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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: GAZA/JOURNALISTS
HEAD: ‘A Person Can Be Killed Reporting,’ Says Gaza Journalist
SUBHEAD: As death toll for media workers rises in Gaza, reporters risk lives for increasingly scarce information
DATE: 02/12/2024 8:20am
PUBLISHED AT:
BYLINE: Heather Murdock
CONTRIBUTORS: Nedal Hamdouna, Amjed Tantesh
DATELINE: Rafah, Gaza & Istanbul
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ihab Abu Riyash
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, sb, dj (bal)
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA ORIGINAL, REUTERS, ALHURRA,
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 2:57
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO
EDITOR NOTES: For VOA Press Freedom. Questions/review Heather Murdock. Please cc Jessica Jerreat on final review))
((INTRO))
[[Experts say the Israel-Hamas war is the most dangerous conflict for media in recent history. Journalists in Gaza say the high death toll makes every report they do vital, but as more die among their ranks and the war expands, their ability to deliver the news is rapidly decreasing. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports with Nedal Hamdouna and Amjed Tantesh in Rafah, Gaza.]]
((NARRATOR:))
Many journalists inside Gaza now live here in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where the population has grown more than five times since the war began in October. And Gaza residents continue to flee to Rafah as Israeli armed forces move south.
Journalists working here say every story could be their last, but then again, so could every trip to the market to find food or fuel, to a hospital to search for missing, injured or dead loved ones, or even to bed every night.
((FOR RADIO: Palestinian journalist Motasem Mortaja, says covering Gaza is very difficult. A person can be killed reporting any news, he says, or taking pictures for broadcast.))
((Motasem Mortaja, Palestinian Journalist)) ((Male in Arabic))
“The situation in Gaza is very difficult and covering Gaza is very difficult. A person can be killed reporting any news or images for broadcast.”
((NARRATOR:))
((Mandatory courtesy: Al Hurra Television))
Depending on who is counting, the number of journalists killed in more than four months of war.
((end courtesy))
But all accounts show that the death toll for journalists is higher than in any other war in recent history.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, reports 85 deaths while the United Nations says 122. Journalists inside Gaza say the number has risen to 130 since the last time anyone published a count.
Moshtaha says the increasing difficulty of reporting from Gaza has made every bit of information they can publish more crucial to the world’s understanding of the war from the point of view of the people in Gaza.
((FOR RADIO: Mortaja says this war has already made it harder for journalists to deliver news. But, he adds, when a journalist is killed it also galvanizes survivors, making them more determined to get the truth out.))
((Moatasim Moshtaha, Gaza journalist)) ((Male in Arabic))
“By restricting journalists and reducing their mental strength they can stop journalists from delivering the news professionally. But when they kill a journalist, it also increases our determination to continuously deliver the [story] and the truth.”
((NARRATOR:))
The Israeli government has banned the international press from entering Gaza, and in December the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court for access beyond tightly controlled military tours.
The court denied the petition, saying it would cause an undue burden on the Israeli Defense Forces.
Inside Gaza, reporters say their ability to deliver the news is rapidly diminishing.
((FOR RADIO: Islam Ezzanoun, who works for a large Palestinian news network, says it’s a “war from all directions” on reporters and the community at large. Israel frequently cuts communications, she says, and reporters often cannot get information from areas in the north that are now active battle zones. These were the areas, she adds that many people in Rafah, like her, fled from.))
((Islam Ezzanoun, TV Palestine 7)) ((Female in Arabic))
“It’s a war from all directions on journalists and on the whole community. The Israeli occupation frequently cuts communications as a part of their assaults, reducing our capacity to get information from the restricted locations that we were forced to flee from in the north.”
((NARRATOR:))
The Israeli government has said repeatedly that that it does not target journalists or other civilians, a claim international rights groups and Palestinian journalists dispute.
((Reporting with Nedal Hamdouna and Amjed Tantesh in Rafah, Gaza, Heather Murdock, VOA News, Istanbul))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Rafah, Gaza & Istanbul
BylineHeather Murdock
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
