Tag: journalists

Western Media Manufactured Consent for Israel’s Murder of Palestinian Journalists

Israel’s targeted assassination of six Palestinian media members in the Gaza Strip on August 10 sent shockwaves through the journalism community. Though the murder of journalists has been a common tool of the Israeli’s government’s suppression of information coming out of Gaza, the loss of Al Jazeera‘s Anas al-Sharif was particularly harrowing.

Many of us had been moved by al-Sharif’s heart-wrenching coverage, from watching him remove his press vest in relief when a ceasefire was announced (1/19/25), to seeing a languid al-Sharif reporting on the famine (7/21/25) as people fainted around him. “Keep going, Anas, don’t stop,” said a voice off-camera. “You are our voice.”

Three of the victims were al-Sharif’s colleagues at Al Jazeera, one of the few media outlets that was able to keep journalists reporting in Gaza despite Israel’s blockade. As millions around the world grieved not just for al-Sharif but for his colleagues Mohammed Qreiqeh, Mohammed Noufal and Ibrahim Zaher, and freelancers Moamen Aliwa and Mohammad al-Khaldi, we were also gravely concerned about the vacuum their murders created of on-the-ground coverage of the genocide.

Establishment media, however, used these courageous journalists’ murders as an opportunity to continue parroting the same Zionist talking points that contributed to manufacturing consent for their killings. FAIR looked at 15 different news outlets’ initial coverage of the murders: the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, BBC, Politico, Newsweek, Associated Press and Reuters.

We found that they overwhelmingly centered Israel’s narrative, attempted to delegitimize pro-Palestinian sources, and failed to contextualize the killings within the larger context of the genocide.

Keep reading

Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report

A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports.

The “legitimisation cell” was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel’s image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.

According to the report, in at least one case the unit misrepresented information in order to falsely describe a journalist as a militant, a designation that in Gaza is in effect a death sentence. The label was reversed before the man was attacked, one of the sources said.

Earlier this week, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and three colleagues in their makeshift newsroom, after claiming Sharif was a Hamas commander. The killings focused global attention on the extreme dangers faced by Palestinian journalists in Gaza and Israel’s efforts to manipulate media coverage of the war.

Foreign reporters have been barred from entering Gaza apart from a few brief and tightly controlled trips with the Israeli military, who impose restrictions including a ban on speaking to Palestinians.

Palestinian journalists reporting from the ground are the most at risk in the world, with more than 180 killed by Israeli attacks in less than two years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel carried out 26 targeted killings of journalists in that period, the CPJ said, describing them as murders.

Israel has produced an unconvincing dossier of unverified evidence on Sharif’s purported Hamas links, and failed to address how he would have juggled a military command role with regular broadcast duties in one of the most heavily surveilled places on Earth. Israel did not attempt to justify killing his three colleagues.

Keep reading

New EU Media “Freedom Law” Allows for Journalist Arrests if Justified by “Public Interest”

The European Union’s “European Media Freedom Act” became binding law across all member states on August 8, but behind its name lies a set of provisions that could restrict the very freedoms it claims to safeguard.

We obtained a copy of the act for you here.

Alongside language about protecting reporters, the regulation authorizes arrests, sanctions, and surveillance of journalists whenever authorities say it serves an “overriding reason in the general interest.”

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, hailed the legislation’s arrival on social media, saying, “A free and independent press is an essential pillar of our democracy. With our European Media Freedom Act, we want to improve their protection. This allows journalists to continue their important work safely and without disruption or intimidation.”

Although the law outlines protections such as prohibiting spyware or coercion to expose sources, those assurances are undercut by built-in loopholes.

Governments can bypass them if their actions are allowed under national or EU law and deemed proportionate to a vaguely defined “general interest.”

That permission extends to intrusive surveillance technologies in cases tied to crimes carrying a maximum prison term of three years or more, a list that ranges from terrorism and human trafficking to offenses labeled as “racism and xenophobia.”

The legislation also orders each country to maintain registers of media owners and addresses. It targets so-called “disinformation,” accusing some media outlets of manipulating the single market to spread falsehoods.

Large online platforms are portrayed as choke points for access to news, blamed for fueling polarization.

Keep reading

Israeli Strike on Tent in Gaza Kills Five Al Jazeera Journalists

An Israeli airstrike on Sunday night targeted a tent outside the gates of the al-Shia Hospital in Gaza City and killed five Al Jazeera journalists, including 28-year-old Anas al-Sharif, a well-known reporter who had a large following on X.

Al Jazeera said that the other four journalists killed in the bombing were correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and three cameramen: Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. Two other people were also killed in the bombing.

Just minutes before he was killed, al-Sharif said in a post on X that Israel was escalating its bombing of Gaza City. “Relentless bombardment,” he wrote. “For two hours, the Israeli aggression has intensified on Gaza City.”

The Israeli military acknowledged that it deliberately targeted al-Sharif, claiming that he was a “Hamas terrorist” who “posed as an Al Jazeera journalist.” Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a warning about the Israeli military’s smears against Sharif, saying it was likely a precursor to his assassination.

“We are deeply alarmed by the repeated threats made by Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee against Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif and call on the international community to protect him,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.

“This is not the first time Al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute. Israel has killed at least six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza during this war. These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill al-Sharif,” Qudah added.

In a post on X at the time, al-Sharif responded to the Israeli smears against him. “I reaffirm: I, Anas al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground — as it is, without bias,” he said. “At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.”

Keep reading

Case closed after ‘Russian disinfo’ claims led to persecution of NZ journalist

Until two years ago, Mick Hall was a fairly obscure journalist publishing wire copy for Radio New Zealand (RNZ), far-removed from media capitals like Washington and London where international opinions are shaped. But in June 2023, Hall suddenly became the target of Five Eyes intelligence agencies when he was accused by Western sources – including his own employer – of inserting “Russian disinformation” into wire stories. 

What started with a dispute of Hall’s copy edits turned into an investigation by New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS), which briefed top government officials about its probe. For months afterward, major Western media outlets fretted that Kremlin agents had infiltrated New Zealand’s national broadcaster.

But Hall insisted he had been unfairly accused and defamed by a pro-war element driven into the throes of paranoia by the Ukraine proxy war. In November 2024, he lodged a formal complaint against the NZSIS, demanding to know whether Wellington’s primary intelligence service “acted lawfully and properly” and followed “correct procedure” in its investigation, and if any information gathered about him “was shared appropriately, including with overseas partners.”

On April 9, New Zealand’s intelligence watchdog, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS), published the results of the investigation triggered by Hall’s complaint. The Inspector General report noted its investigation lasted between June 10 and August 11 2023, and was closed due to “no concerns of foreign interference” being identified.

The Inspector General acknowledged the intelligence services’ probe was initiated purely due to public “allegations [emphasis added] of foreign interference,” rather than substantive evidence of any kind, and expressed sympathy that Hall found it “disconcerting to discover” he had “come to the attention of an intelligence agency…particularly as a journalist reporting on conflicts where different views can validly be expressed.” However, it concluded NZSIS’ actions were “necessary and proportionate”, and the agency acted “lawful [sic] and properly.”

Hall’s name had been cleared, but he had been denied any recompense for being smeared as a Kremlin agent, and having his career in national media effectively destroyed.

Keep reading

Israeli Journalist Explains Trump’s ‘Fabulous’ Response to Israeli Strikes on Iran

President Donald Trump took a page straight from the Iranian diplomatic playbook when he claimed the United States had nothing to do with Israel’s preemptive strike on Tehran and urged the country’s hardline leadership to sit back down at the bargaining table, according to Israeli journalist Amit Segal.

“When President Trump says, we had nothing to do with this operation, dear Iranians, and now we offer you to come back to the negotiating table, he uses the Iranian method, the proxy method, that said for years: ‘We have nothing to do with the Houthis, we have nothing to do with Hamas or Hezbollah, we just want to negotiate,'” Segal explained Monday on the Call Me Back podcast hosted by American author Dan Senor.

Now that Israel has attacked Iran, destroying large swaths of its nuclear program and military infrastructure, “President Trump says, ‘I had nothing to do with it, let’s negotiate,’” Segal said of the president’s strategy.

Iran immediately canceled a sixth round of nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration shortly after Israel launched its multi-pronged attack on Friday. By Monday—after Israel killed at least 20 senior Iranian military commanders and destroyed its operational headquarters—Tehran was reportedly begging to restart diplomacy.

Iran sent frantic diplomatic messages to both Washington, D.C., and Israel asking them to end the conflict and restart nuclear negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing European and Arab officials.

“Tehran has told Arab officials it would be open to returning to the negotiating table as long as the U.S. doesn’t join the attack,” the outlet reported.

Keep reading

Pro-Trump Reporter Jumped by Out-of-Control Antifa Mob While Covering ‘No Kings’ Riot in Seattle

A right-wing reporter was jumped and robbed by a mob of Antifa militants as he covered the “No Kings” riot in Seattle.

Journalist Cam Higby reported that police were not intervening in the violent riot and blamed it on Democrat Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.

Prior to the attack, Higby says he received a death threat from an alleged Antifa militant and posted screenshots of the conversation.

“Tyler Hahn threatened to kill me just weeks ago,” Higby wrote.

Higby claimed that it was Hahn and his “lackeys” who attacked him at the riot.

“While SPD was refusing to intervene with the riot tonight, militant Tyler Hahn and his lackeys JUMPED ME,” Higby wrote. “Dealing several blows to my head. I was able to deploy pepper spray and repel them, regaining the belongings they knocked out of my pockets.”

Keep reading

Fired ABC Hack Terry Moran Admits He is Liberal Activist — Pledges to Fight Trump During This ‘Dark Time’

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, fired ABC hack Terry Moran has outed himself as a liberal activist.

Earlier this week, Moran was fired by ABC after launching an extraordinary attack on President Trump’s senior policy advisor Stephen MIller.

The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism.

Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy.

But that’s not what’s interesting about Miller. It’s not brains. It’s bile.

Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater.

You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.

Trump is a world-class hater. But his hatred only a means to an end, and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.

Moran’s rant was too much even for far-left ABC, who fired him hours later.

The 65-year-old is now embarking on a new journey as a left-wing activist who will fight for democracy during this “dark time” in American history.

He wrote in a post on Substack.

In institution after institution, from the law firms to the universities to the Senate itself, and beyond the institutions into our everyday lives—force is being applied to your willingness to speak up and tell the truth about what you are seeing and experiencing.

Sometimes it is physical force. Sometimes it is a threat of physical force, or the online mob descending into your digital life. Sometimes it is the threat to people’s livelihoods and the survival of businesses great and small.

In the face of that danger, all of us, sooner or later, will have to make a choice. Many of us will just want to avert our eyes, pretend that the danger is not real or not that bad or will soon pass over. And some already see it for what it is, and cower before it.

It’s a dark time.

Keep reading

Dozens Of Journalists Targeted, Shot, Detained While Covering LA Protests, Press Org Says

Shocking video and photos taken amid the ongoing immigration protests in Los Angeles show journalists and news crews being shot, detained and forced off public property by law enforcement, raising concerns of excessive force and First Amendment rights violations.

There have been more than 30 incidents of police violence against journalists as of Tuesday, including 20 injuries, at least five of which required emergency room or urgent care visits, said Adam Rose, the press rights chair with the Los Angeles Press Club, which released a statement Monday urging an end to the targeting of journalists whose work is constitutionally protected.

The list of injuries includes a freelance photojournalist requiring emergency surgery Sunday night after being shot in the leg with a three-inch piece of plastic that he believes was designed to be shot and explode above a crowd.

Graphic photos shared with HuffPost show a gaping wound in Nick Stern’s right thigh that he said has left him unable to walk or move without assistance.

“Why this device was shot at human, kind of, waist high level, I do not know. The people around me at that time was doing nothing more than waving Mexican flags,” he told HuffPost.

Stern, who said he has three decades of experience photographing public protests, including in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the George Floyd protests in 2020, expressed concern that people may die from the excessive use of force that he witnessed and experienced firsthand.

“I never thought for one moment that I’d actually have to be fearful of law enforcement during a public protest but that seems to be where the danger to journalists comes from,” he said.

Keep reading

Famous journalist Glenn Greenwald mired in sex tape scandal that he says was released by ‘political enemies’

Journalist Glenn Greenwald angrily lashed out at his political enemies after a sex tape showing him in a compromising position spread on social media. 

In a post to X on Friday morning, Greenwald said the clips were published without his ‘knowledge or consent’, and that he planned to take legal action. 

The 58-year-old, who is also a lawyer, added that the leaking of the videos was done so by ‘political enemies’ to ‘advance a political agenda’.

‘Last night’s videos were released online depicting behavior in my private life. Some were distorted and others were not. 

‘They were published without my knowledge or consent and its publication was therefore criminal. 

‘Though we do not yet know exactly who is responsible, we are close to knowing, and the motive was a maliciously political one,’ he said. 

He added that he carries ‘no embarrassment or regret’ about the acts depicted in the videos. 

‘The videos depict consenting adults engaged in intimate actions in their private lives. 

‘They all display fully consensual behavior, harming nobody. 

‘Obviously it can be uncomfortable and unpleasant when your private behavior is made public against your will – that’s why the behavior is private in the first place – but the only wrongdoing here is the criminal and malicious publication of the videos in an attempt to malign perceived political enemies and advance a political agenda.

Keep reading