In solidarity with the global general strike called by Palestine Speaks, The Objective chose not to send out this issue of The Front Page on Oct. 20. We bring you the piece we intended for this past Friday today, knowing that this issue remains as relevant as ever.

In early October, The Objective’s Omar Rashad spoke with Yousef Munayyer about lopsided U.S. coverage of Palestine, which fails to center Palestinian voices, invalidates their experiences, and erases — according to Munayyer — “the daily violence of occupation and apartheid, which Palestinians live with in every aspect of their life under Israeli control.”

This isn’t a new pattern. It reflects not just a double standard, but a massive failure of journalists to carry out their jobs: Fact-checking, appropriately contextualizing information, using accurate language and centering stories on those most affected. Flattening narratives using nebulous, general terms, while skirting around naming and discerning details, keeps American audiences from properly understanding Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine. That’s not just bad journalism practice — it’s outright harmful. 

First, reporters need to vet information. Just because we’re covering a U.S. ally does not mean their information is correct. We are not stenographers, both domestically and abroad. If we cannot verify information, we can say or write that.

Hamas, a Palestinian political and militant organization in the Gaza strip, broke through the Israeli military’s security blockade on Oct. 7 and launched a surprise attack which killed over a thousand Israeli military personnel and civilians. Since then, Israel has used the attack to justify a non-stop bombing campaign of Gaza without recourse for civilian life. 

Israel — which per international law and consensus, occupies Palestinian territory — has a long history of intentionally manipulating media outlets for its military gains. For weeks, the Israeli government intentionally lied about killing Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022. The New York Times reconstructed the incident, demonstrating that Israeli snipers killed Akleh. Since then, the United Nations’ independent investigation has determined the same. 

When the attack on a hospital in Gaza happened last week, many reporters quickly assumed that Israeli and U.S. intelligence on the attack would be trustworthy, despite a history to the contrary. As Munayyer lays out in his Q&A, U.S. outlets have long given deference to Israeli aggression in media coverage, but the ongoing siege and bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli military in response to the Oct. 7 attack has taken that outright bias to new heights. Notably, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and many other legacy outlets amplified an unverified and now retracted claim — which originated directly from a single Israeli military major — that Hamas militants crossing into Israel beheaded babies.

The outlets quoted an Israeli soldier falsely stating the information, but no one seemed to ask for confirmation or evidence before publishing the story as factual — reminiscent of the pitfalls of accepting police press releases at face value. By the time of retraction, and despite a CNN reporter’s apology, Israel had already secured large-scale international support for what has become the bloodiest attack on Gaza in the city’s modern history.

Second, U.S. media often conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. This is a false equivalency.

In some cases, people's critique of Israel is a springboard to repeat antisemitic rhetoric, and antisemitism and a position critical of Israel are seemingly synonymous.

But crucially, criticizing the actions of the Israeli state — similar to that leveled against any other country — cannot be regarded as antisemitic, according to the working definition of antisemitism outlined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. 

Several Jewish advocacy groups like Jewish Voice of Peace and Bend the Arc condemn both Israel’s occupation of Palestine and ongoing bombings of the Gaza Strip. Human rights organizations, including B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, point to Israel’s occupation of Gaza as apartheid, noting both Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes. Save the Children also published a report last month that found 2023 has been the deadliest year for Palestinian children under Israeli occupation on record.

More so, prominent Jewish people have been criticizing Israel since its inception, as when Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt criticized the predecessor to current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. Palestinians and their allies around the world are actively countering the wide swaths of disinformation promoted by Israeli soldiers and politicians and amplified by the wide reach of American media.

The Washington Post, like many other outlets, have begun calling the attack by Hamas “Israel’s 9/11” — language that flattens international events by transposing them onto American experiences, oblivious to the stereotypes and connotations invoking the event plants in readers’ minds. U.S. President Joe Biden has himself referred to the attack as equivalent to “fifteen 9/11s.” Many Palestinians are mourning loved ones lost in the violence while grappling with falsehoods about their communities that fundamentally rely on the dehumanization of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims around the world, with the massive Israeli assault on Palestinians also leading to an uptick in Islamophobic and racist rhetoric. The Objective also previously covered this dehumanizing in 2021 during another disproportionate Israeli attack on Gaza.

The Objective exists to counter one-sided narratives posed as authoritative, detailed reporting that makes it so easy, so simple, for major news organizations to remove critical and contextual events from stories. Despite ongoing pressure, journalists around the world have tried to bring the Palestinian story to light.

Unmasking media bias and commitments to mainstream narratives without proper context or fact-checking is a basic task of any journalist. That becomes even more crucial when covering the current situation in Gaza, considering the active Israeli occupation as Palestinians fight for their liberation. Ensuring journalists understand the history at play without collapsing antisemitic rhetoric into critique of Israel — while centering affected Palestinian voices — is crucial.

Some resources: 

—In solidarity, Nawar Nemeh 

ProPublica crossed the picket line: Jacob Gardenswartz writes about how unions from both ProPublica and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette called out a “stunning and unacceptable” collaboration between the two organizations. After weeks of private deliberations, the unions representing the newsrooms went public with their frustrations last Monday. (The Objective)

MSNBC makes "coincidental" change to its news anchor rotation: The broadcast outlet quietly shuffled its Muslim reporters — Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohyeldin, and Ali Velshi — out of the news anchor chair. “Some staff at MSNBC have been concerned by the moves, feeling all three hosts have some of the deepest knowledge of the conflict,” Semafor's Max Tani wrote. “NBC says the shifts are coincidental, and the three continue to appear on air to report and provide analysis.” (Semafor) 

The Washington Post to cut 240 jobs through voluntary buyouts: The flagship paper in the nation's capital will be cutting 240 jobs — nearly 10% of its workforce — through a series of layoffs after at least 38 people have been laid off this year. The Washington Post Guild said it was “heartened” by the choice to offer buyouts, though it added: “We cannot fathom how The Post plans to continue to remain competitive in this industry without investing in its staff.” (NPR, X [formerly known as Twitter])

SF Chronicle lays off entire audio team without advance warning: The eight-person layoffs, which happened yesterday, include six Chronicle Guild members and also include members from the newsroom's SFNext team, which covered the city from a solutions journalism lens. The Guild said it hoped management, which refused to provide outside comment to KQED, went beyond shouldering the blame for the cuts and formed a collaborative Labor/Management committee to hold managers accountable. (X [formerly known as Twitter]) 

IRE launches new comprehensive guides website for resource look-up: The new site, announced during the organization’s 2023 AccessFest, is part of the organization’s mission “to bring equity to investigative journalism — whether it’s in how we cover marginalized communities or increase access to investigative training.” Among the site’s many resources are opportunities for career growth, links to community style guides like the Trans Journalists Association’s, and resources around data journalism. (Investigative Reporters & Editors)  

5 days until … “How to Engage Your Community”, a webinar that’s part of the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative’s “Storytelling Strategies for Journalists” series. Reporters will discuss strategies for working with communities previously and currently marginalized by news coverage.

5 days until … “So you want to start or fund a collaborative?”, a one-hour webinar with additional time for questions hosted by the Solutions Journalism Network, which will discuss how its Local Media Project can be a blueprint for other news media collaboratives. A mini resource guide will be sent to all attendees after the webinar. ($)

15 days until … “Design 101: How to create visuals when it’s not usually your job”, a webinar hosted by the National Press Club Journalism Institute. The webinar will cover rules of thumb for choosing fonts, colors, and images, along with tools to quickly pull together different types of visuals and design thinking exercises. 

What else should we feature? You tell us. Reply directly to this newsletter. 

Looking for a job? Here are a few places to look: INN | ONA | JournalismJobs.com | 10 Jobs and a Dog | NABJ | AAJA | NAHJ | NLGJA | @WritersofColor | MEO Jobs | Freelance Journalist Rates | Source Jobs | Opportunities of the Week ($) | West Coast Media Jobs

How about a style guide? Trans Journalist Association | Diversity Style Guide | Tribal Nations Media Guide | NABJ Style Guide | Disability Language Style Guide | AAJA Guide to Covering Asian Pacific America | NAHJ Cultural Competence Handbook | SPJ Race & Gender Hotline | AMEJA Media Resource Guide | The Press in Prison | The Conscious Style Guide | Reporting on Addiction

Thanks for reading our newsletter. We appreciate you being here, and we’ll have more for you soon.

This issue is by Nawar Nemeh, with edits by James Salanga and Gabe Schneider. Copy edits by Omar Rashad and Jen Ramos Eisen.