Since the brutal terrorist massacre that triggered the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American non-profit organization dedicated to press freedom, has been compiling a running tally of journalists killed, injured, or detained/missing during the conflict.
As of October 21, the CPJ has recorded the deaths of 22 journalists: 18 Palestinians, 3 Israelis, and one Lebanese.
CPJ notes that four of the killed Palestinian journalists worked for Hamas-affiliated media organizations: three for Al-Aqsa TV and one for Al-Aqsa Radio.
This means that almost a quarter of the Palestinian journalists reported as killed in the war were affiliated with the Hamas terror organization.
However, several news outlets failed to mention this salient point in their own reports, leaving the false impression that all the Palestinian journalists killed during this war have been impartial observers and not affiliated with an internationally recognized terror group.
Journalists are making great sacrifices to cover the #Israel–#Gaza conflict.
All parties should recognize that they are civilians and take measures to ensure their safety.@CPJMENA is documenting journalist casualties amid the conflict: https://t.co/D9Tm6rNxmb
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) October 21, 2023
Legitimizing Terrorism: The Case of the Hamas ‘Journalists’
Al-Aqsa TV is one of Hamas’ propaganda outlets and has been recognized as a terror entity by the United States Treasury Department since 2010.
The TV station regularly features speeches by Hamas’ political and religious leadership, and programming that incites against Jews and Israelis and glorifies terrorism (including programming aimed at children).
Similarly, Al-Aqsa Radio is known to broadcast Hamas propaganda and martial songs.
Despite knowing this, the CPJ included ‘journalists’ affiliated with these Hamas outlets in its list of journalists killed during the war, equating them with those who work for mainstream news organizations like Reuters, The Independent, and the BBC.
Compounding this absurdity is the CPJ’s statement that “journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis.” Can this be said of people working for the propaganda arm of an internationally recognized terror organization?
This is not the first time that the CPJ and other press freedom non-profits have considered Hamas employees to be ‘journalists.’
In both 2013 and 2023, HonestReporting critiqued the inclusion of Al-Aqsa TV employees when mentioning/honoring journalists who have been killed in the line of duty.
As HonestReporting’s Rachel O’Donoghue wrote in May 2023, “Calling anyone on the payroll of the Al-Aqsa Media Network a ‘journalist’ requires a reimagining of the word’s definition.”
But he has also worked at Al-Aqsa TV.
The same Al-Aqsa TV that has a documented history of indoctrination, preaching martyrdom, antisemitism and advocating for terrorism.
Credit: @MEMRIReports pic.twitter.com/WGQjj17Ibt
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 12, 2023
News Outlets Blind to Hamas Affiliation
In a story on the dangers faced by journalists reporting on the war from Gaza, the Associated Press (AP) cited the CPJ’s tally but failed to note that some of those killed were affiliated with Hamas.
Similarly, in its story on the deaths of journalists during the war, The Guardian also cited the CPJ tally but not the Hamas affiliation of some of those listed.
In an early report by Axios on the running tally, the American news site broke down its analysis of the statistics provided by the CPJ but never mentioned that, at that time, one of those journalists listed was affiliated with Hamas.
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For the CPJ to knowingly include Hamas employees in its running tally of journalists killed during the ongoing war is absurd.
For mainstream media organizations to blindly cite the CPJ tally while failing to note the Hamas affiliation of almost a quarter of the journalists killed, thus portraying them all as impartial observers, is a dereliction of journalistic duty.
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