22/09/2024
My Sunday mornings often start with a big (and late!) breakfast… a pleasure reserved for a day of rest, a time to catch up on news and politics in some depth, both at home and abroad - a habit inherited from my father, who sat with a Sunday newspaper sharing stories with me as a child and who advocated for understanding and absorbing news stories from multiple perspectives.
Recently, however, there seems to be a decline in open discourse or discussion about political events. This morning I felt especially saddened and deeply distressed at hearing about the ongoing and increasingly restricted media freedoms and human rights abuses of journalists. The International Federation of Journalists has claimed from some time that journalists are indeed under attack (see: War in Gaza - IFJ). In the militarisation of civilian space, the Israeli army raided the offices of Al Jazeera, in a move that decreases press freedoms in the West Bank at a time when the voices of ordinary people need to be heard the most. Oppressing the voices of those giving voice to oppressed people only leaves space for dominant narratives, which we can easily come to believe as ‘truth’. As a Media Psychologist, this concerns me greatly and acts a reminder to check in on what you are reading, listening to and the bias that may be inherent in the reporting.
Al Jazeera has broadcast live footage of Israeli soldiers entering its offices in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and ordering its closure for 45 days.
