The safety of journalists in Gaza
Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with Peter Beinart, Christopher Resch and Muhammad Shehadah
The safety of journalists in Gaza
How to Protect Journalists in War Zones?
According to Reporters without borders (RSF), more than 210 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in nearly 23 months of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory. At least 56 of them were intentionally targeted by the Israeli army or killed while doing their job. The increase in targeted killings against representatives of the critical media is particularly alarming. At the same time, the number of resolved cases is appallingly low - around 90% of reported cases are never resolved and perpetrators act in a climate of impunity.
The number of violent attacks against journalists - online as well as offline - is rising. According to the International Press Institute (IPI), over 1700 journalists have been killed as a result of their professional activities since the year 2000). The number of actual victims is presumably many times higher as is the number of those who are attacked or threatened because of their work.
The safety of journalists is an essential condition for the realisation of the universal, inalienable right to freedom of expression and of the media, as stipulated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. States have a clear responsibility to protect journalists to ensure safe working conditions.
Being a journalist has become one of the most risky professions of all. The panel will discuss what it needs to better the working conditions in Gaza.
Peter Beinart is an American liberal columnist, journalist, and political commentator. The Beinart Notebook is on Substack since 2020. Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He is an editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, a contributing opinion columnist at The New York Times and a political commentator for MSNBC. His latest book: “Being Jewish after the destruction of Gaza”.
Christopher Resch, press officer at Reporters Without Borders with a particular focus on the MENA region. Previously, he worked as a freelance journalist for various German media outlets and as a trainer in the fields of Islam, radicalisation, prevention, and anti-discrimination. He is an Arabist and the editor of the anthology Media Freedom in Egypt (2015, von Halem).
Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian writer and analyst from Gaza, is a visiting fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations.
Tessa Szyszkowitz is an author, UK correspondent and former Middle East correspondent for Austrian, German and Swiss publications like the weekly Falter. Her latest book was “Echte Engländer - Britain and Brexit” (2018)