As the Israel-Gaza war enters its eighth month, the verification of information about journalists killed, injured, and arrested, has slowed to a crawl.
A CPJ report finds that the unprecedented number of deaths, with more than 90 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war, displacement, and censorship are all making it exponentially harder for the organization’s researchers to confirm information about the conflict’s devastating impact on Gaza’s media community – and, by extension, about the broader impact of the war.
“At the start of the war it would take us a day or two to verify information about a journalist who had been killed or injured,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “Collecting and vetting this information is now taking us weeks or months, and in some cases won’t be possible at all.”
Serbian journalists and press freedom advocates have pointed to a concerning deterioration in the media’s ability to report without fear of reprisal under the country’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, who scored a sweeping parliamentary victory last December.
Critical journalists feel targeted, sometimes in orchestrated campaigns by Vučić supporters, politicians, public officials, and pro-government media.
To better understand the precarious situation for the Serbian press, CPJ spoke with eight journalists and advocates, some of whom have left the country out of fear for their safety. Read CPJ’s briefing on press freedom in Serbia.
We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar
Daily Khabrain, Pakistan
Zayd Abu Zayed
Quran Radio, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Myat Thu Tan
Western News, Myanmar
Mardonio Mejía
Sonora Estéreo, Colombia
Hamza Al Dahdouh
Al-Jazeera, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Mustafa Thuraya
Freelance, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory