The Death of Journalism in Malaysia: Shrinking Media, Growing Censorship
October 6, 2024
Hassan Hamad’s Killing Highlights Alarm Over Journalist Safety in Gaza
October 7, 2024
October 10, 2024 – Palestine/Israel –
Marking one year since Israel launched its military campaign on Gaza in October 2023, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) and IFEX released a harrowing report detailing 1,029 Israeli violations against Palestinian media and journalists. The report, titled “A Palestinian Media Nakba,” reveals a systematic, year-long assault on press freedom, which both organizations argue amounts to an intentional silencing of Palestinian voices.
The violations include killings, injuries, arrests, censorship, and destruction of media infrastructure. Among the most devastating findings is the death toll: at least 130 Palestinian journalists were killed in Gaza within this period. Most of them died while actively reporting or in locations known to be used by the press. Many wore marked “PRESS” gear, yet were targeted in what the report characterizes as deliberate attacks.
Beyond the fatalities, the report documents widespread suppression of journalistic work. Israeli forces destroyed the offices of major media outlets, bombed press tents, and targeted journalists’ homes. Equipment was seized or obliterated, and live broadcasting capabilities were shut down. Journalists were arrested, detained without charge, and subjected to surveillance and online harassment. Some received direct threats, including warnings to cease coverage of Israeli operations or face deadly consequences.
One particularly chilling aspect of the report is its depiction of a coordinated effort to enforce a media blackout in Gaza. With foreign press largely barred from entering and local journalists being killed, wounded, or intimidated, the flow of independent reporting has been choked. Legal tools such as Israel’s 2024 “Al Jazeera Law,” which allowed the closure of foreign media bureaus, further solidified this blackout.
MADA and IFEX are calling for urgent international intervention, including independent investigations into journalist deaths and attacks on media facilities. They emphasize that press freedom is a fundamental right protected under international humanitarian law and that silencing the media in Gaza undermines democratic accountability and conceals potential war crimes.
This “media Nakba” represents more than a tally of crimes—it is the calculated erasure of eyewitness truth from a war zone, leaving the world in the dark and journalists in the crosshairs.
Reference –
