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October 30, 2025 – South Africa –
At Rhodes University’s campus in Makhanda, South Africa, journalism students and faculty held a dedicated month-long memorial to honor the journalists killed while reporting on the conflict in Gaza. The initiative concluded on 23 October 2025 with a candlelight service and a visual tribute of over 270 CDs suspended from campus trees—each representing a journalist lost in the war zone.
The tribute was organized by the university’s School of Journalism and Media Studies and included a documentary screening, student-led vox-pop interviews, and a silent walk alongside the photographs of fallen reporters laid out across the walkways. The documentary screening served to support fundraising for a Gaza-based PhD student affiliated with Rhodes.
Dr Jeanne du Toit, Head of the School, addressed the gathering and stressed that the death of a journalist is not only a personal tragedy but a collective loss for truth, accountability, and freedom of information. She noted that journalists “listen when others are silenced” and that each life taken robs the public of an untold story.
Student organizer Charlotte Mokonyane described the campaign as both professional and deeply personal. She said: “We came together … as future communicators and engaged citizens, we will always be a voice for the voiceless.” Her team’s choice of 270 + CDs symbolized the scale of media casualties and aimed to shift statistics into tangible remembrance.
The event underscores the gravity of the risks faced by journalists covering the Gaza conflict, where press workers incur rising threats and casualties. With more than 270 media workers reportedly killed in Gaza since the war began, the memorial at Rhodes University highlighted how press-freedom crises take global dimensions and demand academic solidarity and reflection.
By integrating remembrance into learning, the initiative sought to deepen students’ understanding of journalism’s stakes and responsibilities in conflict zones. The visual installation, public walk, and candle-lit vigil framed the loss of journalists not simply as a statistic but as a lived sacrifice—and as a call to keep their voices alive through future reporting.
Reference –
https://www.newarab.com/news/rhodes-university-students-hold-memorial-gazas-journalists
