Index on Censorship weekly round-up
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Friday, 04 October 2024
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Journalists are often prevented from reporting in conflict zones. Photo by Enno Lenze
If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? This well-known philosophical question most likely stems from the work of 18th century philosopher George Berkeley, who questioned the possibility of “unperceived existence”. In other words – did something really happen if no one is around to witness or perceive it?
This might seem a lofty and pretentious way to start this week’s Index newsletter. But the first-hand observance and subsequent documentation of events is the fundamental basis of rigorous journalism, and enables injustices to be accurately reported around the world. It provides us with the ability to understand truth from falsehood. And it is being increasingly undermined.
Journalistic “black holes” are appearing in conflicts globally, stopping the world from being able to witness what is happening on the ground, and therefore causing us to question reality.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by Hamas's incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has banned foreign media access in Gaza. Only very limited international news crews are allowed in under strict conditions. This has left the world reliant on press statements, the words of government officials, and individual Palestinian journalists, who have risked their lives to showcase the brutality of the war on social media.
And many have lost their lives in the process. According to investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ([link removed]) , as of 4 October 2024, at least 127 journalists and media workers are among the more than 42,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis killed since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation started gathering data in 1992. The CPJ has determined that at least five of these journalists were directly targeted.
Major broadcasters have also been targeted. Last month, Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank was raided ([link removed]) and shut down for 45 days by Israeli soldiers, following the closure of the channel’s East Jerusalem office ([link removed]) in May, on claims that they are a threat to Israel’s national security. But as Al Jazeera English’s Gaza correspondent Youmna El Sayed writes for Index ([link removed]) this week, such shutdowns of legitimate news providers prevent global audiences from being able to see the pain and suffering that is being endured by both Palestinians and Israelis, encouraging misinformation to propagate.
As hostilities escalate across the Middle East, news channels continue to be curtailed. This week, an air strike destroyed the headquarters of the religious al-Sirat TV station in Beirut ([link removed]) , Lebanon, on grounds that it was being used to store Hezbollah weapons, a claim which Hezbollah denies. Foreign correspondents are, however, still allowed in Lebanon - but in Iran all broadcasting is controlled by the state, with foreign journalists barred, meaning access to objective reporting is essentially impossible.
Outside of the region, other countries’ severe reporting restrictions and intimidation of journalists have made it difficult for global audiences to comprehend what is happening in conflicts. This includes Kashmir, the disputed mountainous region between India and Pakistan, and Sudan, where it is estimated that 90% of the country’s media infrastructure ([link removed]) has been wiped out by the civil war.
What is the impact of this? The worrying rise in press suppression not only creates huge risks for journalists, but severely curtails people’s ability to understand geopolitics, conflict, and in future, historical events. It stops us from being able to weigh things up and form opinions based on what we have perceived.
Ultimately, it is impossible for any news producer, whether they be an individual correspondent or a major broadcaster, to be truly “objective”. People are driven by motives, both emotional and financial, and their own lived experiences. A news organisation, backed by a particular country or group, will appear truthful to some and severely biased to others.
But the only way to ensure some level of objectivity is to retain access to a broad range of sources, from the BBC to Al Jazeera, helping us form a more rounded world view. To go back to Berkeley’s philosophical analysis, the only way to verify the truth is to have the privilege of witnessing the evidence. Without this, it becomes virtually impossible to be able to tell fact from fiction.
Sarah Dawood, Editor
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** Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera’s West Bank office is a blow to press freedom
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Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal area in Gaza City on 9 October 2023. Photo by Naaman Omar, Palestinian News and Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, CC BY-SA 3.0
Israel has long exercised suppression against the freedom of press and media in the occupied Palestinian territories, writes the network's ([link removed]) Youmna El Sayed ([link removed]) . Many Palestinian journalists have been killed, attacked, threatened and arrested.
Palestinian journalists’ jobs in the occupied territories have become almost impossible. It’s a constant life-threatening situation for journalists and their families, El Sayed tells Index. Last week, Israeli soldiers raided the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah within the occupied West Bank and ordered the network’s bureau to shut for 45 days.
** Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visits Index exhibition in Warsaw
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Etienne de Poncins, Sviatlana Tskihanouskaya and Fatène Benhabylès-Foeth (left to right). Photo by Georgia Beeston
On Wednesday 2 October, Index on Censorship displayed its exhibition, Letters from Lukashenka’s Prisoners, at the French Embassy in Warsaw. The event paid tribute to the more than 1,000 political prisoners in Belarus.
To a room of journalists, activists, and human rights organisations, speakers paid tribute to the Belarusian political prisoners still behind bars today. Etienne de Poncins, French Ambassador to Ukraine; Fatène Benhabylès-Foeth, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation; and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus spoke at the event.
“I am so grateful about the exhibition that you have presented here and the programme for imprisoned people,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
The exhibition displayed the letters and stories of three Belarusian political prisoners (Maria Kalesnikava, Maksim Znak, and Andrei Aliaksandrau) and invited guests to write messages of solidarity back.
** British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah denied freedom once again
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Photo by Alaa Abd El-Fatah, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the 42-year-old British-Egyptian imprisoned activist, software engineer and writer, was due to be released after his five-year prison sentence ended on 29 September. Yet he still remains behind bars. Despite this setback, his family won't stop campaigning for his release, writes Georgia Beeston ([link removed]) .
** Georgia: Press freedom and the safety of journalists in peril
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Index CEO Jemimah Steinfeld (fourth from left) took part in the Council of Europe's
Press Freedom Mission to Georgia. Photo by IPI
The Mission of the Partner Organisations of the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform, which includes Index on Censorship, and members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium, have concluded a fact-finding mission to Georgia. The aim of the mission was to collect information on Georgia’s implementation of its freedom of expression and freedom of the media commitments, including in relation to the on-going election campaign. Find out why they were appalled by what they discovered ([link removed]) .
** From the Index archives
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** Trumped on the macho front
by Jan Fox
Winter 2019
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Last weekend, Republican supporters were up in arms after a 43-foot-tall nude statue of Donald Trump ([link removed]) was erected just outside Las Vegas. Ahead of the last presidential election Jan Fox looked at how Trump measures up against former US heads of state when it comes to his macho man image. Read the story here ([link removed]) .
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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.
We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
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