With Rawan Aldamen, Director of the ARIJ network ARIJ, @arij; Nasser Abou baker, Secretary General of the Palestine Journalists’ Union and Vice-President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) @InfoPJS; and Ricardo Mir de Francia, senior reporter for El Periodico and former Middle East correspondent @mirdf. Moderated by Rana Al Akbany, journalist and director of North Africa Media Academy.
Key issues
More than a year has passed since the start of the new phase in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raging in the Gaza Strip and occupied Palestine. Between the bombs, journalists continue to try to exercise their profession at the risk of their lives. The panelists stated the war in Gaza is not just geopolitical, it is a real parallel war being waged against journalism. The conference gave voices to these journalists, shedding light on attacks supposedly carried out by the Israeli authorities, and revealing the lack, they argued, of quality coverage of this war in the west.
What they said:
Nasser Abou baker: « If you are a journalist in Palestine, you are a target. »
« They don’t want to spread the truth over their atrocities all around the world. »
« Some Palestinians journalists don’t want to work anymore; they are afraid for their lives. »
Rawan Aldamen: « If we don’t speak up they will continue to destroy journalism in the region. »
Ricardo Mir de Francia: « We have the responsibility to tell the narrative. »
Takeaways
The conference was of vital importance in alerting the world about how journalism is in danger in the Middle East. The Israeli authorities do not want public opinion to be diverted by the war in Gaza, and to remedy this, they are waging a real war against journalism and its institutions. Some alarming figures were given on the situation in Gaza: 43% of Palestinian journalists have lost their jobs, 21% were injured during the conflict, and 60% are now living in tents. Abominable working conditions that have even led some of them to stop working. Rawan Aldamen gave these stark figures to raise the alarm to keep the world aware of this threat against journalism. The treatment of war in the West is also a real problem: too many media groups have over-cautious editorial lines and treat Palestinian and Israeli victims inequally, Ricardo Mir de Francia insisted. The responsibility to report accurately and correctly on this conflict is therefore paramount.
Pierrick Vernier (IHECS)