Artist-made portraits of murdered Palestinian journalists plastered to the ABC offices to shed light on the media silence of their fallen colleagues in Gaza. 40 portraits of killed journalists were stuck to the entrance at about 4:30am. this morning in Naarm/Melbourne.
- Letter from journalists to Australian media outlets.Please sign the below letter to support ethical reporting on Israel and Palestine.
- Israel’s devastating bombing campaign and media blockade in Gaza threatens newsgathering and press freedom in an unprecedented fashion. Newsrooms around the world have a duty to cover these events with integrity, transparency and rigour.
As of November 23, more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed – including roughly 6,000 children – by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis. Included in the mounting death toll are at least 53 journalists – 46 Palestinians, 3 Lebanese and 4 Israelis – according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which it says is the deadliest conflict for journalists since it began tracking deaths in 1992.
As reporters, editors, photographers, producers, and other workers in newsrooms around Australia, we are appalled at the slaughter of our colleagues and their families and the apparent targeting of journalists by the Israeli government, which constitutes a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
We join hundreds of our colleagues in the US, Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists and others in calling for an end to attacks on journalists and journalism itself. We also call for an end to violence against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon; the perpetrators of crimes against journalists and civilians be held to account; and Australian newsroom leaders to be as clear-eyed in their coverage of atrocities committed by Israel as they are of those committed by Hamas. We stand by our Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish and Israeli colleagues during a time that is personally and professionally confronting for them. The rise in both Islamophobia and antisemitism has ripple effects for those communities worldwide.
It is our duty as journalists to hold the powerful to account, to deliver truth and full context to our audiences, and to do so courageously without fear of political intimidation. Audiences are viewing much of this war through the lens of social media, fuelling suspicion of the mainstream media’s ability to properly inform audiences of events on the ground. We risk losing the trust of our audiences if we fail to apply the most stringent journalistic principles and cover this conflict in full.
We – journalists from across the Australian media landscape – call on Australian newsrooms to undertake these steps to improve coverage:1. Adhere to truth over ‘both-sidesism’. Both-sidesism is not balanced or impartial reporting; it acts as a constraint on truth by shrouding the enormous scale of the human suffering currently being perpetrated by Israeli forces. The immense and disproportionate human suffering of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza should not be minimised.
2. Centre the human tragedy in the coverage of the conflict. Human-focused coverage can include, as examples, daily updates on the civilian death tolls, sharing the profiles and stories of the lives lost and highlighting the humanitarian catastrophe.
3. Apply as much professional scepticism when prioritising or relying on uncorroborated Israeli government and military sources to shape coverage as is applied to Hamas. The Israeli government is also an actor in this conflict, with mounting evidence it is committing war crimes and a documented history of sharing misinformation. The Israeli government’s version of events should never be reported verbatim without context or fact-checking. This is our basic responsibility as journalists.
4. Give adequate coverage to credible allegations of war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, and don’t avoid using the term “Palestine” where appropriate.
5. Provide historical context when referencing the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The conflict did not start on October 7 and it is the media’s responsibility to ensure audiences are fully informed. Important contextual references include:
a. the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their native lands in 1948 to make way for the state of Israel
b. the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel since 1967, including that the UN deemed Gaza an Israeli-occupied territory even after Israel’s withdrawal from the enclave in 2005
c. the roughly 5,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including around 150 children, thousands of whom are held without charge and many of whom are tortured
6. Provide full and fair coverage of Australia’s growing anti-war movement, including the large weekly protests in capital cities, and the traumatising impact of the conflict on Arab, Muslim and Jewish communities.
7. Be transparent about journalists who have been on all-expenses paid trips to Israel organised by pro-Israeli government groups. It is essential for audience transparency that reports include disclosures of a journalist’s participation in all-expenses paid trips to Israel. We also urge all Australian journalists from hereon to reject offers of paid trips to the Middle East.
8. Trust Australian journalists of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and Jewish backgrounds to do their jobs. Diversity is an asset in newsrooms and should be harnessed to enrich coverage. Journalists with identities that intersect with a live issue bring insights and perspectives otherwise unattainable from a disconnected, privileged vantage point.Signed, - National Media Section Committee – Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance
ABC MEAA National House Committee
Guardian MEAA House Committee
Amin Abbas
Lachlan Abbott
Matthew Abbott
Patrick Abboud
Farah Abdurahman
Royce Akers
Ahmed Aku
Khaled Al Khawaldeh
Mahir Ali
Belad Al-Karkhey
Drew Ambrose
Tito Ambyo
Simone Amelia Jordan
Cheyne Anderson
Crystal Andrews
Mark Anning
Misbah Ansari
Lesley Apps
Tony Armstrong
Kate Atkinson
Bethany Atkinson-Quinton
Tahlea Aualiitia
Kate Aubusson
Ashleigh Austen
Amal Awad
Sarah Ayoub
Melanie Baak
Wendy Bacon
Ilias Bakalla
Meghna Bali
Laura Banks
Lucy Beaumont
Jordyn Beazley
Paul Begley
Namila Benson
Kelly Bergsma
Aarti Betigeri
Jarni Blakkarly
Marie Blanch
Scheherazade Bloul
Chloe Booker
Matilda Boseley
Yaara Bou Melhem
Catherine Bouris
Emma Brasier
Dechlan Brennan
Nino Bucci
Mairi Burford
Helena Burke
Gavin Butler
Oliver Caffrey
Sian Cain
Katie Camarena
Mel Campbell
Wendy Carlisle
Luke Cass
Caitlin Cassidy
Bipasha Chakraborty
Mariam Chehab
Joyce Cheng
Nick Chesterfield
Rachel Choy
Mell Chun
Benjamin Clark
Dea Clark
George Clarke
Olivia Cleal
Eelemarni Close-Brown
Lachlan Coady
Anthony Cocks
Shannon Colee
Claire Connelly
Fleur Connick
Stephanie Convery
Isobel Cootes
Marni Cordell
Tim Coronel
Lisa Cox
Sunanda Creagh
Alison Croggon
Tracey Croke
Peter Cronau
Natalie Croxon
Lucie Cutting
Cassandra Dalgleish
Nehal Dalgliesh
Angus Dalton
Matt Davidson
Dionne Davis
Kabel Dawes
Christopher Dengate
Matt Dennien
Jenny Denton
Miriam Deprez
Imogen Dewey
Courtney DeWitt
Abbir Dib
Susan Dirgham
Grant Doyle
Lauren Dubois
Josh Duggan
Danielle Dunsmore
Billie Eder
Ben Eltham
Rushani Epa
Tracey Evans
Michelle Fahy
Farid Farid
Sarah Farquharson
Rashna Farrukh
Lisa Favazzo
Nick Feik
Jordan Fennell
Ethan Floud
Michael Forno
Nikolas Fotakis
Jan Fran
Warwick Fry
Melissa Fulton
Nell Geraets
Andrew Gigacz
David Glanz
Joel Gould
Chris Graham
Paul Gregoire
Raymond Grenfell
Peter Greste
Joanna Guelas
Reena Gupta
Bianca Hall
Sowaibah Hanifie
Camilla Hannan
Libby Harkness
Steph Harmon
Madeline Hayman-Reber
Doug Hendrie
Miles Herbert
Jess Hill
Marty Hirst
Andrew Hobbs
Rachael Hocking
Alana Holmberg
Cai Holroyd
Rebekah Holt
Reece Hooker
Madison Howarth
Matt Hrkac
Laura Hughes
Shakira Hussein
Charby Ibrahim
Ben Ice
Soaliha Iqbal
Lauren Ironmonger
Antoun Issa
Narelda Jacobs
Carla Jaeger
Arshmah Jamal
Abigail Javier
Kara Jensen-Mackinnon
Greg Jericho
Beverley Johanson
Poppy Johnston
Rae Johnston
Caitlin Johnstone
Eddy Jokovich
Ruby Jones
Neha Kale
Julia Kanapathippillai
Christina Karras
Fiona Katauskas
Jaspreet Kaur
Stuart Kavanagh
Zoe Kean
Bernard Keane
Alex Kelly
Cait Kelly
Jo Khan
Naeun Kim
Lia Kim
Richard King
Benita Kolovos
Joe Koning
Jon Kudelka
Royce Kurmelovs
Joanne Lahood
Lee Tran Lam
Jackson Langford
Antoinette Lattouf
Max Laughton
Benjamin Law
Soraya Lennie
Patrick Lenton
Charlie Lewis
Esther Linder
Jake Lloyd Jones
Samantha Lock
Antony Loewenstein
Donna Lu
Steven Macarounas
Kate MacDonald
Elizabeth Macdonald
Michelle Macklem
Graeme Macmillan
Clare Macpherson
Ben Madden
Sarah Malik
Jim Malo
Paul Malone
Rebekah Manibog
Kelly Marie Smith
Elle Marsh
Marguerite Marshall
Laura Masia
Robbie Mason
Bonita Mason
David Maurice Smith
Megan Maurice
Shannon May Powell
Melissa Maykin
Natalia Maystorovich Chullo
Ange McCormack
Ted McDonnell
Ben McKelvey
Alex McKinnon
Amy McQuire
Michael Meadows
Luke Mesterovic
Andrew Miller
Alex Mills
Jennifer Mills
David Milner
Alex Mitchell
Scott Mitchell
Fran Molloy
Rick Morton
Maher Mughrabi
Sam Murden
Peter Murphy
Laura Murphy-Oates
Callan Murray
Chris Nash
Isaac Nellist
Jessica Nicholas
Joshua Nicholas
Matt Nicholls
Sam Nichols
Bianca Nogrady
Bernadette Nunn
Stephanie Nuzzo
Caitlin O’Keeffe-White
Jodie O’Brien
Firstdog Onthemoon
Max Opray
Esra Ozkul
Aydin Payne
Rohan Pearce
Luke Pearson
Fiona Pepper
Miki Perkins
Issy Phillips
Mark Phillips
Luke Plunkett
Penny Pryor
Sana Qadar
Basmah Qazi
Jinghua Qian
Jennetta Quinn-Bates
Mostafa Rachwani
Jonno Revanche
Jared Richards
Arielle Richards
Andrew Rickert
Dave Rimi-Cheng
Drew Rooke
Derek Rose
Annabel Ross
David Rowe
Lyndal Rowlands
Stephen Russell
Denham Sadler
Tan Safi
Merryana Salem
Najma Sambul
Renae Saxby
Eily Schulz
Serpil Senelmis
Mark Serrels
Jeanette Severs
Dean Sewell
Leila Shunnar
Amaani Siddeek
Jane Singleton
Lisa Skerrett
Belinda Smith
Rachel Smith
Jeff Sparrow
Sally Spicer
Andrew Stafford
Ky Stewart
Dylan Storer
Hannah Story
Peri Strathearn
Marcus Strom
Wendy Syfret
Angus Thomson
Brian Thomson
Jon Tjhia
Noel Towell
Isabella Trimboli
Catherine Turner
Helen Tzarimas
Kasun Ubayasiri
Alan Vaarwerk
Talecia Vescio
Marnie Vinall
Calla Wahlquist
Max Walden
Tony Walker
Sam Wallman
Beverley Wang
Marlee Jane Ward
Madison Watt
Alan Whykes
Marisa Wikramanayake
Cathy Wilcox
Emily Wind
Rachel Withers
Patrick Witton
Kat Wong
Keva York
Stephanie Youssef
Mohamad Youssef
Hussen Zamzame
Stevie Zhang
Ian Curr 16 October 2024