nuclear-news

Criticize Israel? You’re fired.

The Intercept, 11 Dec 23

A climate of fear is gripping U.S. newsrooms as a growing list of journalists have been fired, suspended, or otherwise sidelined after refusing to abide by the pro-Israel bias across the U.S. news media.

The New York Times, Associated Press, BBC, and Los Angeles Times are just a handful of the more prominent news outlets where journalists say they were sidelined after criticizing Israel or expressing sympathy for Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Gaza Strip now exceeds 18,000, and more than 80 percent of Palestinians there have been displaced by the war.

Since October 7, there have been numerous incidents reported in which journalists were fired, demoted, suspended, or otherwise silenced after voicing criticism of Israel, including:

• The German media giant Axel Springer fired Kasem Raad, a 20-year-old apprentice at the company, after he questioned the company’s Israel policy through internal channels.
• Thirty-eight Los Angeles Times journalists have been barred from covering Gaza for a minimum of three months after signing an open letter criticizing media coverage of the war and Israel’s targeting of journalists.
• The BBC took six Arab journalists off the air after they allegedly showed “anti-Israel bias” by liking and publishing pro-Palestinian posts on social media.
• Mona Chalabi, the data journalist and illustrator who won the Pulitzer Prize for the New York Times earlier this year, said she’s been unable to get commissioned for additional work from the paper since the war started.
• Artforum editor-in-chief David Velasco was fired after wealthy art collectors objected to an open letter by artists expressing solidarity with Palestinians was posted on the magazine’s website.
• The Harvard Law Review killed an article on the Gaza war and Nakba after it was commissioned, edited, fact-checked, and prepared for publication.
• Two weeks ago, MSNBC canceled the Sunday night show hosted by Mehdi Hasan, one of the only cable news hosts willing to openly challenge Israel and a valued former Intercept colleague.

While the reasons for some of these moves against journalists have been disputed, there’s been an undeniable chilling effect across the U.S. media landscape as a result of incidents like these.

In the words of Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Abdallah Fayyad, a “culture of fear in many newsrooms” is leading many journalists “to take the easier route and continue the mainstream media’s pro-Israel slant.”

December 12, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, media