention the war crimes exposed by Wikileaks). We also saw it in the genocidal violence and criminal, indiscriminate attacks by Israel against defenseless Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, hospitals and ambulances, healthcare and humanitarian personnel, schools, and journalists.

From October 2023 to January 11, 2024, 152 journalists were killed in Palestine alone. In 2024, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 98 journalists were killed worldwide. Furthermore, in the same year, 553 journalists were arrested globally. The most recent case was that of Cecilia Sala, a journalist for Chora Media and Il Foglio, who was released on January 8, 2025, after spending 21 days in an Iranian prison.

Journalists and media workers are considered civilians and are therefore protected under international law. Deliberately targeting civilians constitutes a war crime. However, if these crimes are only deemed such when those arrested or killed are “ours,” then the rules of the “game” collapse—and with them, the credibility and the very values we claim to defend.

When the news of Sala’s arrest was made public, Il Foglio’s editor Claudio Cerasa wrote: “With Cecilia’s arrest, Iran has chosen to challenge not a journalist, not a newspaper, but everything the West considers universally untouchable: our freedom.”

And yet, the same newspaper, along with many others, has never dedicated a front page or lead story to the journalists killed or arrested by Israel in the past year and a half. Thus, freedom of the press only seems to matter when the journalists affected are deemed “close,” “similar,” and aligned with “our values.”

For decades, the media and cultural machinery have created and shaped an imagery and narrative of the Other as subordinate, defining the value of life asymmetrically within the framework of “West-West” and “West-Non-West.” In other words, human rights and the aspiration for freedoms, including press freedom, are upheld and narrated in a certain way when they align with Western interests. Otherwise, they hold less value, both in media and political terms.

This narrative asymmetry has profound consequences, creating a devastating cultural impact on thought processes and relationships toward those not perceived as “one of us”—usually racialized people from different social classes. This imagery, shaped by words and images, has legitimized and continues to make the infliction of violence and other crimes against the “Other” more acceptable. Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians, and Iraqis, therefore, become more expendable because, in the constructed narrative and their assigned place, they “matter less.” Their deaths are justifiable if they serve the material interests of Western powers.

In the name of realpolitik, we legitimize specific policy choices by allied countries like Israel, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, which carry out crimes and violations of already fragile and imperfect international laws with impunity. The result, however, is the erosion of any remaining rules, making everything permissible, in peace and war alike.

It should not surprise us, then, if journalists or Western citizens more broadly start being used as political leverage and negotiation tools, given the ineffectiveness of international law and the asymmetry of values.

Take the case of Cecilia Sala, a journalist with a valid visa, turned into a bargaining chip by Iran to negotiate the release of Swiss-Iranian drone researcher and technician Mohammed Abedini, who was arrested in Italy on December 16, 2024, at the request of the United States. The arrest was based on a red notice—a tool of international police cooperation—issued by Washington, which has no official diplomatic relations with Iran.

According to U.S. authorities, Abedini exported sophisticated electronic components from the U.S. to Iran, violating U.S.—not Italian—export control and sanctions laws. Iran, on the other hand, accused Sala of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic,” without specifying which ones, while adding that Abedini is not accused of anything in Italy yet remains imprisoned.

The Sala-Abedini case demonstrates that the only way to enforce international law—repeatedly trampled by global North powers—is for the injured party to resort to arresting random citizens of the country responsible for the initial abuse. Only then did Iran manage to secure Abedini’s release. To be credible, liberal democracies must prove not only that their values are preferable but that they are truly universal. This means holding allied countries accountable for human rights violations with political strength and media amplification.

Faced with double standards on rights and the hypocrisy surrounding freedom of the press, one wonders: would adequate media coverage of Palestinian journalists have changed anything? Would more people have protested against the genocide and Western governments’ decisions? Would there have been more political pressure?

We cannot know for sure. However, we do know that the asymmetry of narratives has already created significant disparities. As Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed said at a press conference: “Perhaps if we were Ukrainians or held citizenship with blonde hair and blue eyes, the world would rage and act for us. But because we are Palestinians, we have only one right: to die and be maimed. We have been immolated, incinerated, dismembered, and disemboweled—and recently, we have been freezing to death. What more do you need to see before you act and stop the hell inflicted upon us? Even the press vests we wear now mark us as targets. We are merely documenting a genocide against us. After nearly a year and a half, we want you to stand with us, foot-by-foot, because we are like every other journalist, reporter, and media worker across the globe, regardless of origin, color, or race. Journalism is not a crime. We are not a target.”