{"id":4153,"date":"2024-04-11T18:24:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T18:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/?p=4153"},"modified":"2024-04-11T18:24:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T18:24:44","slug":"fighting-for-fair-coverage-of-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/4153.html","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for fair coverage of Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Zahraa Al-Akhrass<\/a><\/div>\n
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I remember the first few weeks of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I lost weight and I couldn\u2019t take care of myself or my baby. Being far away in Canada, I couldn\u2019t close my eyes at night out of fear my loved ones in Gaza would be killed while I was asleep. Eventually, they were.<\/p>\n

I followed the news closely every day and night. It was shocking (yet also expected) how Western outlets treated information from Israeli sources compared to Palestinian ones. Two different standards for fact-checking.<\/p>\n

For instance, major Western outlets like CNN<\/em> published the now debunked lie that Hamas beheaded Israeli babies in October without evidence from Israeli officials, and others like CBC<\/em>, the National Post<\/em>, the Toronto Star<\/em>, and the Toronto Sun<\/em> didn\u2019t challenge the lie when it came up in their reporting. Later the same month, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that over 7,000 Palestinians were killed and many of those same outlets instilled doubt in readers about the death toll by including that the ministry is \u201cHamas-run.\u201d To counter this, the ministry released<\/a> a list of names of martyrs to prove those numbers were real people.<\/p>\n

I know why this is. In my years in the newsroom of a major Canadian news organization, I witnessed the so-called \u201ceditorial standards\u201d that work to silence Palestinian voices and uplift Israeli ones. The process of learning about those \u201cstandards\u201d was painful and I always felt conflicted about being part of the system. Over time, it became too unethical to stay in.<\/p>\n

Behind Western media\u2019s distorted coverage of Israel and Palestine is a mix of deep ignorance, pro-Israel bias, anti-Palestinian racism, white supremacy, and media\u2019s refusal to change. During my years as a video journalist with Global News<\/em>, I educated my colleagues about Palestine, brought Palestinian voices on air, and provided the company with translation and contextual and historical facts. I tried to bring in change and challenge the biased status quo. But after posting on social media in solidarity with Palestinians in October 2023, I was fired.<\/p>\n

Suspecting pro-Israel bias in the newsroom<\/h3>\n

The first time I sensed that criticism of Israel was taboo in Canadian media was long before October 7, 2023 and long before Israel\u2019s current genocidal assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n

In September 2020, the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was announced. I was producing a YouTube video on the deal for Global<\/em> for which I wrote that the normalization deal \u201cthreatens to leave the Palestinians further isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Normalization deals between Arab countries and Israel imply that Israel\u2019s ongoing occupation and apartheid system against Palestinians are acceptable and that it can build friendly relationships with Arab countries despite all of that. They indeed further isolate the Palestinians and don\u2019t help the cause of freedom and justice for Palestinians, which is why I wrote that line.<\/p>\n

According to saved messages, the superior vetting my content told me to remove the word \u201cthreatens\u201d because it could be interpreted as \u201ceditorializing.\u201d They suggested we do our best to avoid any potential \u201cbacklash\u201d especially for stories on Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n

That was the first time I wondered whether such a small margin of freedom to criticize Israel was acceptable to me. I felt like potential pressure from some groups held more importance than my commitment to the truth and to fair coverage.<\/p>\n

I tried to bring in change and challenge the pro-Israel\u00a0status quo. But after posting on social media in solidarity with Palestinians in October 2023, I was fired.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Less than a year later, in April 2021, Israel was pushing to ethnically cleanse around 28 Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and have Israeli settlers illegally occupy the area.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, Israel started bombing Gaza in response to warning rockets from Hamas. Only then did Global News<\/em> \u2013 and the rest of Western media \u2013 finally cover the story, portraying<\/a> Israel as the victim of resistance rockets while downplaying Israel\u2019s ethnic cleansing efforts in Sheikh Jarrah. A distorted image of reality.<\/p>\n

In protest of the biased narrative, I signed an open letter<\/a> alongside other journalists to newsroom leaders in Canadian media demanding more nuanced coverage of Palestine. I learned later that some of those journalists were told by their superiors they would be censored<\/a> from covering Palestine in the future. I was worried I might be next; however, I was dealing with a bigger problem.<\/p>\n

I was posting on my social media platforms about the atrocities Israel was committing against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. Pro-Israel group HonestReporting Canada (HRC) picked up my tweets and launched a campaign<\/a> calling on Global News<\/em> to \u201caddress\u201d what HRC called \u201canti-Israel bias\u201d in my tweets.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Zahraa at\u00a0a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto. Photo courtesy of author.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scared for my career and any potential threats from HRC\u2019s followers, I removed all tweets. I felt like I was being suffocated, unable to speak the truth about my people\u2019s suffering. I left one photo up on Instagram of myself at a protest, holding a sign that said \u201cIsrael kills children, attacks journalists\u201d \u2013 a proven fact. I deleted that one a few days later, a decision I made under pressure. <\/p>\n

I was disappointed, to say the least. I promised myself that would be the last time I gave in to such pressure.<\/p>\n

A year later, on May 11, 2022, Al Jazeera<\/em>journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli sniper while wearing her press vest and helmet when she was covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to eyewitnesses.<\/p>\n

I was on shift and volunteered to cover the story. I worked on translating the emotional conversation her colleagues had while under fire from Israeli soldiers. I produced a YouTube video and wrote that she was killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fire, citing eyewitness testimonies included in the video.<\/p>\n

I ended up walking away from the story due to what Canadian media calls \u201ceditorial disagreements\u201d and someone else finished off the script and published the video I worked on. They wrote what I refused to write because it felt unethical to me.<\/p>\n

Global<\/em>\u2019s video<\/a>, published on May 11, described Abu Akleh\u2019s killing using the passive voice: \u201cAbu Akleh, a veteran journalist working for Al Jazeera<\/em>, was killed on Wednesday. She was reporting on an Israeli raid into the occupied West Bank when she was shot in the head.\u201d The video then quotes journalist and eyewitness Ali Samoodi who says that \u201cIsraeli snipers are to blame,\u201d followed by a summary of a statement from the Israeli government that \u201cit\u2019s impossible to know who fired the shot without examining the fatal bullet, suggesting a joint investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A subsequent September 2023 United Nations investigation<\/a> found that \u201cIsraeli security forces used lethal force without justification […] and intentionally or recklessly violated the right to life of Shireen Abu Akleh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day I walked away from covering Abu Akleh\u2019s killing, I vented on my Instagram stories to my followers about how disappointed I was that I couldn\u2019t finish the assignment. I felt that I could no longer accept this small margin of freedom when it comes to covering Palestine and that I had to push for a change, especially after seeing how Canadian media reported on Ukrainian resistance to Russia\u2019s invasion, like including quotes from people calling fighters \u201cheroes.\u201d Meanwhile, outlets shamelessly label pro-Palestine protesters \u201cterrorist supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to October 2023 \u2013 I took to my social media platforms to call out Western politicians\u2019 support and media\u2019s impunity for Israel in its attack on Gaza, despite Israel\u2019s Defence Minister\u2019s genocidal rhetoric calling Palestinians \u201chuman animals\u201d and ordering a full siege on Gaza, allowing no food, water, fuel, or electricity to enter the city. I was on maternity leave at the time, and not involved in covering the story for Global News<\/em>. The least I could do was to use my social media platforms for advocacy.<\/p>\n

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Some of Zahraa\u2019s pro-Palestine social media posts from October 2023.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A superior reached out and reminded me of a social media policy that requires all newsroom employees to stay<\/a> \u201cfair\u201d and \u201cbalanced\u201d despite personal views on the situation. They advised me to remove some of my reply tweets and to stop posting \u201cpublicly\u201d to my Instagram stories. Reading that email, I understood one thing: I was being asked to remain silent in the face of Israel\u2019s genocidal attack. This time I chose to push back.<\/p>\n

I responded with a long email, writing that \u201cI oppose the Israeli occupation of the historical land of Palestine and my beliefs are shared by millions of people around the world, including of Global<\/em>\u2019s audience [\u2026] You might find this [\u2018partial\u2019] and \u2018biased\u2019 but I refuse to be called anything but \u2018fair\u2019 to the oppressed people of my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who decides what\u2019s \u201cfair and balanced\u201d about a genocide? A white middle-aged superior who had the audacity to judge me, a Palestinian with relatives in Gaza, on my ability to tell my own people\u2019s story?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was then presented with a second \u2013 and final \u2013 demand to remove social media posts and stop posting in the future. My superior refused to provide a list of posts the company claimed violated their policies. After repeated requests, the superior provided some guidance on the types of posts the company was \u201cvery concerned\u201d with: posts with #GazaGenocide, #GazaUnderAttack, and #FreePalestine.<\/p>\n

When I read that, my jaw dropped. How can journalism that doesn\u2019t even acknowledge that Gaza is under attack be \u201cfair\u201d and \u201cbalanced\u201d?<\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours later, Global News<\/em> fired me while Israel was committing a genocide against Palestinians. Despite the company\u2019s claim that my termination met the threshold for cause, they offered me a five-figure severance in exchange for me signing a document agreeing not to take any legal action for wrongful dismissal or discuss the terms of the severance, among other things. I refused the severance offer, filed a grievance with my union, and went public with my story.<\/p>\n

Was I shocked? In one way, yes I was, as a Palestinian, Muslim immigrant who once believed in the values of freedom of speech, diversity, and inclusion in Western institutions. But looking back at the smaller incidents over the years, I think this breakup was inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cFair\u201d coverage of a genocide<\/h3>\n

On the phone call on October 17 in which I was informed of the termination decision, the superior who fired me told me I wasn\u2019t able to communicate in a \u201cfair and balanced\u201d manner in regard to Israel\u2019s attack on Palestinians.<\/p>\n

But who decides what\u2019s \u201cfair and balanced\u201d about a genocide? A white middle-aged superior who had the audacity to judge me, a Palestinian with relatives in Gaza, on my ability to tell my own people\u2019s story?<\/p>\n

Canadian legacy media treats racialized people like me like tokens. We\u2019re paraded in diversity and inclusion reports, just to be banned from covering the topics that matter most to us. We\u2019re told to take down tweets against genocide. We\u2019re judged to be \u201ctoo emotional\u201d when a story affects us directly, and, after a few years, we\u2019re pushed out the door.<\/p>\n

When it comes to Palestine, journalists are told to remain silent in the name of fairness and balance and not to hold Israel accountable for its recent war crimes in Gaza or 76 years of occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What happened to me is a symptom of a deeper problem in Canadian and Western organizations: white supremacy. This pattern of suppressing Palestinian and pro-Palestine voices has been going on for years behind closed doors at Canadian institutions.<\/p>\n

This has been a common struggle I\u2019ve heard about from colleagues across Canadian newsrooms. We\u2019re banging our heads against the wall trying to get decision makers in the newsroom to listen to us. They choose not to. Is that fair? Balanced? Ethical?<\/p>\n

When Putin invaded Ukraine, Canadian media outlets advocated for Ukrainian sovereignty, supported Ukrainians resisting Putin\u2019s invasion, and called for the freedom of Ukrainians. But when it comes to Palestine, journalists are told to remain silent in the name of fairness and balance and not to hold Israel accountable for its recent war crimes in Gaza or 76 years of occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. My people are not seen as equal. Palestinians are being massacred by the hundreds daily, but Western media says we as people don\u2019t deserve the same \u201cfair\u201d coverage Ukrainians get.<\/p>\n

To choose to disregard the genocide and require newsroom journalists to stay silent about it is not only cowardly and unethical, it\u2019s complicity in Israel\u2019s war crimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Canadian media is rife with anti-Palestinian bias. Describing the killing of a Palestinian in the passive voice; equating Israel, an occupying force supported by global powers, with besieged Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza; and not decrying Israel\u2019s killing of more than 100 journalists since October 2023 are all biased choices.<\/p>\n

This anti-Palestinian bias is proven. An investigation<\/a> by The Breach<\/em> found that the largest Canadian newspapers, the National Post<\/em>, the Globe and Mail<\/em>, and the Toronto Star<\/em>, reported on Palestinian and Israeli deaths disproportionately. For all three, \u201cdozens of Palestinian deaths were required to merit just one mention in the newspaper, while there was one mention of Israeli deaths for every two Israelis who died.\u201d In another investigation<\/a>, they found that CBC<\/em> uses terms like \u201cmurderous,\u201d \u201cvicious,\u201d \u201cbrutal,\u201d \u201cmassacre,\u201d and \u201cslaughter\u201d to refer to Hamas\u2019 attack on Israelis on October 7, 2023, but describe the Israeli army\u2019s bombing of Palestinians with terms like \u201cintensive,\u201d \u201cunrelenting,\u201d and \u201cpunishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

These editorial decisions matter. They have the power to change the narrative on Palestine, Palestinian resistance, and Israeli occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFair\u201d coverage of what\u2019s going on in Gaza is coverage that calls Israel\u2019s crimes what they are: a genocide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By pushing journalists who advocate and organize for Palestinians to the side, Canadian and Western media not only fail those journalists \u2013 they fail their audience too. They fail in their obligation to hold the oppressor accountable. Most importantly, they fail the over 2 million Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in Gaza since October 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cFair\u201d coverage of what\u2019s going on in Gaza is coverage that calls Israel\u2019s crimes what they are: a genocide. It\u2019s not that complicated; it only requires a conscience. To choose to disregard the genocide and require newsroom journalists to stay silent about it is not only cowardly and unethical, it\u2019s complicity in Israel\u2019s war crimes.<\/p>\n

Silence is complicity. It\u2019s consent. As Nobel Prize winner journalist Maria Ressa says, \u201cwe have to actually speak when it matters.\u201d The lives of the more than 30,000 killed Palestinians matter enough for me to speak, no matter the consequences. I only hope Canadian and Western media will see their lives as worthy enough to speak out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

briarpatchmagazine.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Zahraa Al-Akhrass I remember the first few weeks of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I lost weight and I couldn\u2019t take care of myself or my baby. Being far away in Canada, I couldn\u2019t close my eyes at night out of fear my loved ones in Gaza would be killed while I was asleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting-palestinian-contents-on-social-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4155,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4153\/revisions\/4155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}