Distant Voices No More? Giving Rise to a New Generation of Palestinian Journalists
On 15th November 2021 Palestine Deep Dive held its first in-person event in collaboration with the Foreign Press Association of the United States at the Knickerbocker Club, New York City.
The event entitled, “Distant Voices No More? Giving Rise to a New Generation of Palestinian Journalists” marks the launch of our campaign, #ShowBothSides, encouraging major publications to hire more Palestinian correspondents on the ground in Palestine, in an attempt to restructure the mainstream media to finally respect the centrality of Palestinian voices.
Drawing an audience of journalists, activists and policymakers, the evening featured contributions from an array of special guests, centred on three generations of esteemed Palestinian writers.
“When I mean implement Palestinians, I don't mean hiring an intern to grab your coffee, but correspondents.” Mohammed El-Kurd
Hosted by Senior Correspondent for Al Jazeera English, Mike Hanna, the evening opened up with statements from former President of the UN General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, and our very own Mark Seddon, before poet and journalist Mohammed El-Kurd took to the stage for an interview centred on his experience engaging with the mainstream media since childhood and now working for The Nation as its first Palestine correspondent. Enas Ghannam, Project Manager of We Are Not Numbers (WANN), contributed too via video message from Gaza, before WANN’s co-founder, Pam Bailey, held the microphone.
“Don't listen to old people. I mean respect your elders, absolutely, but don't listen to old people for strategic advice!” Prof. Rashid Khalidi
We were fortunate enough for an in-person contribution from our live show regular guest, Dr. Ramzy Baroud, who also reported on the event for Arab News, Why Palestinian Voices Should Take Center Stage:
“While Palestinian factions continue to feud, fighting for their political interests, a unified Palestinian generation of intellectuals is on the rise, inspired by the Palestinian people’s unity at home.” Ramzy Baroud
After which, up-and-coming Palestinian writer and digital media expert, Zarefah Baroud, conducted a thought-provoking interview with distinguished historian and author, Prof. Rashid Khalidi. Before Icon of the Palestinian movement and legendary Pink Floyd rockstar, Roger Waters, took to the stage, followed by closing remarks from Foreign Press Association President, Ian Williams. Watch back the event now in the YouTube links below.
Calling on the Mainstream Media to Finally #ShowBothSides
In a +972 Magazine piece by Maha Nassar published in October 2020 entitled: “US Media Talks a lot about Palestinians — Just Without Palestinians", she revealed that over a 50-year period, from 1970 to 2019, less than 2% of the nearly 2,500 opinion pieces that discussed Palestinians since 1970 were actually written by Palestinians in the New York Times. And in the Washington Post, the average was just 1%.
By encouraging major publications and outlets to hire Palestinian correspondents on the ground, we are not asking for the media to favour the Palestinian perspective, or erase other voices, but simply to challenge the Western media’s inherent structural bias which currently exists against Palestinian reporting, and has done for decades now.
Holding the powerful to account is fundamental to meaningful journalism. So without respecting the centrality of Palestinian voices and providing space for them to articulate their own discourse amidst an ongoing 54-year long military occupation, how can this ever be realistically achieved?
Palestinians are tired of being spoken on behalf of by journalists disconnected from the realities on the ground. With objectivity, balance, and fairness all cornerstones of accurate reporting and news production, it is long overdue for major publications in the West to permanently hire correspondents on the ground in Palestine, to move towards a more realistic representation of the ongoing situation there.
Empowered by Mohammed El-Kurd’s recent appointment as Palestine Correspondent for The Nation, now is the time to challenge the wider structural exclusions which have silenced Palestinians in the media.
We call upon our audience to join our campaign in encouraging major publications to finally create Palestine news bureaus or at the very least, hiring Palestinian Palestine-based reporters to demonstrate they genuinely commit to #ShowBothSides.
