Over the weekend, Israeli military forces raided the Al Jazeera Ramallah press office in Palestine’s West Bank, and broadcasted the raid live on TV, delivering an order for the office to remain shut for the next 45 days. Soldiers tore down a poster of the late journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera reporter Israeli forces killed in 2022. (Forensic Architecture said it was an intentional targeting, and the United Nations and US agencies are currently investigating the killing.)

Less than a week after the raid, Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, in partnership with Al Jazeera’s AJ+, won an Emmy for the documentary “It’s Bisan from Gaza — and I’m Still Alive.”

“It was a show of force, a show of intimidation to show journalists around the globe that what’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank isn’t allowed to be reported about,” Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Moawad told Democracy Now. Moawad and Al Jazeera have rejected Israel’s rationale for the raid, as they alleged the newsroom was “being used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities and that the channel’s broadcasts endanger ... security and public order.”

The jarring contrast reflects the ongoing double standard present when it comes to Palestinian journalists — while their work may be internationally lauded, their freedoms and lives remain under attack as they continue to cover the relentless Israeli bombardment of the Gaza strip.

It’s not just Palestinian journalists who have been censored: The Foreign Press Association accused the Israeli government of imposing an unprecedented ban on independent foreign press access into Gaza. Over 50 journalists signed an open letter in February pushing for access.

Per the Committee to Protect Journalists, over 116 journalists (111 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) have been killed since the genocide began. CPJ has classified at least five journalists’ killings as murders, as they were directly targeted by Israeli forces: Issam Abdallah, Hamza Al Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Ismail Al Ghoul, and Rami Al Refee. This month, the Israeli military has also escalated strikes on neighboring Lebanon. Reporters Without Borders has filed 4 complaints with the International Criminal Court for Israeli military war crimes.

In January, Shuruq As’ad, a member of the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate, told The Nation Israel has been committing a “genocide of journalists.”

“Every day we are losing one or two of our colleagues,” As’ad said. “But this is not new. This is the result of a political system in which the police, the mainstream media, the parliament, and the judiciary are all complicit.”

U.S. media institutions actively participate in that same system As’ad describes when they shy away from accurate language while continuing to censor and retaliate against journalists standing in solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues, from journalism professors to reporters on the ground.

—James Salanga

Journalism professor’s suspension shows the double standard of objectivity: Lewis Raven Wallace, author of The View from Somewhere, connects the way objectivity props up U.S. power structures to the suspension of Northwestern’s chair of social justice reporting Dr. Steven Thrasher. Thrasher was placed on leave due to his vocal support of and presence at Palestinian solidarity encampments. Over 2,000 academics, health professionals, and journalists (including both co-directors of The Objective) signed a letter supporting him.

📰 Read the story in Truthout.

Southern California journalists vote to strike against Alden-owned newsroom: Over 90% of unionized workers at Southern California News Group voted in favor of authorizing union leaders to call a strike. (The News Group is part of MediaNews Group, owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital.) In an internal 2022 study conducted by the union, four out of five Guild members would be considered low-income earners under U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines. Negotiations for an initial contract have been ongoing for the past two years.

📰 Read the announcement in NewsGuild.

Canary Media, Energy News Network merge to expand U.S. clean energy coverage: The two nonprofit newsrooms will complete the merger, which will yield a larger team and more coverage, in early 2025. It’s being assisted by support from funders, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Reporting will continue to be available without a paywall, and the newsrooms forecast more in-person events throughout the U.S. post-merger.

📰 Read the announcement in Canary Media.

New York Times brings paywall to popular podcasts: Continued hard times for the newspaper, whose tech workers guild recently voted to authorize a strike should negotiations fail and who faces a continued boycott over its coverage of Israeli bombardment of Palestine. The two to three most recent episodes of most-listened-to podcasts, including Modern Love and The Daily, will be available free for free, but for older episodes, the Times is putting up a paywall unless listeners purchase a podcast subscription.

📰 Read the story in The Verge.

Vice relaunches print magazine on subscription — but still hasn’t paid its writers: The magazine, which had been on hiatus since 2019, will be published quarterly and only available to paying subscribers. Vice filed for bankruptcy in May 2023 and laid off hundreds of staffers earlier this year. On X, several freelancers have replied to the magazine announcement asking when Vice will pay the money it owes them, as Vice has a history of inconsistent, skipped payments to freelance journalists.

📰 Read the story in Adweek.

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