ECHO, 26 February 2024:
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| Image used in MEAA’s campaign to raise funds for Palestinian journalists. PIC Sam Wallman |
But the demand for their work only intensifies as the war continues.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance [MEAA], which represents many Australian journalists, has joined a global fundraiser to help feed journalists working in the Gaza.
Money raised is to go directly towards fresh vegetables supplies and hygiene kits for around 1200 journalists and their families on contact lists held by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
‘Palestinian journalists are the eyes of the world on Gaza,’ MEAA said in an email sent to members on Friday.
‘These workers continue under fire, without essential needs such as food, water and basic hygiene supplies,’ the email read.
‘The scarcity of these basic necessities in the territory has resulted in a surge in prices, making them unaffordable for many.’
MEAA says each vegetable basket costs about $AUD54 and each hygiene kit costs $AUD77.
More than 100 reporters killed in Gaza since October
News reports from the Gaza are a tradition almost as long as the post-war creation of Israel itself.
But just as medics and aid-workers are complaining of a lack of respect for their work and an inability to carry out first aid owing to hospitals and aid trucks becoming targets of war, so too are journalists being tested to their limits and beyond.
More than a hundred journalists have been killed in Gaza since the Israel Defense Forces started its operation there in October last year, the International Federation for Journalists [IFJ] reports.
The IFJ has launched the food fundraiser as part of a solidarity campaign with Palestinian reporters today.
Union backs call for better Israel-Palestine war coverage
MEAA’s appeal comes after the organisation said it had joined more than 80 journalist unions and associations around the world in early November 2023 calling for the Israeli government to ‘take explicit steps to protect the lives of journalists covering the war in Gaza, in accordance with international law’.
All but five of 39 journalists reported as killed on the job in the Gaza at the time were Palestinian.
Later that month, the union said it was endorsing an open letter from a group of Australian journalist members regarding media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Reporters on the frontline missing in action
Other examples of recent wars such as in Syria and Yemen have shown what happens when reporters are unable to perform their work effectively.
The UN has said several times in recent years that the subsequent humanitarian crisis in Yemen was the world’s worst, with millions of children said to have died from preventable disease and / or starvation.
Yet there are many Australians who are not aware of the fighting in Yemen largely thanks to a lack of mainstream media coverage.
Meanwhile, reporters hoping to inform the world of atrocities during Syria’s recent military decimation and mass refugee exodus were rarely able to reach the warzone......
MEAA website, retrieved 26 February 2024:
Gaza Journalists Appeal
The current conflict in Gaza has had unprecedented and devastating effects on journalists in Palestine.
MEAA has launched a new fundraising appeal as part of an international effort to support Palestinian journalists, through the Media Safety & Solidarity Fund. Donations will provide basic food and health supplies for journalists in Gaza and their families.
Every cent donated will be distributed through the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the official affiliate of the IFJ, to provide material support for journalists in Gaza to continue to be able to do their jobs.
Since the conflict began, the PJS has sought to support Gaza journalists with tents, food baskets, power banks (mobile charging batteries), wheat, flour, cash assistance and other basic needs.
Right now, what is most needed are fresh vegetables supplies and hygiene kits for journalists families.
Each vegetable basket costs $US35 (about $54) and each hygiene kit costs $US50 (about $77). The PJS has about 1200 journalists on its contact lists.
DONATIONS CAN BE MADE ONLINE AT:
https://crm.meaa.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=14
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