Center for Media at Risk Steering Committee Statement on Exponential Rise in Violence Against Journalists, Press Suppression Tactics in Gaza and Larger Region
The Center for Media at Risk Steering Committee strongly condemns the unprecedented targeting and killing of journalists and media workers in Gaza and the broader Middle East region that have escalated exponentially since Hamas’ October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing assault on Gaza and the surrounding territories. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that since then, 128 journalists and media workers have been confirmed killed in “the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.” Palestinian journalists account for 123 of the total number of journalists killed, with two Israelis and three Lebanese. These numbers are unconscionable and do not include those journalists that are missing (2), injured (35) and/or arrested (69), as a result of their reporting. The Center for Media at Risk mourns the loss of these lives and stands with journalists and media workers providing critical coverage at the center of the Israel-Gaza war. We condemn the flagrant violation of their vital work, protected under international humanitarian law.
To stem the rise in weaponized ahistoricism and anti-intellectualism, we situate these staggering numbers in the context of rising global authoritarianism and populism, which systematically places media workers in positions of precarity. Most recently, the multi-phased closure of international news outlet Al-Jazeera both in Israel and in Ramallah, in the West Bank, as well as the Israeli military’s near-total blockade of journalists from accessing Gaza, emblematize the impunity with which political leaders have been able to threaten media workers in recent years. We name these actions for what they are: tactics of age-old authoritarian press suppression. We stand with the journalists and media practitioners risking their lives daily in Gaza and the wider region to bring the situation on the ground to global consciousness.
These devastating events mark a rapid acceleration of an already alarming increase in instances of violence against journalists globally – a trend we witness with alarm, grief and renewed commitment to our mission of fostering free and critical media practice and scholarship. At the Center for Media at Risk, we know that a combination of critical scholarship and rigorous media practice is essential to supporting a global free press and to providing ethical clarity on the most complex issues of our time. We will continue to facilitate programming and discussion that speaks truth to power, shining a light on the extraordinary work media practitioners perform under dire circumstances and on the authoritarian forces that place them in harm’s way. This moment is no different.
We continue to track the names of journalists killed in Gaza and the surrounding territories here, and we urge visitors to our site to stay tuned for upcoming programming on this and other issues here.