Risks and ethics of reporting livestreamed genocide; Wael al-Dahdouh at SOAS
The Department of Media Studies, in collaboration with Al-Jazeera Media Network, and SOAS student society Islaah Collective had the honour of hosting Wael Al-Dahdouh, the former Al-Jazeera’s Bureau Chief in Gaza, for a public lecture at which the award-winning Palestinian journalist reflected on the demands of war journalism and the high price Palestinian journalists face reporting under constant death threats and military targeting by Israel.
In his moving conversation with Dr.Dounia Mahlouly and Dr. Loreley Hahn-Herrera, Wael al-Dahdouh reminded his audience that the boundaries of journalism are collapsing in the face of genocide. On the one hand, the acts of remembering and bearing witness become existential for survivors. On the other hand, the ethical implications of journalism extend far beyond the profession itself, challenging audiences in their role as passive observers by appealing to their very sense of humanity.
Journalism in the context of genocide unsettles normative expectations of impartiality, shifting the focus towards our collective failure to assist in the deliberate and systematic killing of men, women and children. How can impartiality remain ethical in such cases? What is the cost of a passive, distanced objectivity? It does not need such an event to see and to document what Israel has consistently tried to unsee and undocument Gaza and its people. And it does not need such an event to address Israel’s now publicisised deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists and content creators who have been providing livestreamed coverage of the ongoing genocide since it started.
As discussed worldwide, Israel’s genocide is the deadliest for journalists, with about 248 journalists killed since the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, according to data from Reporters Sans Frontières. Independent analysis by Al- Jazeera reveals that at least 278 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel, all of whom had been the only voices reporting on the war from the battlefield. Since the genocide began, Israel has barred entry to international journalists.
Under international law, journalists are protected civilians, yet, as the Committee for the Protection of Journalists has reported, Israel is “engaging in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists that CPJ has ever documented”. According to the CPJ and other organisations, the killing is part of a pattern of misinformation – along with other cases where slain journalists have been labelled as Hamas fighters or operatives – and is without credibility. “Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted, and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work. By silencing the press – those who document and bear witness – Israel is silencing the war,” the CPJ has reported.
The deliberate practice of targeting and killing Palestinian journalists is not new. In 11 May 2022, Palestinian journalist Shireen abu Akleh was killed while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp though she was wearing a helmet and a clearly marked press vest, an act that the Al Jazeera Media Network condemned as a “cold-blooded assassination.” The practice goes back decades. In fact, since its creation, Israel has targeted Palestinian knowledge producers to silence them as part of its epistemic violence against Palestinians. One of the most famous Palestinians killed is the journalist, writer and intellectual Ghassan Kanafani, who was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad (secret service) in Beirut in July 1972.
Wael al-Dahdouh’s journalistic integrity, courage, and sacrifice compel us to confront this reality, urging us to reflect on our shared responsibility and to recognise our potential agency—beyond the institutional limits of journalism as a profession and practice. At the Department of Media Studies at SOAS, we problematise media production and consumption and critically address the different and creative practices marginalized and colonized people use to resist their silencing, particularly through digital media platforms. We are wary, as other critical scholars are, of Western-centric and supported knowledge that denies rights and that persists in policies and politics of exclusion.
Compiled by Dounia Mahlouly, Dina Matar and Loreley Hahn-Herera