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August 31, 2025 – Palestine –
The conflict in Gaza has reached a crisis point for local journalists and fixers, whose numbers of casualties now far exceed those of foreign correspondents. Often underpaid, undervalued, and ill-equipped, these media professionals are bearing the brunt of the violence as news coverage in the region relies increasingly on them, with deadly consequences.
Foreign journalists have largely been barred from entering Gaza, forcing this fraught reporting burden onto Palestinian journalists. While international outlets are the primary sources that broadcast global coverage, they depend on local reporters to gather and transmit essential information—despite the enormous risks and scant protections.
This dynamic has fostered a disturbing disparity: local journalists, fixers, and camera operators are exposed to extraordinary danger, including targeted attacks, destruction of press facilities, and occasional blacklisting as militants—yet they often lack the safety nets available to their foreign peers. The article calls attention to how this systemic reliance on under-resourced local media workers — without adequate gear, training, or institutional support — amounts to outsourcing risk, placing them at the epicenter of life-threatening circumstances.
Amid mounting casualties and infrastructure loss, the unmet question remains: can the international community step up to protect these essential witnesses? The author urges an urgent reevaluation of how media organizations, press freedom groups, and governments contribute to safeguarding local journalists — or risk their erasure, leaving Gaza’s narrative incomplete and unsafely reported.
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