Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist who worked as a reporter for Al-Jazeera news, was shot dead Wednesday by Israeli forces in a Jenin refugee camp in the state of Palestine, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. This is yet another attack against Palestinians by the Israeli occupation forces, and it’s outrageous to immediately see western media outlets and Israeli military spokespeople justify her death or blame her death on Palestinians themselves.
Journalists at the scene said Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and “PRESS” jacket clearly labeled, and as she stepped out of the car an Israeli sniper shot her just below her ear.
Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported in a May 11 article that Palestinian militants fired on Israeli forces and they returned fire. A spokesman for the Israeli military said, “I don’t think we killed [Shireen] Abu Akleh,” according to the same article.
However, multiple eyewitnesses including two other journalists reported that the area of the refugee camp was relatively quiet prior to her death, disputing Israeli claims that Abu Akleh was killed in a crossfire between Palestinian gunman and Israeli forces, according to a Washington post article.
There is also a graphic video circulating of Abu Akleh being shot which supports the journalists’ claims.
My anger not only lies with the killing of Abu Akleh, but in the way her death has been reported - or not reported - among western news media outlets.
“A well-known reporter died after being hit in the head by a bullet,” Forbes magazine wrote in a headline for Twitter today, the tweet has since been deleted.
The New York Times wrote, “Al Jazeera said one of its journalists was killed in the West Bank city of Jenin during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen,” the tweet has since been deleted.
Regardless of whether there were clashes or not, why is this written in a headline as if to justify the shooting of a journalist in a refugee camp?
Another, which to me is one of the most egregious of them all is, “Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist for the Al Jazeera network, was killed by gunfire in the occupied West Bank . . . the shooting happened during an Israeli army raid in Jenin,” reported by the Associated Press, whose tweet has not been deleted, but has had updated tweets since then.
For the news outlet that publishes the stylebook all journalists follow, you would think they would also follow their standards.
An update to the AP stylebook, which is considered to be the golden standard of journalistic integrity when writing in news, states, “Avoid the vague jargon “officer involved” or “police involved” be specific about what happened, if the police use the term, ask for detail.”
“How was the officer or officers involved? Who did what? If that information is not available or not provided, say so.”
If the Associated Press, The New York Times and Forbes can all do this in their reporting, why even bother following AP style?
On May 15, 2021 The Associated Press building in Gaza was bombed by Israeli forces, calling it shocking and horrifying” while media demanded Israel’s explanation for the destruction of news offices, according to another Associated Press article released on May 15, 2021.
Multiple media outlets continue to under-report on Israel and its crimes against not only Palestinians, but journalists and news offices. If it’s our job as journalists to report the truth, especially when other journalists are killed, why obfuscate the facts like this?
There is no “other side” when it comes to genocide. When you have forces funded by the most powerful country in the world, with billions of dollars granted in military aid from the U.S., forcing families out of their homes and lands, what makes this have two sides?
Abu Akleh was not only a journalist, but a Palestinian who dedicated her life to making sure the truth was reported. She was also an American, and to see other American journalists report on her death like this is unsurprising, yet saddening.
It’s also a stark reminder to understand how we report as journalists when it comes to crimes like Abu Akleh’s death. Journalists are a line of defense tasked with the responsibility of holding some of the most powerful countries and people accountable. Don’t do their work for them.
When a journalist is killed, it speaks volumes to the world about how important the work we do is, and how scared the people in power are to keep stories like this away from the public.
Outrage shouldn’t just be stoked because Abu Akleh was a journalist who was killed, but because she was a person who was killed indiscriminately by Israeli forces. It reminds us of the many lives taken, from doctors including Rouzan al-Najjar, who was killed as she tried to evacuate wounded near the Gaza-Israeli border, to a 14-year-old who went outside after Iftar, the dinner that breaks fasting in Ramadan.
All their lives mattered, regardless of who they were. We need to take a careful look at the biases we hold while living in the most powerful country in the world and use our privilege to push for what’s right.
