Press Freedom Groups to Biden: Stop Letting Israel Kill Journalists in Gaza
"We believe your administration can and must do more to effectively pursue accountability for journalists killed in the hostilities and to protect and support local and international journalists covering it."
"We believe your administration can and must do more to effectively pursue accountability for journalists killed in the hostilities and to protect and support local and international journalists covering it."
A funeral ceremony is held for Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab, who was killed, along with his family members, in an airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 3, 2023.
(Photo: Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
JESSICA CORBETT
COMMON DREAMS
Jan 10, 2024
With at least 79 Palestinian, Israeli, and Lebanese members of the media killed during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip over the past few months, half a dozen human rights and press freedom groups on Wednesday implored U.S. President Joe Biden to "act immediately and decisively to promote the conditions for safe and unrestricted reporting on the hostilities."
"The United States has a long record of strong support for Israel, including civilian and military aid, and is clearly one of Israel's most influential partners," states the letter from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Freedom House, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), Human Rights Watch, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, and Reporters Without Borders.
Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7 that sparked Israel's brtual response, Biden has bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces while also asking lawmakers for a $14.3 billion package, on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that the U.S. gives the country annually.
"The United States should use its considerable influence with the Israeli government to press them to ensure that journalists are able to safely document military operations and to shed light on their compliance with international humanitarian law."
"We believe your administration can and must do more to effectively pursue accountability for journalists killed in the hostilities and to protect and support local and international journalists covering it," the coalition wrote to Biden, noting other similar calls. "The United States should use its considerable influence with the Israeli government to press them to ensure that journalists are able to safely document military operations and to shed light on their compliance with international humanitarian law."
Committee to Protect Journalists president Jodie Ginsberg said last month that "the concentration of journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza war is unparalleled in CPJ's history and underscores how grave the situation is for press on the ground." The letter highlights that as of Wednesday, CPJ has tracked the deaths of 79 journalists: 72 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese.
Local authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades, said Wednesday that 115 Palestinian journalists are among the at least 23,357 dead, including many thousands of innocent civilian men, women, and children. Whatever the true figure for journalists is, the letter stresses that "almost all of them" have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who is visiting the Middle East this week—faced intense backlash twice last month for calling 2023 "an extraordinarily dangerous year" for members of the press, without mentioning those killed in Israel's U.S.-backed blockade and bombardment of Gaza.
As the letter points out: "The U.S. State Department spokesperson recently said that the United States has not seen any evidence that Israel is intentionally targeting journalists. Yet credible reports by human rights and media organizations indicate that the IDF strikes in southern Lebanon on October 13 that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists from Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Agence France-Presse were unlawful and apparently deliberate."
"The IDF has also acknowledged deliberately targeting a car in which journalists were traveling on January 7, killing two journalists and seriously injuring a third," the letter continues. "In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and IDF officers before their family members were killed in Gaza. Of course, the targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, if committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime, and the International Criminal Court has said that it will investigate reports of war crimes committed against journalists in Gaza."
The groups detailed that along with risking their lives, those reporting on the Israeli war on Gaza and escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border face challenges including "the refusal of Israel and Egypt to allow international journalists access to Gaza except under Israeli military escort (and even then, with restrictions on reporting), internet shutdowns that prevent news and testimonies from Gaza from reaching the outside world, arbitrary detention, and harassment and intimidation."
"In addition, the Israeli government is requiring media outlets in Israel to submit almost any detailed reporting on the war to its 'censorship' office for review, while banning reporting on significant topics of public interest related to the war in Gaza," they wrote.
"The Biden administration says it cares deeply about journalists' freedom to cover the war but has failed to demand Israel ensure journalists' safety or hold it accountable when it doesn't."
The groups want Biden to pressure all parties to "respect the right of journalists to report on the hostilities, ensure journalists' safety, allow all journalists seeking to evacuate from Gaza to do so, abjure the indiscriminate and deliberate killing of journalists, promptly and thoroughly investigate all attacks on journalists, and hold accountable individuals found to be responsible for them."
They are also demanding increased access for journalists along with "personal protective equipment and materials used for newsgathering," as well as "thorough, transparent, and public assessments of the end-use of U.S. weapons and military assistance to Israel."
The organizations are further calling on Biden to "support swift, transparent, and independent investigations into the killing of all journalists and ending the long-standing pattern of impunity in the killings of journalists by the IDF, including Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh," who was killed in the occupied West Bank in May 2022.
"The Biden administration has been all talk when it comes to journalists killed by the Israel Defense Forces," said FPF director of advocacy Seth Stern. "The Biden administration says it cares deeply about journalists' freedom to cover the war but has failed to demand Israel ensure journalists' safety or hold it accountable when it doesn't."
Jan 10, 2024
With at least 79 Palestinian, Israeli, and Lebanese members of the media killed during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip over the past few months, half a dozen human rights and press freedom groups on Wednesday implored U.S. President Joe Biden to "act immediately and decisively to promote the conditions for safe and unrestricted reporting on the hostilities."
"The United States has a long record of strong support for Israel, including civilian and military aid, and is clearly one of Israel's most influential partners," states the letter from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Freedom House, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), Human Rights Watch, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, and Reporters Without Borders.
Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7 that sparked Israel's brtual response, Biden has bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces while also asking lawmakers for a $14.3 billion package, on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that the U.S. gives the country annually.
"The United States should use its considerable influence with the Israeli government to press them to ensure that journalists are able to safely document military operations and to shed light on their compliance with international humanitarian law."
"We believe your administration can and must do more to effectively pursue accountability for journalists killed in the hostilities and to protect and support local and international journalists covering it," the coalition wrote to Biden, noting other similar calls. "The United States should use its considerable influence with the Israeli government to press them to ensure that journalists are able to safely document military operations and to shed light on their compliance with international humanitarian law."
Committee to Protect Journalists president Jodie Ginsberg said last month that "the concentration of journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza war is unparalleled in CPJ's history and underscores how grave the situation is for press on the ground." The letter highlights that as of Wednesday, CPJ has tracked the deaths of 79 journalists: 72 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese.
Local authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades, said Wednesday that 115 Palestinian journalists are among the at least 23,357 dead, including many thousands of innocent civilian men, women, and children. Whatever the true figure for journalists is, the letter stresses that "almost all of them" have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken—who is visiting the Middle East this week—faced intense backlash twice last month for calling 2023 "an extraordinarily dangerous year" for members of the press, without mentioning those killed in Israel's U.S.-backed blockade and bombardment of Gaza.
As the letter points out: "The U.S. State Department spokesperson recently said that the United States has not seen any evidence that Israel is intentionally targeting journalists. Yet credible reports by human rights and media organizations indicate that the IDF strikes in southern Lebanon on October 13 that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists from Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Agence France-Presse were unlawful and apparently deliberate."
"The IDF has also acknowledged deliberately targeting a car in which journalists were traveling on January 7, killing two journalists and seriously injuring a third," the letter continues. "In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and IDF officers before their family members were killed in Gaza. Of course, the targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, if committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime, and the International Criminal Court has said that it will investigate reports of war crimes committed against journalists in Gaza."
The groups detailed that along with risking their lives, those reporting on the Israeli war on Gaza and escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border face challenges including "the refusal of Israel and Egypt to allow international journalists access to Gaza except under Israeli military escort (and even then, with restrictions on reporting), internet shutdowns that prevent news and testimonies from Gaza from reaching the outside world, arbitrary detention, and harassment and intimidation."
"In addition, the Israeli government is requiring media outlets in Israel to submit almost any detailed reporting on the war to its 'censorship' office for review, while banning reporting on significant topics of public interest related to the war in Gaza," they wrote.
"The Biden administration says it cares deeply about journalists' freedom to cover the war but has failed to demand Israel ensure journalists' safety or hold it accountable when it doesn't."
The groups want Biden to pressure all parties to "respect the right of journalists to report on the hostilities, ensure journalists' safety, allow all journalists seeking to evacuate from Gaza to do so, abjure the indiscriminate and deliberate killing of journalists, promptly and thoroughly investigate all attacks on journalists, and hold accountable individuals found to be responsible for them."
They are also demanding increased access for journalists along with "personal protective equipment and materials used for newsgathering," as well as "thorough, transparent, and public assessments of the end-use of U.S. weapons and military assistance to Israel."
The organizations are further calling on Biden to "support swift, transparent, and independent investigations into the killing of all journalists and ending the long-standing pattern of impunity in the killings of journalists by the IDF, including Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh," who was killed in the occupied West Bank in May 2022.
"The Biden administration has been all talk when it comes to journalists killed by the Israel Defense Forces," said FPF director of advocacy Seth Stern. "The Biden administration says it cares deeply about journalists' freedom to cover the war but has failed to demand Israel ensure journalists' safety or hold it accountable when it doesn't."
Watchdog Condemns Israel's 'Use of Detention to Silence Palestinian Media'
"This intimidation, this terror, these endless attempts to silence Palestinian journalism, whether by chains, bullets, or bombs, must stop," said the head of Reporters Without Borders' Middle East desk.
Families, loved ones, and colleagues mourn two journalists killed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza on January 7, 2024.
(Photo: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
COMMON DREAMS
Jan 10, 2024
Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday that Israeli authorities have arrested at least 38 Palestinian journalists since the start of its latest assault on Gaza, which has taken a devastating toll on media workers and their families in the besieged enclave.
The watchdog group, known internationally as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), slammed the Israeli government's "use of detention to silence the Palestinian media." Most of the Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel since October 7 have been held without charge under a notorious procedure known as administrative detention.
People in administrative detention "can be jailed for periods of up to six months that can be renewed on nothing more than an Israeli judge's order," RSF explained. The group said at least 19 Palestinian journalists are currently being held in administrative detention while others have been jailed "pending trial on trumped-up charges of inciting violence."
Many Palestinian detainees have reported torture and other degrading treatment while in Israeli custody. Said Kilani, a photojournalist who has done freelance work for The Associated Press and other outlets, told RSF that he was arrested along with a medical team as Israeli forces closed in on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
"We were forced to take our clothes off, we were insulted and humiliated," said Kilani, who was detained for 14 hours despite immediately identifying himself as a journalist.
Kilani told RSF that after his release, he reunited with his wife and son, who had also been briefly arrested.
"While they had been held, their house had been set on fire," RSF reported, "and the journalistic equipment that Kilani had hidden in the hospital had also been burned."
Diaa al-Kahlout, a reporter for the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site who was released from Israeli detention on Tuesday, said he was tortured while in custody for more than a month. His home was also burned down.
Jonathan Dagher, the head of RSF's Middle East desk, said in a statement that "at least 31 Palestinian reporters are currently held in Israeli prisons in connection with their journalism."
"This intimidation, this terror, these endless attempts to silence Palestinian journalism, whether by chains, bullets, or bombs, must stop," said RSF. "We call for the immediate release of all detained journalists and for their urgent protection."
Dozens of journalists, most of them Palestinian, have been killed in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon since October 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—a death toll the group has described as "unparalleled."
Throughout the war, journalists have been violently beaten by Israeli soldiers, targeted by airstrikes, and fired on by tanks. Over the weekend, an Israeli airstrike killed two journalists in southern Gaza, including the eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh. Five members of Dahdouh's family have now been killed by Israeli bombing.
RSF has filed two war crimes complaints against the Israeli government at the International Criminal Court, accusing the country's forces of intentionally massacring members of the press.
Asked about Israel's targeting of journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "To the journalists who've lost their lives or have been injured in Gaza, we feel very strongly for them as well, and the essential work that they do is more vital than ever."
Blinken did not pledge to investigate or hold Israel accountable for deliberately killing members of the media, which is a war crime.
Chris McGreal, a former Guardian correspondent in Jerusalem, condemned the lack of outrage from the West in the face of such atrocities.
"It would surely be different if American or European reporters were the ones dying," McGreal wrote in a column on Wednesday.
Jan 10, 2024
Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday that Israeli authorities have arrested at least 38 Palestinian journalists since the start of its latest assault on Gaza, which has taken a devastating toll on media workers and their families in the besieged enclave.
The watchdog group, known internationally as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), slammed the Israeli government's "use of detention to silence the Palestinian media." Most of the Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel since October 7 have been held without charge under a notorious procedure known as administrative detention.
People in administrative detention "can be jailed for periods of up to six months that can be renewed on nothing more than an Israeli judge's order," RSF explained. The group said at least 19 Palestinian journalists are currently being held in administrative detention while others have been jailed "pending trial on trumped-up charges of inciting violence."
Many Palestinian detainees have reported torture and other degrading treatment while in Israeli custody. Said Kilani, a photojournalist who has done freelance work for The Associated Press and other outlets, told RSF that he was arrested along with a medical team as Israeli forces closed in on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
"We were forced to take our clothes off, we were insulted and humiliated," said Kilani, who was detained for 14 hours despite immediately identifying himself as a journalist.
Kilani told RSF that after his release, he reunited with his wife and son, who had also been briefly arrested.
"While they had been held, their house had been set on fire," RSF reported, "and the journalistic equipment that Kilani had hidden in the hospital had also been burned."
Diaa al-Kahlout, a reporter for the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site who was released from Israeli detention on Tuesday, said he was tortured while in custody for more than a month. His home was also burned down.
Jonathan Dagher, the head of RSF's Middle East desk, said in a statement that "at least 31 Palestinian reporters are currently held in Israeli prisons in connection with their journalism."
"This intimidation, this terror, these endless attempts to silence Palestinian journalism, whether by chains, bullets, or bombs, must stop," said RSF. "We call for the immediate release of all detained journalists and for their urgent protection."
Dozens of journalists, most of them Palestinian, have been killed in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon since October 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—a death toll the group has described as "unparalleled."
Throughout the war, journalists have been violently beaten by Israeli soldiers, targeted by airstrikes, and fired on by tanks. Over the weekend, an Israeli airstrike killed two journalists in southern Gaza, including the eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh. Five members of Dahdouh's family have now been killed by Israeli bombing.
RSF has filed two war crimes complaints against the Israeli government at the International Criminal Court, accusing the country's forces of intentionally massacring members of the press.
Asked about Israel's targeting of journalists during a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "To the journalists who've lost their lives or have been injured in Gaza, we feel very strongly for them as well, and the essential work that they do is more vital than ever."
Blinken did not pledge to investigate or hold Israel accountable for deliberately killing members of the media, which is a war crime.
Chris McGreal, a former Guardian correspondent in Jerusalem, condemned the lack of outrage from the West in the face of such atrocities.
"It would surely be different if American or European reporters were the ones dying," McGreal wrote in a column on Wednesday.
CNN Admits 'Disturbing' Israel-Palestine Coverage Policy 'Has Been in Place for Years'
"It's Israel's way of intimidating and controlling news," said one critic.
"It's Israel's way of intimidating and controlling news," said one critic.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond points toward Israeli military hardware in a field near Israel's border with Gaza.
(Photo: screenshot/CNN)
COMMON DREAMS
Jan 05, 2024
CNN has long been criticized by media analysts and journalists for its deference to the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces in its coverage of the occupied Palestinian territories, and the cable network admitted Thursday that it follows a protocol that could give Israeli censors influence over its stories.
A spokesperson for the network confirmed to The Intercept that its news coverage about Israel and Palestine is run through and reviewed by the CNN Jerusalem bureau—which is subject to the IDF's censor.
The censor restricts foreign news outlets from reporting on certain subjects of its choosing and outright censors articles or news segments if they don't meet its guidelines.
Other news organizations often avoid the censor by reporting certain stories about the region through their news desks outside of Israel, The Intercept reported.
"The policy of running stories about Israel or the Palestinians past the Jerusalem bureau has been in place for years," the spokesperson told the outlet. "It is simply down to the fact that there are many unique and complex local nuances that warrant extra scrutiny to make sure our reporting is as precise and accurate as possible."
The spokesperson added that CNN does not share news copy with the censor and called the network's interactions with the IDF "minimal."
But James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, said the IDF's approach to censoring media outlets is "Israel's way of intimidating and controlling news."
A CNN staffer who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity confirmed that the network's longtime relationship with the censor has ensured CNN's coverage of Israel's bombardment of Gaza and attacks in the West Bank since October 7 favors Israel's narratives.
"Every single Israel-Palestine-related line for reporting must seek approval from the [Jerusalem] bureau—or, when the bureau is not
staffed, from a select few handpicked by the bureau and senior management—from which lines are most often edited with a very specific nuance," the staffer said.
Jerusalem bureau chief Richard Greene announced it had expanded its review team to include editors outside of Israel, calling the new policy "Jerusalem SecondEyes." The expanded review process was ostensibly put in place to bring "more expert eyes" to CNN's reporting particularly when the Jerusalem news desk is not staffed.
In practice, the staff member told The Intercept, "'War-crime' and 'genocide' are taboo words. Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as 'blasts' attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility. Quotes and information provided by Israeli army and government officials tend to be approved quickly, while those from Palestinians tend to be heavily scrutinized and slowly processed."
Meanwhile, reporters are under intensifying pressure to question anything they learn from Palestinian sources, including casualty statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health is run by Hamas, which controls Gaza's government. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said in October, as U.S. President Joe Biden was publicly questioning the accuracy of the ministry's reporting on deaths and injuries, that its casualty statistics have "proven consistently credible in the past."
Despite this, CNN's senior director of news standards and practices, David Lindsey, told journalists in a November 2 memo that "Hamas representatives are engaging in inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda... We should be careful not to give it a platform."
Another email sent in October suggested that the network aimed to present the Ministry of Health's casualty figures as questionable, with the News Standards and Practices division telling staffers, "Hamas controls the government in Gaza and we should describe the Ministry of Health as 'Hamas-controlled' whenever we are referring to casualty statistics or other claims related to the present conflict."
Newsroom employees were advised to "remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of Israeli civilians" on October 7.
At least 22,600 people have been confirmed killed in Gaza and 57,910 have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Thousands more are feared dead under the rubble left behind by airstrikes. In Israel, the death toll from Hamas' attack stands at 1,139.
Jim Naureckas, editor of the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, noted that the Israeli government is controlling journalists' reporting on Gaza as it's been "credibly accused of singling out journalists for violent attacks in order to suppress information."
"To give that government a heightened role in deciding what is news and what isn't news is really disturbing," he told The Intercept.
Meanwhile, pointed out author and academic Sunny Singh, even outside CNN, "every bit of reporting on Gaza in Western media outlets has been given unmerited weight which not granted to Palestinian reporters."
"Western media—not just CNN—has been pushing Israeli propaganda all through" Israel's attacks, said Singh.
Jan 05, 2024
CNN has long been criticized by media analysts and journalists for its deference to the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces in its coverage of the occupied Palestinian territories, and the cable network admitted Thursday that it follows a protocol that could give Israeli censors influence over its stories.
A spokesperson for the network confirmed to The Intercept that its news coverage about Israel and Palestine is run through and reviewed by the CNN Jerusalem bureau—which is subject to the IDF's censor.
The censor restricts foreign news outlets from reporting on certain subjects of its choosing and outright censors articles or news segments if they don't meet its guidelines.
Other news organizations often avoid the censor by reporting certain stories about the region through their news desks outside of Israel, The Intercept reported.
"The policy of running stories about Israel or the Palestinians past the Jerusalem bureau has been in place for years," the spokesperson told the outlet. "It is simply down to the fact that there are many unique and complex local nuances that warrant extra scrutiny to make sure our reporting is as precise and accurate as possible."
The spokesperson added that CNN does not share news copy with the censor and called the network's interactions with the IDF "minimal."
But James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, said the IDF's approach to censoring media outlets is "Israel's way of intimidating and controlling news."
A CNN staffer who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity confirmed that the network's longtime relationship with the censor has ensured CNN's coverage of Israel's bombardment of Gaza and attacks in the West Bank since October 7 favors Israel's narratives.
"Every single Israel-Palestine-related line for reporting must seek approval from the [Jerusalem] bureau—or, when the bureau is not
staffed, from a select few handpicked by the bureau and senior management—from which lines are most often edited with a very specific nuance," the staffer said.
Jerusalem bureau chief Richard Greene announced it had expanded its review team to include editors outside of Israel, calling the new policy "Jerusalem SecondEyes." The expanded review process was ostensibly put in place to bring "more expert eyes" to CNN's reporting particularly when the Jerusalem news desk is not staffed.
In practice, the staff member told The Intercept, "'War-crime' and 'genocide' are taboo words. Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as 'blasts' attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility. Quotes and information provided by Israeli army and government officials tend to be approved quickly, while those from Palestinians tend to be heavily scrutinized and slowly processed."
Meanwhile, reporters are under intensifying pressure to question anything they learn from Palestinian sources, including casualty statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health is run by Hamas, which controls Gaza's government. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said in October, as U.S. President Joe Biden was publicly questioning the accuracy of the ministry's reporting on deaths and injuries, that its casualty statistics have "proven consistently credible in the past."
Despite this, CNN's senior director of news standards and practices, David Lindsey, told journalists in a November 2 memo that "Hamas representatives are engaging in inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda... We should be careful not to give it a platform."
Another email sent in October suggested that the network aimed to present the Ministry of Health's casualty figures as questionable, with the News Standards and Practices division telling staffers, "Hamas controls the government in Gaza and we should describe the Ministry of Health as 'Hamas-controlled' whenever we are referring to casualty statistics or other claims related to the present conflict."
Newsroom employees were advised to "remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of Israeli civilians" on October 7.
At least 22,600 people have been confirmed killed in Gaza and 57,910 have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Thousands more are feared dead under the rubble left behind by airstrikes. In Israel, the death toll from Hamas' attack stands at 1,139.
Jim Naureckas, editor of the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, noted that the Israeli government is controlling journalists' reporting on Gaza as it's been "credibly accused of singling out journalists for violent attacks in order to suppress information."
"To give that government a heightened role in deciding what is news and what isn't news is really disturbing," he told The Intercept.
Meanwhile, pointed out author and academic Sunny Singh, even outside CNN, "every bit of reporting on Gaza in Western media outlets has been given unmerited weight which not granted to Palestinian reporters."
"Western media—not just CNN—has been pushing Israeli propaganda all through" Israel's attacks, said Singh.
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