How Palestinian reporters defied Israel’s genocide to redefine journalism

What the report says

Al Jazeera’s Saif Khalid argues that Palestinian journalists have continued reporting from Gaza despite what the article describes as an unprecedented campaign of killings, intimidation and information control by Israel since October 7, 2023. The piece says about 250 journalists have been killed during the war, citing the Committee to Protect Journalists and other press-freedom groups, while noting that international criticism has not been matched by accountability.

The report says Western news outlets often claimed neutrality but, in Al Jazeera’s view, frequently adopted Israeli framing, used passive language around Palestinian deaths and repeated Israeli allegations about Hamas without sufficient scrutiny. It points to examples including coverage of the killings of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and other media workers, as well as Israel’s strike on journalists in Lebanon and the ban imposed on Al Jazeera by the Netanyahu government.

The article also places the current war in a broader historical context, referring to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, settlement expansion and earlier attacks on journalists, including Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. It argues that Palestinian reporters have helped preserve documentation of the war’s human toll, even as many Western outlets, according to the piece, have failed to center Palestinian suffering with the same urgency shown in other conflicts.