Gloomy Future for Journalists Middle East

 

By MOHAMMAD AL-KASIM   May 3, 2021 

The Middle East is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous regions to cover for journalists, and freedom of the press is widely curtailed and often violated in many places.

The 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found that the media has been totally blocked or seriously impeded in 73 countries during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic when people are most desperate for information.

Journalists are subject to being arrested, attacked, banned from working, and subjected to other forms of judicial harassment by governments and their security and intelligence services only because they seek to tell the truth.

Israel, which jumped up two spots to 82, has an open and direct media and is considered one of the freest in the Middle East. But, according to the index, journalists still face aggressive treatment from government officials. Another issue facing journalists in Israel is “military censorship."

The RFS report finds that this self-censorship has resulted in little or no coverage of the reality of life in the Palestinian territories.

Ohad Hemo, a veteran reporter in Israel, covering Palestinian affairs for Israel’s Channel 12 News says he is trying to change the type of coverage Israeli reporters do of the West Bank and Gaza. He told The Media Line that in his 17 years of reporting, he has not had to curtail his coverage of Palestinians for Israeli media while reporting from Gaza and the West Bank and bring Palestinians lives to Israelis.

Hemo, says there is no dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, and that perhaps his coverage "contributes to converging views and helps create a dialogue between them."

"The Israeli journalist and Palestinian workers working in Israel are the last bridge between the two peoples," he said. In addition, he says: "Working in the Palestinian territories is not easy for me; in the end, I'm Jewish and an Israeli, which makes my work there difficult."   

Palestine moved up five spots to 132, a slight improvement over last year. Meanwhile, continued tension between Israelis and Palestinians makes covering the conflict dangerous.

Veteran Palestinian journalist Faten Elwan says "I always wanted to tell the story of the people, the joy and the griefs as well. The stories about the killing and the blood, but I also wanted to tell the stories of those who have dreams. Regardless of all the pain we have here, we still have joy and dreams,"

Elwan says being a Palestinian journalist in the West Bank does not give one immunity from being attacked. Palestinian journalists are also harassed and arrested by Palestinian Authority security services when they report on issues that may be critical of the PA, she explained.

Elwan longs for her early days in journalism. Despite all the difficulties, journalists then had a lot more freedom than they do now.

"Let me say until 2006 we were the freest journalists talking about Yasser Arafat. I was insulting Yasser Arafat inside the Muqata during the Israeli invasion," she said, referring to the then-PA president and the presidential compound in Ramallah in the West Bank. 

Elwan says the turning point for Palestinian journalists came 15 years ago, at the same time that Mahmoud Abbas became PA president, when things began gradually changing. 

"We started to see that our country is turning into a police state,” she said. “Every word that you say can be used against you." She says the older generation of journalists were not intimidated, but the new journalists, or the social media journalists, were attacked physically and mentally. "We are living in a dark era where journalism is concerned," said Elwan.

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan and Iraq are among the most repressive Middle Eastern countries for journalism, according to the Press Freedom Index.